A genomics-guided study of the biosynthesis of microbial secondary metabolites

Microorganisms such as filamentous fungi and actinomycetes are prolific producers of structurally diverse secondary metabolites. Many microbial natural products have been developed into commercially valuable compounds such as pharmaceutical agents. After several decades of screening for bioactive compounds, the field of microbial natural product discovery is plagued with the problem of re-discovering already known compounds. To circumvent this challenge, we took a genomics-guided approach in this study to uncover the secondary metabolite synthesizing potential of the filamentous fungus Aspergillus westerdijkiae and the rare actinomycetes Nocardia jinanensis. The genome sequencing and characterization of certain secondary metabolism gene clusters described in this study sets the stage for exploring the full biosynthetic potential of the two highly prolific producers of secondary metabolite for the discovery of novel natural products and biosynthetic enzymes.DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (SBS