Recent advances on the molecular aspects of ochratoxin A biosynthesis

- An update on OTA producing species is presented.
- Three key genes are involved in OTA production pks, nrps and hal.
- Possible involvement of two different pks genes in OTA production is discussed.
- Regulatory elements act at different level on OTA biosynthesis.

Recently, studies on the molecular aspects of ochratoxin A biosynthesis have significantly advanced. Differently from other mycotoxins, the genes and the enzymatic stages involved in biosynthesis pathway of ochratoxin A have remained long unknown. New ecological data have led to the definition of new producing species, responsible of ochratoxin A contamination in several food and feed. In parallel, genomics, transcriptomics and proteomics studies have provided new information to better define the molecular key steps of the mycotoxin biosynthesis. Further studies are still needed to completely clarify the regulatory mechanisms underlying the activation of the production of ochratoxin A. Previous findings on fungal secondary metabolism biosynthesis and the availability of new data from different omics approaches will permit to fill the gap of knowledge in the near future.