Aspergillus flavus’s Response to Antagonism Bacterial Stress Sheds Light on a Regulation and Metabolic Trade-Off Mechanism for Adversity Survival

Biocontrol
to combat the menace of Aspergillus flavus has gained considerable attention. However, the molecular mechanisms
of A. flavus ’s response to
antagonism biotic stress are poorly deciphered. Here, we discovered
that A. flavus switches an adaptive
metabolic reprogramming to ensure its adversity survival by multiomics
analyses (including four omics platform). Antifungal “weapons”
lipopeptides and antibacterial metabolites of imizoquin were identified.
The central metabolism fluxes were significantly depleted but the
expressions of most corresponding genes were considerably increased
in A. flavus. Secondary metabolism
that does not contribute to stress was markedly suppressed. In contrast, A. flavus antibacterial “weapon arsenal”
was activated to occupy an ecological niche. Our results revealed
that interlinked mitochondrial central metabolism and secondary metabolism
are central to A. flavus antagonism
biotic stress response. This discovery contributes to the targeted
design of biocontrol agents and smart regularization of rhizosphere
microbiome homeostasis to realize long-term fungi pathogen control
and mitigation mycotoxin contamination.