Abstract
The genus Fusarium can be utilized to produce a great variety of secondary metabolites under specific culture conditions, including pigments of increasing biotechnological interest, such as bikaverin. Such pigments are important due to the biological properties they possess, including antitumor and antibiotic activities, among others. In Fusarium fujikuroi, bik1–bik6 have been identified as the genes that are responsible for the synthesis of bikaverin. Therefore, in this study, we screened for the presence of bik genes and examined changes in mRNA levels of the bik genes under the influence of NH4NO3 (0.024, 0.048, 0.50, 1.0, and 4.60 g L−1) and NH4Cl (0.50 and 1.0 g L−1) as nitrogen sources for the phytopathogen Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici. Our results indicated the presence of at least six bik (bik1–bik6) genes and showed increased mRNA levels for bik4, bik5, and bik6 in conditions where NH4NO3 was used at pH 3.0. The characteristic coloration of bikaverin was obtained in 10 out of 16 culture conditions, except when the fungus was grown with higher concentrations of NH4NO3 (1.0 and 4.60 g L−1). The pigment was chloroform-extracted from the culture conditions of NH4NO3 (0.024, 0.048, and 0.50 g L−1) and NH4Cl (0.50 and 1.0 g L−1) with 3 and 9 days of incubation. Analysis via visible spectroscopy and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry were used for the identification of bikaverin.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank to the Secretaría de Investigación y Posgrado of the Instituto Politécnico Nacional for the support with the projects 20171056 and 20180587. We acknowledge the National Laboratory of Characterization of Physicochemical Properties and Molecular Structure (CONACYT-University of Guanajuato) by MALDI-TOF-MS analysis.
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This work was supported by the Secretaría de Investigación y Posgrado of the Instituto Politécnico Nacional with the projects 20171056 and 20180587.
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Fernanda Rodríguez-Torres carried out the experiments of extraction and identification under the supervision of Alma Rosa Corrales-Escobosa and Karla Lizbeth Macías-Sánchez. Raymundo Gutiérrez-Aguilar carried out the experiments of expression under the supervision of Víctor Meza-Carmen, and Karla Lizbeth Macías-Sánchez. Karla Lizbeth Macías-Sánchez conceived the idea. Fernanda Rodríguez-Torres, Raymundo Gutiérrez-Aguilar, Alma Rosa Corrales-Escobosa, Víctor Meza-Carmen, and Karla Lizbeth Macías-Sánchez made contribution to the manuscript.
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Rodríguez-Torres, M.F., Gutiérrez-Aguilar, R., Corrales-Escobosa, A.R. et al. Expression of bik cluster and production of bikaverin by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici grown using two alternate nitrogen sources. Int Microbiol 25, 153–164 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10123-021-00206-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10123-021-00206-9