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Puginier C, Libourel C, Otte J, Skaloud P, Haon M, Grisel S, Petersen M, Berrin JG, Delaux PM, Dal Grande F, Keller J. Phylogenomics reveals the evolutionary origins of lichenization in chlorophyte algae. Nat Commun 2024; 15:4452. [PMID: 38789482 PMCID: PMC11126685 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-48787-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/25/2023] [Accepted: 05/10/2024] [Indexed: 05/26/2024] Open
Abstract
Mutualistic symbioses have contributed to major transitions in the evolution of life. Here, we investigate the evolutionary history and the molecular innovations at the origin of lichens, which are a symbiosis established between fungi and green algae or cyanobacteria. We de novo sequence the genomes or transcriptomes of 12 lichen algal symbiont (LAS) and closely related non-symbiotic algae (NSA) to improve the genomic coverage of Chlorophyte algae. We then perform ancestral state reconstruction and comparative phylogenomics. We identify at least three independent gains of the ability to engage in the lichen symbiosis, one in Trebouxiophyceae and two in Ulvophyceae, confirming the convergent evolution of the lichen symbioses. A carbohydrate-active enzyme from the glycoside hydrolase 8 (GH8) family was identified as a top candidate for the molecular-mechanism underlying lichen symbiosis in Trebouxiophyceae. This GH8 was acquired in lichenizing Trebouxiophyceae by horizontal gene transfer, concomitantly with the ability to associate with lichens fungal symbionts (LFS) and is able to degrade polysaccharides found in the cell wall of LFS. These findings indicate that a combination of gene family expansion and horizontal gene transfer provided the basis for lichenization to evolve in chlorophyte algae.
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Affiliation(s)
- Camille Puginier
- Laboratoire de Recherche en Sciences Végétales (LRSV), Université de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, INP, Toulouse, 31320, Castanet-Tolosan, France
| | - Cyril Libourel
- Laboratoire de Recherche en Sciences Végétales (LRSV), Université de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, INP, Toulouse, 31320, Castanet-Tolosan, France
| | - Juergen Otte
- Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (SBiK-F), Senckenberganlage 25, 60325, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Pavel Skaloud
- Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Benátská 2, CZ-12800, Praha 2, Czech Republic
| | - Mireille Haon
- INRAE, Aix Marseille Université, UMR1163 Biodiversité et Biotechnologie Fongiques (BBF), 13009, Marseille, France
- INRAE, Aix Marseille Université, 3PE Platform, 13009, Marseille, France
| | - Sacha Grisel
- INRAE, Aix Marseille Université, UMR1163 Biodiversité et Biotechnologie Fongiques (BBF), 13009, Marseille, France
- INRAE, Aix Marseille Université, 3PE Platform, 13009, Marseille, France
| | - Malte Petersen
- High Performance Computing & Analytics Lab, University of Bonn, Friedrich-Hirzebruch-Allee 8, 53115, Bonn, Germany
| | - Jean-Guy Berrin
- INRAE, Aix Marseille Université, UMR1163 Biodiversité et Biotechnologie Fongiques (BBF), 13009, Marseille, France
- INRAE, Aix Marseille Université, 3PE Platform, 13009, Marseille, France
| | - Pierre-Marc Delaux
- Laboratoire de Recherche en Sciences Végétales (LRSV), Université de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, INP, Toulouse, 31320, Castanet-Tolosan, France.
| | - Francesco Dal Grande
- Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (SBiK-F), Senckenberganlage 25, 60325, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
- LOEWE Centre for Translational Biodiversity Genomics (TBG), Senckenberganlage 25, 60325, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
- Department of Biology, University of Padova, Padua, Italy.
| | - Jean Keller
- Laboratoire de Recherche en Sciences Végétales (LRSV), Université de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, INP, Toulouse, 31320, Castanet-Tolosan, France.
- Department of Insect Symbiosis, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, 07745, Jena, Germany.
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Cho M, Lee SJ, Choi E, Kim J, Choi S, Lee JH, Park H. An Antarctic lichen isolate (Cladonia borealis) genome reveals potential adaptation to extreme environments. Sci Rep 2024; 14:1342. [PMID: 38228797 PMCID: PMC10792129 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-51895-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2023] [Accepted: 01/10/2024] [Indexed: 01/18/2024] Open
Abstract
Cladonia borealis is a lichen that inhabits Antarctica's harsh environment. We sequenced the whole genome of a C. borealis culture isolated from a specimen collected in Antarctica using long-read sequencing technology to identify specific genetic elements related to its potential environmental adaptation. The final genome assembly produced 48 scaffolds, the longest being 2.2 Mbp, a 1.6 Mbp N50 contig length, and a 36 Mbp total length. A total of 10,749 protein-coding genes were annotated, containing 33 biosynthetic gene clusters and 102 carbohydrate-active enzymes. A comparative genomics analysis was conducted on six Cladonia species, and the genome of C. borealis exhibited 45 expanded and 50 contracted gene families. We identified that C. borealis has more Copia transposable elements and expanded transporters (ABC transporters and magnesium transporters) compared to other Cladonia species. Our results suggest that these differences contribute to C. borealis' remarkable adaptability in the Antarctic environment. This study also provides a useful resource for the genomic analysis of lichens and genetic insights into the survival of species isolated from Antarctica.
