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Specialized metabolites from marine-associated fungi

Secondary or specialized metabolites (SMs) remain the most important source of drug leads. Research in the last decades highlights the great genetic potential and increasing importance of fungi for finding bioactive and novel SMs. However, this potential is far from being exhausted, especially, SMs from understudied sources like marine-derived fungi. The main reasons are limited sequencing data for the latter and the presence of cryptic/silent genes, potentially making up 90% of all biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs). To fill this gap and to unravel SMs as well as their genetic potential, we plan to sequence the genomes and analyze transcriptomes of less studied strains, 38 Phoma and 12 Acremonium, from diverse ecological marine niches and locations, which are mostly associated with other organisms like sponges and macroalgae. We expect to find novel bioactive SMs, intriguing enzymes and catalyzed reactions from these strains. Meanwhile, the genome sequences are also important for other research fields, e.g. studying on their relationships to hosts and environments.

Recently, we developed a MassQL-Integrated Molecular Networking Approach for the Discovery and Substructure Annotation of Bioactive Cyclic Peptides from the marine sponge-derived fungus Stachylidium bicolor 293 K04.

Selected marine Phoma sp. from diverse ecological niches.

This project is investigated by Tim Berger