Metabologenomic profiling of the endemic Australian fungus Aspergillus luteorubrus

Novel and rare fungal species continue to serve as an invaluable source of new natural products. In this study, we conducted a comprehensive metabologenomic assessment of the endemic Australian fungus Aspergillus luteorubrus MST-FP2246. Genome sequencing revealed that A. luteorubrus harbours a rich biosynthetic potential, including 42 biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) involved in secondary metabolite biosynthesis. Extensive chemical profiling of A. luteorubrus led to the identification of ten metabolites, including one novel compound, luteolactone A (1), and nine previously reported metabolites, dimethoxyphthalide (2), marilone B (3), (+)-dihydrocanadensolide (4), ascosteroside C (5), ascosteroside D (6), viridicatumtoxin A (7), aszonalenin (8), 6-hydroxyaszonalenin (9), and the recently described polyketide glycoside, luteodienoside A (10). By integrating prior knowledge with BGC analysis, eight of these metabolites were mapped to their corresponding BGCs, while the remaining BGCs represent an opportunity for novel metabolite discovery. Together, these findings underscore the rich biosynthetic capacity of A. luteorubrus and establish it as a promising target for future genome mining and novel secondary metabolites discovery.