Publication - Journal Article Anaerobic gut fungi are an untapped reservoir of natural products

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 118, iss. 18, 2021

Candice L. Swift, Katherine B. Louie, Benjamin P. Bowen, Heather M. Olson, Samuel O. Purvine, Asaf Salamov, Stephen J. Mondo, Kevin V. Solomon, Aaron T. Wright, Trent R. Northen, Igor V. Grigoriev, Nancy P. Keller, Michelle A. O’Malley

Significance Anaerobic gut fungi are important members of the gut microbiome of herbivores, yet they exist in small numbers relative to bacteria. Here, we show that these early-branching fungi produce a wealth of secondary metabolites (natural products) that may act to regulate the gut microbiome. We use an integrated 'omics'-based approach to classify the biosynthetic genes predicted from fungal genomes, determine transcriptionally active genes, and verify the presence of their enzymatic products. Our analysis reveals that anaerobic gut fungi are an untapped reservoir of bioactive compounds that could be harnessed for biotechnology.