Melleolides from Armillaria species

The basidiomycete Armillaria mellea (honey mushroom) is a notorious forest- and tree pathogen. It produces melleolide natural products, i.e., a family of structurally related phytotoxic and antibiotically active sesquiterpene aryl esters. Current work is focused on their structure-activity relationship. In collaboration with HKI’s department Molecular and Applied Microbiology, transcriptomics are used to elucidate how the melleolides impact secondary metabolism of the model fungus Aspergillus nidulans.