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Abstract
Aflatoxins are notorious toxic secondary metabolites known for their impacts on human
and animal health, and their effects on the marketability of key grain and nut crops.
Understanding aflatoxin biosynthesis is the focus of a large and diverse research
community. Concerted efforts by this community have led not only to a well-characterized
biosynthetic pathway, but also to the discovery of novel regulatory mechanisms. Common
to secondary metabolism is the clustering of biosynthetic genes and their regulation
by pathway specific as well as global regulators. Recent data show that arrangement
of secondary metabolite genes in clusters may allow for an important global regulation
of secondary metabolism based on physical location along the chromosome. Available
genomic and proteomic tools are now allowing us to examine aflatoxin biosynthesis
more broadly and to put its regulation in context with fungal development and fungal
ecology. This review covers our current understanding of the biosynthesis and regulation
of aflatoxin and highlights new and emerging information garnered from structural
and functional genomics. The focus of this review will be on studies in Aspergillus
flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus, the two agronomically important species that produce
aflatoxin. Also covered will be the important contributions gained by studies on production
of the aflatoxin precursor sterigmatocystin in Aspergillus nidulans.