Effect of Artificial Reconstitution of the Interaction between the Plant Camptotheca acuminata and the Fungal Endophyte Fusarium solani on Camptothecin Biosynthesis

Fungal endophytes inhabit healthy tissues of all terrestrial plant taxa studied and occasionally produce host-specific compounds. We recently isolated an endophytic fungus, Fusarium solani, from Camptotheca acuminata, capable of biosynthesizing camptothecin (CPT, 1), but this capability substantially decreased on repeated subculturing. The endophyte with an impaired 1 biosynthetic capability was artificially inoculated into the living host plants and then recovered after colonization. Although the host−endophyte interaction could be reconstituted, biosynthesis of 1 could not be restored. Using a homology-based approach and high-precision isotope-ratio mass spectrometry (HP-IRMS), a cross-species biosynthetic pathway is proposed where the endophyte utilizes indigenous G10H (geraniol 10-hydroxylase), SLS (secologanin synthase), and TDC (tryptophan decarboxylase) to biosynthesize precursors of 1. However, the endophyte requires host STR (strictosidine synthase) in order to condense the nitrogen-containing moiety (tryptamine, 2) with the carbon-containing moiety (secologanin, 3) to form strictosidine (4) and complete the biosynthesis of 1. Biosynthetic genes of 1 in the seventh subculture generation of the endophyte revealed random and unpredictable nonsynonymous mutations. These random base substitutions led to dysfunction at the amino acid level. The controls, Top1 gene and rDNA, remained intact over subculturing, revealing that instability of biosynthetic genes of 1 was not reflected in the primary metabolic processes and functioning of the housekeeping genes. The present results reveal the causes of decreased production of 1 on subculturing, which could not be reversed by host−endophyte reassociation.