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. 1989 Aug;55(8):1981–1989. doi: 10.1128/aem.55.8.1981-1989.1989

Chloromethane, a Novel Methyl Donor for Biosynthesis of Esters and Anisoles in Phellinus pomaceus

David B Harper 1,*, John T G Hamilton 1, James T Kennedy 1, Kieran J McNally 1
PMCID: PMC202991  PMID: 16347989

Abstract

Chloromethane (CH3Cl), a gaseous natural product released as a secondary metabolite by many woodrotting fungi of the family Hymenochaetaceae, has been shown to act as a methyl donor for biosynthesis of methyl esters of benzoic and furoic acid in the primary metabolism of Phellinus pomaceus. The broad-specificity methylating system could esterify a wide range of aromatic and aliphatic acids. In addition to CH3Cl, both bromo- and iodomethanes acted as methyl donors. Methylation did not appear to proceed via methanol or a coenzyme A intermediate. The initial growth-related accumulation of methyl benzoate during culture of P. pomaceus was paralleled by an increase in activity of the methylating system in the mycelium. Changes in percent incorporation of C2H3 from exogenous C2H3Cl during growth indicated that although utilization of CH3Cl was initially closely coupled to biosynthesis of the compound, the system became less tightly channeled later in growth. This phase coincided with release of gaseous CH3Cl by the fungus. A biochemically distinct CH3Cl-utilizing system capable of methylating phenols and thiophenol was also identified in the fungus, but in contrast with the carboxylic acid-methylating system, it attained maximum activity in the idiophase. Preliminary investigations of a non-CH3Cl-releasing fungus, Fomitopsis pinicola, have shown the presence of a CH3Cl-utilizing system capable of methylating benzoic acid, suggesting that CH3Cl biosynthesis may occur in non-hymenochaetaceous fungi. Halogenated compounds hitherto found in nature are mainly stable end products of metabolism. The participation of CH3Cl in primary fungal metabolism demonstrates that some halometabolites may have a previously unrecognized role as intermediates in the biosynthesis of nonhalogenated natural products.

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1981

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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