Reconstitution of the early steps of gliotoxin biosynthesis in Aspergillus nidulans reveals the role of the monooxygenase GliC.

The gliotoxin, a member of the epipolythiodioxopiperazine (ETP), has received considerable attention from the scientific community for its wide range of biological activity. Despite the identification of gliotoxin cluster, however, the sequence of steps in the gliotoxin biosynthesis has remained elusive. As an alternative to the gene knock-out and biochemical approaches used so far, here we report using a heterologous expression approach to determine the sequence of the early steps of gliotoxin biosynthesis in Aspergillus nidulans. We identified the GliC, a monooxygenases that involved in the second step of gliotoxin biosynthesis pathway through the catalyzing the hydroxylation at the α-position of L-Phe.