Bioinformatic Comparative Analysis of Lovastatin Gene Cluster in Endophytic Fungi and a Soil Fungus, Aspergillus terreus

Abstract

Genes responsible for lovastatin production in certain fungi are often clustered (64kb DNA). In the present study, we report the comparative analysis of the genome of sixty one endophytic fungi and a soil fungus for the presence of lovastatin gene sequences. Nucleotide sequences were obtained from NCBI and aligned with lovastatin gene cluster sequence (AF141924.1& AF141925.1). DNA sequences that are identical to lovastatin gene were identified in Aspergillus terreus, (AH007774.1), a soil isolate, whereas all the other sixty one endophytic fungi including a species of Aspergillus terreus showed very limited or no homology with the lovastatin gene cluster.