REVIEW article
Front. Fungal Biol.
Sec. Fungal Physiology and Metabolism
Volume 6 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/ffunb.2025.1621764
Regulation of melanin production in fungi
Provisionally accepted
- 1University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada
- 2Iowa State University, Ames, United States
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Melanin is a dark macromolecule found in organisms ranging from animals to fungi and plants. In fungi, melanin is a secondary metabolite that is not essential per se for growth but does provide various benefits that facilitate adaptation to stressful conditions such as UV light, desiccation, oxygen radicals and extreme temperatures. The biosynthetic pathways of most types of melanin are known and documented but the regulation of those pathways is not well understood. In fungi, known pathways for melanin production include those directing the synthesis of 1,8-DHN melanin and L-DOPA melanin, as well as the tyrosine degradation pathway. Genetic studies have identified structural genes and enzymes that play a role in these different melanin biosynthesis pathways. Recent studies have focused on the roles of various transcription factors (TFs) and signaling circuits (e.g., cAMP/PKA and the HOG pathway) in regulating the expression of the biosynthetic pathways. The review will provide insight into what is known about these TFs and regulatory circuits in diverse fungi in an attempt to identify common themes.
Keywords: Fungal melanin, Benefits of melanin, Melanin biosynthesis, Melanin biosynthetic pathways, transcription factors (TFs)
Received: 01 May 2025; Accepted: 07 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Chhoker, Hausner and Harris. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Steven Harris, Iowa State University, Ames, United States
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