Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
6132085 | Current Opinion in Microbiology | 2013 | 17 Pages |
Abstract
Microbial antibiotics can mediate mutualisms and interorganism communications. Herbivorous animal dung offers opportunities for discovery of new antibiotics from microbial communities that compete for a nutrient-rich, ephemeral resource. Distinct lineages form a specialized community of coprophilous (dung-colonizing) fungi. Bacteria, protists, invertebrates, the mammalian digestive system, and other fungi can pose challenges to their fitness in the dung environment. The well-characterized diversity of dung fungi offers accessible systems for dissecting the function of antibiotics and for exploring fungal genomes for new antibiotics. Their potential for antibiotic discovery is evidenced by a high frequency of antifungal antibiotics and bioactive secondary metabolites from limited prior efforts and from mapping biosynthetic pathways in the genomes of the coprophilous fungi Podospora anserina and Sordaria macrospora.
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Authors
Gerald F Bills, James B Gloer, Zhiqiang An,