Genome mining of cryptic tetronate natural products from a PKS-NRPS encoding gene cluster in Trichoderma harzianum t-22.

Trichoderma harzianum is a widely used biocontrol agent in agriculture. Obtaining a full inventory of the small molecules that can be biosynthesized from the encoded biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) is therefore useful for understanding associated plant-microbe and microbe-microbe interactions. Here we heterologously reconstituted a polyketide synthase-nonribosomal peptide synthetase (PKS-NRPS) encoding gene cluster from T. harzianum t-22 in Aspergillus nidulans A1145. Six new tetronate natural products trihazone A–F (1–6) were isolated and elucidated by HRESIMS and 1D and 2D NMR data. Three of the products contain an exocyclic olefin, which is derived from the oxidative decarboxylation of an α-ketoglutarate-dependent dioxygenase ThnC as shown by biochemical assays.