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Molecular Characterization of a Fungal Ketide Synthase Gene Among Swainsonine-Producing Alternaria Species in the USA

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Abstract

Locoweeds are toxic leguminous plants in Astragalus and Oxytropis genera that contain fungal endophytes of Alternaria section Undifilum species. These fungi produce swainsonine, an alkaloid α-mannosidase inhibitor that causes a neurological syndrome, locoism in grazing animals. A SWN gene cluster has been identified in many swainsonine-producing fungi. The swnK gene, which is an essential component of the swainsonine biosynthetic pathway, encodes a polyketide synthase-nonribosomal peptide synthase (PKS-NRPS). To determine if swnK was conserved among Alternaria section Undifilum endophytes of locoweed, the sequence of the KS region of swnK was compared between various swainsonine-producing fungi. The internal transcribed spacer (ITS), and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GPD) regions from the same fungi were also assessed. Sequences were examined at the nucleotide and protein levels. Alternaria oxytropis, A. fulva, A. cinerea, and Alternaria sp. from Swainsona species produced distinct clades for all multigene data sets. swnK–KS sequence did not differ among fungi isolated from Astragalus mollissimus varieties or A. lentiginosus varieties. The swnK-KS amino acid sequence was essentially identical among all swainsonine-producing Alternaria sp. Two low swainsonine-producing fungi, Alternaria bornmuelleri and A. gansuense, clustered together, as did non-pathogen Alternaria endophytes. The swnK-KS sequence comparisons were effective in identifying swainsonine production capability and differentiating among swainsonine-producing fungal species.

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Data Availability

All the sequence data presented in this manuscript has been submitted to Genbank and the Accession numbers are listed in Table 1.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Ministry of Higher Education of Saudi Arabia and the Saudi Arabian Culture Mission and New Mexico State University for funding the educations of AIN and MN. We thank Deana Baucom for technical support and providing data prior to publication.

Funding

The Ministry of Higher Education of Saudi Arabia and the Saudi Arabian Culture Mission and New Mexico State University provided funding for the educations of AIN and MN.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Molecular Biology Program, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, 88001, USA

    Aziza I. Noor & Rebecca Creamer

  2. Department of Entomology, Plant Pathology, and Weed Science, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, 88003, USA

    Marwa Neyaz & Rebecca Creamer

  3. Poisonous Plant Laboratory, US Department of Agriculture, 1150 East 1400 North, Logan, UT, 84321, USA

    Daniel Cook

Authors
  1. Aziza I. Noor
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  2. Marwa Neyaz
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  4. Rebecca Creamer
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the research and writing of the paper. AIN conducted research, produced trees, and wrote the paper. MN did phylogenetic analyses, Genbank submissions, and wrote portions of the paper. DC helped mentor the research and writing. RC supervised all aspects of the research and wrote the paper.

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Correspondence to Rebecca Creamer.

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Noor, A.I., Neyaz, M., Cook, D. et al. Molecular Characterization of a Fungal Ketide Synthase Gene Among Swainsonine-Producing Alternaria Species in the USA. Curr Microbiol 77, 2554–2563 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-020-02111-2

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