Genome Mining of a Prenylated and Immunosuppressive Polyketide from Pathogenic Fungi

Activation of the polycyclic polyketide prenyltransferase (pcPTase)-containing silent clusters in Aspergillus fumigatus and Neosartorya fischeri led to isolation of a new metabolite neosartoricin (3). The structure of 3 was solved by X-ray crystallography and NMR to be a prenylated anthracenone. 3 exhibits T-cell antiproliferative activity with an IC50 of 3 mu M, suggestive of a physiological role as an immunosuppressive agent.