Molecular mechanisms of pathogenicity of phytopathogenic and entomopathogenic fungi based on a common toxin production

植物病原菌Alternaria和昆虫病原绿僵菌(Metarhizium)分别产生常见的解毒素并侵染植物和昆虫寄主。另一方面，一种植物病原镰刀菌和一种昆虫病原白僵菌会产生一种常见的毒素--布维菌素。这两种毒素都是环肽。为了阐明植物病原真菌和昆虫病原真菌产生的常见毒素的病理作用，本研究试图克隆和鉴定这些病原菌中毒素生物合成的基因。

A phytopathogen Alternaria and an entomopathogen Metarhizium produce the common toxin destruxin and infect plant and insect hosts, respectively. On the other hand, a phytopathogen Fusarium and an entomopathogen Beauveria produce the common toxin boubericin. Both toxins are cyclic peptides. To elucidate pathological roles of those common toxins produced by both phytopathogenic and entomopathogenic fungi, cloning and characterization of genes for the toxin biosynthesis in those pathogens have been tried in this study.