MINI REVIEW article
Front. Fungal Biol.
Sec. Fungal Secondary Metabolites and Mycotoxins
The terrein biosynthetic gene cluster of Aspergillus terreus: structure, function, regulation, and similar gene clusters
Provisionally accepted
- 1Plant Protection Institute, Centre for Agricultural Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary
- 2Department of Plant Anatomy, Institute of Biology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary, Budapest, Hungary
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Fungi synthesize a wide variety of secondary metabolites (SMs). The genes of the biosynthetic pathways of many of these compounds are encoded by biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs), which typically consist of a core biosynthetic enzyme, tailoring enzymes, transporters, and pathway-specific regulators. One of the well-studied fungal SMs is the polyketide terrein, which is produced by Aspergillus terreus and exhibits a wide range of biological activities, such as cytotoxic, phytotoxic, and antibacterial effects. The structure and function of the terrein BGC, the functions of the encoded proteins, and the processes controlling the transcriptional regulation of the BGC are summarized in this mini review. Both pathway-specific and global regulators and epigenetic regulation are presented. Furthermore, similar BGCs identified in other fungal taxa are introduced in short. Despite significant advances, key aspects of terrein biosynthesis, such as some protein functions, details of the BGC regulation, and SM ecological functions remain unresolved. Filling in these gaps will help us better understand the biology of fungal SMs and could pave the way for biotechnological applications.
Keywords: 6-hydroxymellein, Epigenetic regulation, gene knockout, overexpression, polyketide, Secondary metabolite, Transcriptional regulation
Received: 31 Aug 2025; Accepted: 11 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Németh, Csíkos and Kovács. 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: Márk Z. Németh
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