Project description:Filamentous fungi are widely used in the production of biomass degrading enzymes, e.g. cellulases and pectinases. In order to study the secretome of biomass degrading fungi, proteomics studies were carried out on the extracellular proteins of fungal strains.
2024-01-03 | PXD048232 |
Project description:Revision of the crab genera Chiromantes and Pseudosesarma
Project description:To explore the effect of transcription factor POX01387 on transcription levels of plant-biomass-degrading enzyme-encoding genes in Penicillium oxalicum
Project description:Microarrays have become established tools for describing microbial systems, however the assessment of expression profiles for environmental microbial communities still presents unique challenges. Notably, the concentration of particular transcripts are likely very dilute relative to the pool of total RNA, and PCR-based amplification strategies are vulnerable to amplification biases and the appropriate primer selection. Thus, we apply a signal amplification approach, rather than template amplification, to analyze the expression of selected lignin-degrading enzymes in soil. Controls in the form of known amplicons and cDNA from Phanerochaete chrysosporium were included and mixed with the soil cDNA both before and after the signal amplification in order to assess the dynamic range of the microarray. We demonstrate that restored prairie soil expresses a diverse range of lignin-degrading enzymes following incubation with lignin substrate, while farmed agricultural soil does not. The mixed additions of control cDNA with soil cDNA indicate that the mixed biomass in the soil does interfere with low abundance transcript changes, nevertheless our microarray approach consistently reports the most robust signals. Keywords: comparative analysis, microbial ecology, soil microbial communities We used lignin degradation as a model process to demonstrate the use of an oligonucleotide microarray for directly detecting gene expression in soil communities using signal amplification instead of template amplification to avoid the introduction of PCR bias. In the current study, we analyzed mRNA isolated from two distinct soil microbial communities and demonstrate our ability to detect the expression of a small subset of lignin degrading genes following exposure to a lignitic substrate. We also included purified control amplicons and mixed target experiments with pure P. chrysosporium genomic cDNA to determine the level of interference from soil biomass on target hybridization.
Project description:Members of the fungal genus Armillaria are necrotrophic pathogens with efficient plant biomass-degrading strategies. Armillaria species are some of the largest terrestrial organisms on Earth that cause tremendous losses in diverse ecosystems. Despite their global importance, how Armillaria evolved pathogenicity in a clade of dominantly non-pathogenic wood-degraders (Agaricales) remains elusive. Here, using new genomic data, we show that Armillaria species, in addition to widespread gene duplications and de novo gene origins, appear to have acquired at least 1025 genes via 124 horizontal gene transfer (HGT) events, primarily from Ascomycota donors. Functional and expression data suggest that HGT might have affected plant biomass-degrading and virulence abilities of Armillaria, two pivotal traits in their lifestyle. HGT provides an explanation for their soft-rot like biomass degrading strategy too, which is markedly different from the primarily white rot decay mechanism of related species. Combined multi-species expression data revealed putative virulence factors, extensive regulation of horizontally acquired and wood-decay related genes as well as novel noserved pathogenicity-induced small secreted proteins (PiSSPs). Two PiSSPs induced necrosis in live plants, suggesting they are potential virulence effectors conserved across Armillaria. Overall, this study details how evolution knitted together horizontally and vertically inherited genes in complex adaptive traits, such as plant biomass degradation and pathogenicityin one of the most influential fungal pathogens of temperate forest ecosystems.
Project description:Members of the fungal genus Armillaria are necrotrophic pathogens with efficient plant biomass-degrading strategies. Armillaria species are some of the largest terrestrial organisms on Earth that cause tremendous losses in diverse ecosystems. Despite their global importance, how Armillaria evolved pathogenicity in a clade of dominantly non-pathogenic wood-degraders (Agaricales) remains elusive. Here, using new genomic data, we show that Armillaria species, in addition to widespread gene duplications and de novo gene origins, appear to have acquired at least 1025 genes via 124 horizontal gene transfer (HGT) events, primarily from Ascomycota donors. Functional and expression data suggest that HGT might have affected plant biomass-degrading and virulence abilities of Armillaria, two pivotal traits in their lifestyle. HGT provides an explanation for their soft-rot like biomass degrading strategy too, which is markedly different from the primarily white rot decay mechanism of related species. Combined multi-species expression data revealed putative virulence factors, extensive regulation of horizontally acquired and wood-decay related genes as well as novel noserved pathogenicity-induced small secreted proteins (PiSSPs). Two PiSSPs induced necrosis in live plants, suggesting they are potential virulence effectors conserved across Armillaria. Overall, this study details how evolution knitted together horizontally and vertically inherited genes in complex adaptive traits, such as plant biomass degradation and pathogenicityin one of the most influential fungal pathogens of temperate forest ecosystems.
Project description:Members of the fungal genus Armillaria are necrotrophic pathogens with efficient plant biomass-degrading strategies. Armillaria species are some of the largest terrestrial organisms on Earth that cause tremendous losses in diverse ecosystems. Despite their global importance, how Armillaria evolved pathogenicity in a clade of dominantly non-pathogenic wood-degraders (Agaricales) remains elusive. Here, using new genomic data, we show that Armillaria species, in addition to widespread gene duplications and de novo gene origins, appear to have acquired at least 1025 genes via 124 horizontal gene transfer (HGT) events, primarily from Ascomycota donors. Functional and expression data suggest that HGT might have affected plant biomass-degrading and virulence abilities of Armillaria, two pivotal traits in their lifestyle. HGT provides an explanation for their soft-rot like biomass degrading strategy too, which is markedly different from the primarily white rot decay mechanism of related species. Combined multi-species expression data revealed putative virulence factors, extensive regulation of horizontally acquired and wood-decay related genes as well as novel noserved pathogenicity-induced small secreted proteins (PiSSPs). Two PiSSPs induced necrosis in live plants, suggesting they are potential virulence effectors conserved across Armillaria. Overall, this study details how evolution knitted together horizontally and vertically inherited genes in complex adaptive traits, such as plant biomass degradation and pathogenicityin one of the most influential fungal pathogens of temperate forest ecosystems.