A phosphoketolase Mpk1 of bacterial origin is adaptively required for full virulence in the insect-pathogenic fungus Metarhizium anisopliae.

Pentose metabolism through the phosphoketolase pathway has been well characterized in bacteria. In this paper, we report the identification of a phosphoketolase homologue Mpk1 in the insect-pathogenic fungus Metarhizium anisopliae. Phylogenetic analysis showed that fungal phosphoketolases are of bacterial origin and diverged into two superfamilies.