Assessing the Biosynthetic Inventory of the Biocontrol Fungus Trichoderma afroharzianum T22

Natural products biosynthesized from biocontrol fungiin the rhizospherecan have both beneficial and deleterious effects on plants. Herein,we performed a comprehensive analysis of natural product biosyntheticgene clusters (BGCs) from the widely used biocontrol fungus Trichoderma afroharzianum T22 (ThT22). This fungusencodes at least 64 BGCs, yet only seven compounds and four BGCs werepreviously characterized or mined. We correlated 21 BGCs of ThT22with known primary and secondary metabolites through homologous BGCcomparison and characterized one unknown BGC involved in the biosynthesisof eujavanicol A using heterologous expression. In addition, we performeduntargeted transcriptomics and metabolic analysis to demonstrate theactivation of silent ThT22 BGCs via the one strain many compound(OSMAC) approach. Collectively, our analysis showcases the biosyntheticcapacity of ThT22 and paves the way for fully exploring the rolesof natural products of ThT22.

Automated summary

A comprehensive analysis of natural product biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) from the biocontrol fungus ThT22 revealed its versatile biosynthetic capacity. The biosynthesis pathway of a previously unknown compound eujavanicol A was identified through heterologous expression. The activation of silent BGCs in ThT22 was also demonstrated through transcriptomics and metabolic analysis, facilitating further exploration of the functional roles of natural products from ThT22.