title: Origins and significance of ergot alkaloid diversity in fungi.
abstract: Ergot alkaloids are a diverse family of indole-derived mycotoxins that collectively have activities against a variety of organisms including bacteria, nematodes, insects, and mammals. Different fungi accumulate different, often characteristic, profiles of ergot alkaloids rather than a single pathway end product. These ergot alkaloid profiles result from inefficiency in the pathway leading to accumulation of certain intermediates or diversion of intermediates into shunts along the pathway. The inefficiency generating these ergot alkaloid profiles may have been selected for as a means of accumulating a diversity of ergot alkaloids, potentially contributing in different ways to benefit the producing fungus.
authors.affiliation: Division of Plant and Soil Sciences, West Virginia University, P.O. Box 6058, Morgantown, WV 26506-6058, USA. danpan@mail.wvu.edu
authors.forename: Daniel G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Panaccione
mesh_terms: D004876:Ergot Alkaloids / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000737:chemistry*; D005658:Fungi / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D005800:Genes, Fungal; D009183:Mycotoxins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D004876:Ergot Alkaloids; D009183:Mycotoxins