Understanding the secondary metabolite production of Gibberella fujikuroi species complex in genomic era

The Gibberella fujikuroi complex (GFC), consists of more than 50 anamorphs and 11 sexually fertile biological species (mating populations MP-A to MP-K) in the genus Fusarium is responsible for devastating diseases of economically important agricultural and horticultural plants. This species complex is known for variety of secondary metabolites like fumonisins, fusaroproliferin, moniliformin, beauvericin, fusaric acid, and gibberellins. Further, secondary metabolites production varies among the closely related species of GFC. Therefore, production of a specific metabolite by the species of GFC may be informative for the species identification and phylogenetic characterization. Recently, genome of some members of GFC are sequenced which helped these species to link with the products of several biosynthetic clusters. This review presents the current status of research on identification and functional characterizations of novel secondary metabolite gene clusters. As detailed of secondary metabolites synthesis genes are characterized in Fusarium fujikuroi therefore, genes involved for the biosynthesis of different secondary metabolites were emphasized in F. fujikuroi along with other Fusarium spp. of G. fujikuroi species complex.