Abstract
Eurotium cristatum as the dominant fungi species of Fuzhuan brick tea in China, can produce multitudinous secondary metabolites (SMs) with various bioactivities. Polyketides are a very important class of SMs found in E. cristatum and have gained extensive attention in recent years due to their remarkable diversity of structures and multiple functions. Therefore, it is necessary to explore the polyketides produced by E. cristatum at the genomic level to enhance its application value. In this paper, 12 polyketide synthase (PKS) genes were found in the whole genome of E. cristatum E1 isolated from Fuzhuan brick tea. In addition, the qRT-PCR results further demonstrated that these genes were expressed. Moreover, metabolic analysis demonstrated E. cristatum E1 can produce a variety of polyketides, including citreorosein, emodin, physcion, isoaspergin, dihydroauroglaucin, iso-dihydroauroglaucin, aspergin, flavoglaucin and auroglaucin. Furthermore, based on genomic analysis, the putative secondary metabolites clusters for emodin and flavoglaucin were proposed. The results reported here will lay a good basis for systematically mining SMs resources of E. cristatum and broadening its application fields.
Highlights
Fuzhuan brick tea is one of traditional microbial fermented teas in China [1]
The whole genome of E. cristatum E1 was sequenced by the combination of thirdgeneration sequencing (TGS) and next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology
Genome-wide sequencing was performed on E. cristatum E1, which is the dominant microorganism involved in a traditional fermented food—Fuzhuan brick tea
Summary
Fuzhuan brick tea is one of traditional microbial fermented teas in China [1]. It has been a daily necessity for ethnic minorities in China’s Qinghai, Xinjiang, Tibet, Inner Mongolia and other border regions [2]. During the manufacturing process of Fuzhuan brick tea, fungal fermentation is the unique step in achieving particular characteristics and pharmacological health benefits [3]. E. cristatum, as the dominant fungus involved in this process, can form yellow cleistothecium, which looks like a golden flower, and is commonly known as “Jinhua” by providers and consumers in China [4,5]. In the 1940s, the first study regarding the identification of the dominant fungi in Fuzhuan brick tea was reported. In 1990, according to the international rules of nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants, this fungus was identified as Eurotium cristatum (anamorph: Aspergillus spiculosus, synonym: Aspergillus cristatus) by observing its morphology under a microscope and scanning electron microscope [7]
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