Exploring the metabolic potential of Penicillium Rubens
| PhD ceremony: | Ms A. (Annarita) Viggiano |
| When: | June 12, 2020 |
| Start: | 11:00 |
| Supervisors: | prof. dr. A.J.M. (Arnold J M) Driessen, prof. dr. R.A.L. (Roel) Bovenberg |
| Where: | Academy building RUG / Student Information & Administration |
| Faculty: | Science and Engineering |
Fungal secondary metabolites are a wide range of chemical molecules with interesting properties for human applications. Although several metabolites are already used in medicine, agriculture and industry, novel molecules based on unique chemical scaffolds are needed to tackle the challenges of society, such as the increasing antimicrobial resistance.
Here, we investigated the secondary metabolism of Penicillium rubens, which is used in industry for the production of β-lactam antibiotics. We elucidated a complex and highly branched pathway responsible for the biosynthesis of the yellow pigment chrysogine, by assigning each cluster gene to biosynthetic steps and metabolic intermediates. Moreover, we explore the potential of this fungus as a platform for the production of heterologous valuable secondary metabolites.
The strategies and tools established in this work provide the basis for awakening silent gene clusters and engineering biosynthetic pathways, which could lead to the discovery and development of novel molecules with new biological activities.