(280g) Engineering Biosynthetic Pathways in Fungi

Filamentous fungi are prolific producers of important natural products, highlighted by the cholesterol lowering lovastatin, immunosuppressive cyclosporine, and the antibacterial penicillin. The biosynthetic pathways of major classes of fungal natural products have been elucidated in recent years, allowing a genome-guided approach to discovering new compounds that have novel structures and desired biological activities. In this talk, I will highlight our discoveries of new natural products from fungi for applications in both human therapeutics and in agriculture.