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Affiliation(s)
- Minjoo Cho
- Department of Biotechnology, College of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Korea University, Seoul, 02841, South Korea
| | - Seung Jae Lee
- Department of Biotechnology, College of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Korea University, Seoul, 02841, South Korea
| | - Eunkyung Choi
- Department of Biotechnology, College of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Korea University, Seoul, 02841, South Korea
| | - Jinmu Kim
- Department of Biotechnology, College of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Korea University, Seoul, 02841, South Korea
| | - Soyun Choi
- Department of Biotechnology, College of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Korea University, Seoul, 02841, South Korea
| | - Jun Hyuck Lee
- Research Unit of Cryogenic Novel Material, Korea Polar Research Institute, Incheon, 21990, South Korea.
- Department of Polar Sciences, University of Science and Technology, Incheon, 21990, South Korea.
| | - Hyun Park
- Department of Biotechnology, College of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Korea University, Seoul, 02841, South Korea.
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Adams JN, Escalona M, Marimuthu MPA, Fairbairn CW, Beraut E, Seligmann W, Nguyen O, Chumchim N, Stajich JE. The reference genome assembly of the bright cobblestone lichen, Acarospora socialis. J Hered 2023; 114:707-714. [PMID: 37740386 PMCID: PMC10650946 DOI: 10.1093/jhered/esad052] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/04/2023] [Revised: 08/25/2023] [Accepted: 09/04/2023] [Indexed: 09/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Acarospora socialis, the bright cobblestone lichen, is commonly found in southwestern North America. This charismatic yellow lichen is a species of key ecological significance as it is often a pioneer species in new environments. Despite their ecological importance virtually no research has been conducted on the genomics of A. socialis. To address this, we used long-read sequencing to generate the first high-quality draft genome of A. socialis. Lichen thallus tissue was collected from Pinkham Canyon in Joshua Tree National Park, California and deposited in the UC Riverside herbarium under accession #295874. The de novo assembly of the mycobiont partner of the lichen was generated from Pacific Biosciences HiFi long reads and Dovetail Omni-C chromatin capture data. After removing algal and bacterial contigs, the fungal genome was approximately 31.2 Mb consisting of 38 scaffolds with contig and scaffold N50 of 2.4 Mb. The BUSCO completeness score of the assembled genome was 97.5% using the Ascomycota gene set. Information on the genome of A. socialis is important for California conservation purposes given that this lichen is threatened in some places locally by wildfires due to climate change. This reference genome will be used for understanding the genetic diversity, population genomics, and comparative genomics of A. socialis species. Genomic resources for this species will support population and landscape genomics investigations, exploring the use of A. socialis as a bioindicator species for climate change, and in studies of adaptation by comparing populations that occur across aridity gradients in California.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julia N Adams
- Department of Botany and Plant Sciences, University of California Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521, United States
- Department of Microbiology and Plant Pathology, University of California Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521, United States
| | - Merly Escalona
- Department of Biomolecular Engineering, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, United States
| | - Mohan P A Marimuthu
- DNA Technologies and Expression Analysis Core Laboratory, Genome Center, University of California-Davis, Davis, CA 95616, United States
| | - Colin W Fairbairn
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, United States
| | - Eric Beraut
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, United States
| | - William Seligmann
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, United States
| | - Oanh Nguyen
- DNA Technologies and Expression Analysis Core Laboratory, Genome Center, University of California-Davis, Davis, CA 95616, United States
| | - Noravit Chumchim
- DNA Technologies and Expression Analysis Core Laboratory, Genome Center, University of California-Davis, Davis, CA 95616, United States
| | - Jason E Stajich
- Department of Microbiology and Plant Pathology, University of California Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521, United States
- Institute for Integrative Genome Biology, University of California Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521, United States
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Merges D, Dal Grande F, Valim H, Singh G, Schmitt I. Gene abundance linked to climate zone: Parallel evolution of gene content along elevation gradients in lichenized fungi. Front Microbiol 2023; 14:1097787. [PMID: 37032854 PMCID: PMC10073550 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1097787] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2022] [Accepted: 02/23/2023] [Indexed: 04/11/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction Intraspecific genomic variability affects a species' adaptive potential toward climatic conditions. Variation in gene content across populations and environments may point at genomic adaptations to specific environments. The lichen symbiosis, a stable association of fungal and photobiont partners, offers an excellent system to study environmentally driven gene content variation. Many of these species have remarkable environmental tolerances, and often form populations across different climate zones. Here, we combine comparative and population genomics to assess the presence and absence of genes in