Seminar of the Department of Microbiology

Unravelling the secondary metabolism of  Trichoderma atroviride

Daniel Flatschacher, MSc - AG Zeilinger, Department of Microbiology, University of Innsbruck

18.04.2024, 11:00 - Hybrid

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Daniel Flatschacher

 Abstract

Filamentous fungi produce a wide array of small bioactive molecules termed secondary metabolites (SMs) that, although not strictly required for their survival, contribute to the fitness and pathogenicity of the producing microbes. Trichoderma fungi are natural antagonists of a variety of plant pathogens, making them not only successful biocontrol agents for plant protection but as well promising sources of antimicrobial metabolites. The genes for SM biosynthesis are commonly arranged in a contiguous fashion as clusters on the fungal chromosomes. Many SM gene clusters are silent under standard laboratory conditions because of their repressive chromatin architecture which can be remodelled in response to respective environmental cues. 

Consequently, a wide arsenal of yet unknown fungal metabolites is waiting to be discovered. Inspired by the fact that secondary metabolism-associated genes and gene clusters are abundant in the genome of the biocontrol fungus Trichoderma atroviride, my project aims at a better understanding of the role of gene cluster modifications in SM production and at unlocking its full chemical diversity. Different strategies and methods were used to monitor SM-associated gene expression and SM biosynthesis, thereby linking metabolite identification to active SM biosynthesis genes.

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