Abstract
Phylogenetic and comparative genomic analysis of orthologs of the Magnaporthe grisea ACE1 cluster reveals evidence for horizontal transfer of part of this cluster from an M. grisea-like ancestor into an ancestor of Aspergillus clavatus.
Highlights
Filamentous fungi synthesize many secondary metabolites and are rich in genes encoding proteins involved in their biosynthesis
Identification of homologous ACE1 clusters in other filamentous fungi The ACE1 secondary metabolism gene cluster of M. grisea comprises 15 genes: ACE1 and SYN2 are PKS-NRPS hybrid genes; RAP1 and RAP2 code for enoyl reductases; CYP1-CYP4 for cytochrome P450 monoxygenases; ORFZ for an α/βhydrolase; OXR1 and OXR2 for oxidoreductases; MFS1 codes for a transporter in the MFS superfamily; BC2 codes for a binuclear zinc finger transcription factor; OME1 codes for an O-methyl transferase; and ORF3 has no homology to known proteins (Collemare et al, unpublished results)
Two types of clusters related to the ACE1 cluster were identified: large clusters with eight or more genes are found in M. grisea, C. globosum and S. nodorum, whereas smaller clusters with three to six genes are found in the three Eurotiomycetes and in Fusarium species (Figure 1)
Summary
Filamentous fungi synthesize many secondary metabolites and are rich in genes encoding proteins involved in their biosynthesis. Genes from the same pathway are often clustered and co-expressed in particular conditions Such secondary metabolism gene clusters evolve rapidly through multiple rearrangements, duplications and losses. Genes involved in the same secondary metabolite biosynthetic pathway are often located at the same locus in the genome and co-expressed, defining gene clusters [1]. It has been shown that clusters of co-expressed genes tend not to be rearranged among species, which indicates that natural selection can act to conserve gene order [5,6]. Natural selection seems to act to conserve gene clusters as exemplified in Aspergillus species by the cluster for the biosynthesis of aflatoxin and sterigmatocystin that has been maintained as a cluster, despite many internal rearrangements, for at least 120 million years [7,8]. The clustering of the genes from a pathway at a single locus certainly facilitates HGT of genes involved in the same cellular function [10,14], increasing its likelihood
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