New Research on Fungal Secondary Metabolites, 3rd Edition

A special issue of Fermentation (ISSN 2311-5637). This special issue belongs to the section "Microbial Metabolism, Physiology & Genetics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 December 2025 | Viewed by 48

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
School of Biology and Biological Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
Interests: hypocrellins; biorefinery; fermentation techniques; fungal secondary metabolites
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Fungi, especially higher fungi (ascomycetes and basidiomycetes), have the ability to produce a wide range (over 100,000) of specific pigments, antibiotics, vitamins, and amino acids that are not vital to the fungi's survival itself. Chemically classified as polyketides, terpenoids, non-ribosomal peptides, shikimic acid derivates, and hybrid compounds composed of these units, the compounds are defined as fungal secondary metabolites (FSMs). In addition, FSMs generally possess functions of natural communication signals when in coexistence with microorganisms and plant cells. They exhibit irreplaceable biological activities such as antioxidant, antimicrobial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, and antitumor effects and also have critical biotechnological applications in agriculture and environmental engineering, as well as in the food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetics industries.

Recently, fermentation has become one of the most popular technologies for the successful production of FSMs on a large scale. Therefore, the research and development of fermentation technology with regard to the sustainable application of FSMs has been met with intense interest. Within this scope, this Special Issue is open for full-length original research papers and review articles in mycology, genetic engineering, and biochemical and bioprocessing engineering related to strain screening and selection, processing optimization, and new techniques to improve the production efficiencies and biological modification of FSMs.

Topics of specific interest include the following:

  1. Structural modification for new derivatives of FSMs through cultivation techniques;
  2. Discovery of emerging strain resources to produce FSMs;
  3. Metabolic pathways and enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of FSMs;
  4. Regulatory factors of functional gene expression to adjust the biosynthesis of FSMs;
  5. Techniques to improve bioprocessing efficiency for FSM production, including hemi-solid-state cultivation modes, temperature or light induction, co-cultivation, and chemical inducers;
  6. Case study of the pilot-scale or scale-up process;
  7. Process optimization, and kinetic modeling of the biochemical reaction.

Dr. Xiaofei Tian
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Fermentation is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2100 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • functional gene and genome
  • solid-state cultivation
  • metabolic pathway
  • bioprocessing efficiency
  • chemical inducers
  • high-throughput screen
  • co-cultivation
  • pilot-scale study
  • kinetic modeling
  • structural modification

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

16 pages, 3945 KiB  
Article
Deletion of the Class 1 Histone Deacetylase PsHos2 Induces Secondary Metabolic Perturbations in the Sea Cucumber-Associated Penicillium sclerotiorum
by Peipei Zhao, Jiaying Lin, Qingqing Zhang, Tanghui Zhang, Guoliang Zhu, Chengwei Liu, Qinghua Wu, Jianzhao Qi, Minglei Li, Lixin Zhang and Xuekui Xia
Fermentation 2025, 11(4), 230; https://doi.org/10.3390/fermentation11040230 - 21 Apr 2025
Viewed by 205
Abstract
The long-term coexistence of sea cucumber-associated microorganisms with their host enables them to jointly withstand the unique marine ecological environment, and possess great potential for producing various natural products. However, under conventional laboratory conditions, most biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) in these microorganisms remain [...] Read more.
The long-term coexistence of sea cucumber-associated microorganisms with their host enables them to jointly withstand the unique marine ecological environment, and possess great potential for producing various natural products. However, under conventional laboratory conditions, most biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) in these microorganisms remain silent, necessitating the establishment of effective activation strategies for exploring bioactive secondary metabolites (SMs). Histone acetylation status regulates chromatin structure and plays a crucial role in cellular physiology and fungal secondary metabolism. Penicillium sclerotiorum SD-36 was isolated from sea cucumbers in our previous study. Genome sequencing results indicate that this strain harbors as many as 52 BGCs, suggesting it holds a wealth of genetic resources essential for synthesizing diverse SMs. Here, we describe the impact of a class 1 histone deacetylase (HDAC), PsHos2, on secondary metabolism of sea cucumber-associated Penicillium sclerotiorum SD-36. The colony morphology and SM profile of ΔPsHos2 exhibited significant changes, with the emergence of multiple new compound peaks. Six compounds, including five azaphilones, which are characterized by a pyranoquinone core structure, were isolated from ΔPsHos2, and seventeen unreported potential azaphilone-related nodes were obtained using molecular networking based on LC-MS/MS. Transcriptome analysis revealed that PsHos2 influenced the expression of 44 BGC core genes. Specifically, seven genes within cluster 86.1, the putative BGC for azaphilones, were upregulated, including two polyketide synthase (PKS) genes. The results indicate that regulation based on class 1 HDACs is an important strategy for enhancing SM synthesis in sea cucumber-associated fungi and expanding the resources of marine natural products. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Research on Fungal Secondary Metabolites, 3rd Edition)
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