Editorial: Fungal natural products themed issue

This themed issue is dedicated to three of our colleagues who have made seminal contributions to fungal natural products research: Professors Tom Simpson, Craig Townsend, and John Vederas. Recent advances in natural product biosynthesis have bridged a key knowledge gap in elucidating how fungi create such a diverse array of specialized metabolites. We believe that this issue will not only be of significant interest to those in the natural products community, but also to a broader readership interested in learning how complex organic molecules from fungi are assembled and utilized by society.

The issue covers diverse research topics related to fungal natural products. Three viewpoint articles by Tom Simpson, Craig Townsend, and John Vederas (DOI: 10.1039/C4NP00065J, 10.1039/C4NP00092G and 10.1039/C4NP00091A) share the authors’ views on the past, present and future of fungal natural products research. Welch and Williams comprehensively survey the structures, biosynthesis and anthropogenic synthesis of epidithiodioxopiperazines (DOI: 10.1039/C3NP70097F). Bills and coworkers summarize recent advances in the biosynthesis and discovery of fungal nonribosomal peptides, with a particular focus on the echinocandins (DOI: 10.1039/C4NP00046C). Cox discusses important examples of oxidative rearrangements in fungal natural product biosynthesis, drawing together key mechanistic themes (DOI: 10.1039/C4NP00059E). Shueffler and Anke highlight recent discoveries of novel natural products from fungi, and summarize recent developments in the applications of known compounds and new derivatives (DOI: 10.1039/C4NP00060A). Lim and Keller cover major breakthroughs in understanding the spatial and temporal regulation of fungal natural product biosynthesis (DOI: 10.1039/C4NP00083H). Insight from genomics into the biosynthetic potential of entomopathogenic fungi is covered by Gibson and coworkers (DOI: 10.1039/C4NP00054D). O'Connor and coworkers review the biosynthesis of ergot alkaloids, recapping the history of ergot alkaloid research and highlighting recent advances (DOI: 10.1039/C4NP00062E). Haas summarizes the knowledge of fungal siderophore metabolism, focusing on the model organism Aspergillus fumigatus (DOI: 10.1039/C4NP00071D). Schmidt-Dannert and coworkers comprehensively review recent advances in the biosynthesis of sesqui-, di- and triterpenoids (DOI: 10.1039/C4NP00075G). Lazarus, Williams and Bailey highlight recent developments in the methods for reconstruction and heterologous expression of fungal natural product biosynthetic pathways (DOI: 10.1039/C4NP00084F). Fujii and coworkers summarize recent studies of fungal type III polyketide synthases, providing a comprehensive analysis on the substrate tolerance of these enzymes and the ways in which they differ from the corresponding plant enzymes (DOI: 10.1039/C4NP00096J). Finally, an in-depth discussion of recent advances in elucidating the biosynthesis of fungal indole alkaloids, which also covers diversification strategies and downstream modification of alkaloids, is contributed by Tang and coworkers (DOI: 10.1039/C4NP00073K).

It is clear from this collection of articles that the fungal natural products field is flourishing. Knowledge gleaned from this exciting and highly interdisciplinary research is expected to impact significantly on the quest for new and improved drugs, pesticides and other high value chemicals.

Greg Challis

Shiou-Chuan (Sheryl) Tsai

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