ABSTRACT

This book deals with a range of scientific and industrial issues concerning fungal secondary metabolism and bioactive secondary metabolites. Although cell division is the cornerstone of biology, a role of cell cycle regulation in fungal secondary metabolism has not been investigated. However, it has long been known that production of secondary metabolites usually is associated with cell differentiation and development by organisms with filamentous growth and a complex morphology [1]. Moreover, a link between biosynthesis of secondary metabolites and asexual development recently was established by analysis of a G-protein mutant in A. nidulans [2]. It also was shown recently that an interaction between developmental regulators and cell cycle regulators is required for normal cell differentiation and morphogenesis during asexual development in A. nidulans [3]. Reinhard Fischer’s laboratory has since provided further evidence supporting an impor-

tant role of cell cycle regulators in Aspergillus development [4,5]. Most intriguingly, a C-type cyclin-like gene, FCC1, is shown to play an important regulatory role in both fumonisin B1 biosynthesis and asexual development in Fusarium verticillioides [6]. Thus, it is highly conceivable that cell cycle regulation plays an important role in fungal secondary metabolism, at least through its role in fungal development and morphogenesis.