Journal
MICROBIOLOGYOPEN
Volume 6, Issue 4, Pages -Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1002/mbo3.471
Keywords
aflatoxin; Aspergillus flavus; gene complementation strain; gene deletion strain; sclerotia
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Funding
- National 973 Program of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China [2013CB127802]
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [31172297, 31400100]
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Aflatoxin is a toxic, carcinogenic mycotoxin primarily produced by Aspergillusparasiticus and Aspergillusflavus. Previous studies have predicted the existence of more than 20 genes in the gene cluster involved in aflatoxin biosynthesis. Among these genes, aflK encodes versicolorin B synthase, which converts versiconal to versicolorin B. Past research has investigated aflK in A.parasiticus, but few studies have characterized aflK in the animal, plant, and human pathogen A.flavus. To understand the potential role of aflK in A.flavus, its function was investigated here for the first time using gene replacement and gene complementation strategies. The aflK deletion-mutant aflK exhibited a significant decrease in sclerotial production and aflatoxin biosynthesis compared with wild-type and the complementation strain aflK::aflK. aflK did not affect the ability of A.flavus to infect seeds, but downregulated aflatoxin production after seed infection. This is the first report of a relationship between aflK and sclerotial production in A.flavus, and our findings indicate that aflK regulates aflatoxin formation.
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