high and low elevation genomes of two lichenized fungi of the genus Umbilicaria. Methods The two species have non-overlapping ranges, but occupy similar climatic niches in North America (U. phaea) and Europe (U. pustulata): high elevation populations are located in the cold temperate zone and low elevation populations in the Mediterranean zone. We assessed gene content variation along replicated elevation gradients in each of the two species, based on a total of 2050 individuals across 26 populations. Specifically, we assessed shared orthologs across species within the same climate zone, and tracked, which genes increase or decrease in abundance within populations along elevation. Results In total, we found 16 orthogroups with shared orthologous genes in genomes at low elevation and 13 at high elevation. Coverage analysis revealed one ortholog that is exclusive to genomes at low elevation. Conserved domain search revealed domains common to the protein kinase superfamily. We traced the discovered ortholog in populations along five replicated elevation gradients on both continents and found that the number of this protein kinase gene linearly declined in abundance with increasing elevation, and was absent in the highest populations. Discussion We consider the parallel loss of an ortholog in two species and in two geographic settings a rare find, and a step forward in understanding the genomic underpinnings of climatic tolerances in lichenized fungi. In addition, the tracking of gene content variation provides a widely applicable framework for retrieving biogeographical determinants of gene presence/absence patterns. Our work provides insights into gene content variation of lichenized fungi in relation to climatic gradients, suggesting a new research direction with implications for understanding evolutionary trajectories of complex symbioses in relation to climatic change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dominik Merges
- Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- LOEWE Centre for Translational Biodiversity Genomics (LOEWE-TBG), Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Department of Forest Mycology and Plant Pathology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
- *Correspondence: Dominik Merges,
| | - Francesco Dal Grande
- Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- LOEWE Centre for Translational Biodiversity Genomics (LOEWE-TBG), Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Department of Biology, University of Padova, Padua, Italy
- National Biodiversity Future Center (NBFC), Palermo, Italy
| | - Henrique Valim
- Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- LOEWE Centre for Translational Biodiversity Genomics (LOEWE-TBG), Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Garima Singh
- Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- LOEWE Centre for Translational Biodiversity Genomics (LOEWE-TBG), Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Department of Biology, University of Padova, Padua, Italy
| | - Imke Schmitt
- Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- LOEWE Centre for Translational Biodiversity Genomics (LOEWE-TBG), Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Goethe University Frankfurt, Institute of Ecology, Evolution and Diversity, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
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A Candidate Gene Cluster for the Bioactive Natural Product Gyrophoric Acid in Lichen-Forming Fungi. Microbiol Spectr 2022; 10:e0010922. [PMID: 35867425 PMCID: PMC9430680 DOI: 10.1128/spectrum.00109-22] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Natural products of lichen-forming fungi are structurally diverse and have a variety of medicinal properties. Despite this, they have limited implementation in industry mostly because the corresponding genes are unknown for most of their natural products. Here, we implement a long-read sequencing and bioinformatic approach to identify the putative biosynthetic gene cluster of the bioactive natural product gyrophoric acid (GA). Using 15 high-quality genomes representing nine GA-producing species of the lichen-forming fungal genus Umbilicaria, we identify the most likely GA cluster and investigate the cluster gene organization and composition across the nine species. Our results show that GA clusters are promiscuous within Umbilicaria, and only three genes are conserved across species, including the polyketide synthase (PKS) gene. In addition, our results suggest that the same cluster codes for different, but structurally similar compounds, namely, GA, umbilicaric-, and hiascic acid, bringing new evidence that lichen metabolite diversity is also generated through regulatory mechanisms at the molecular level. Ours is the first study to identify the most likely GA cluster and, thus, provides essential information to open new avenues for biotechnological approaches to producing and modifying GA and similar lichen-derived compounds. GA PKS is the first tridepside PKS to be identified. IMPORTANCE The implementation of natural products in the pharmaceutical industry relies on the possibility of modifying the natural product (NP) pathway to optimize yields and pharmacological effects. Characterization of genes and pathways underlying natural product biosynthesis is a major bottleneck for exploiting the medicinal properties of the natural products. Genome mining is a promising and relatively cost- and time-effective approach to utilize unexplored NP resources for drug discovery. In this study, we identify the most likely gene cluster for the lichen-forming fungal depside gyrophoric acid in nine Umbilicaria species. This compound shows cytotoxic and antiproliferative properties against several cancer cell lines and is also a broad-spectrum antimicrobial agent. This information paves the way for generating GA analogs with modified properties by selective activation/deactivation of genes.
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