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Ciach MA, Pawłowska J, Górecki P, Muszewska A. The interkingdom horizontal gene transfer in 44 early diverging fungi boosted their metabolic, adaptive, and immune capabilities. Evol Lett 2024; 8:526-538. [PMID: 39100235 PMCID: PMC11291939 DOI: 10.1093/evlett/qrae009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2023] [Revised: 02/14/2024] [Accepted: 02/20/2024] [Indexed: 08/06/2024] Open
Abstract
Numerous studies have been devoted to individual cases of horizontally acquired genes in fungi. It has been shown that such genes expand the hosts' metabolic capabilities and contribute to their adaptations as parasites or symbionts. Some studies have provided an extensive characterization of the horizontal gene transfer (HGT) in Dikarya. However, in the early diverging fungi (EDF), a similar characterization is still missing. In order to fill this gap, we have designed a computational pipeline to obtain a statistical sample of reliable HGT events with a low false discovery rate. We have analyzed 44 EDF proteomes and identified 829 xenologs in fungi ranging from Chytridiomycota to Mucoromycota. We have identified several patterns and statistical properties of EDF HGT. We show that HGT is driven by bursts of gene exchange and duplication, resulting in highly divergent numbers and molecular properties of xenologs between fungal lineages. Ancestrally aquatic fungi are generally more likely to acquire foreign genetic material than terrestrial ones. Endosymbiotic bacteria can be a source of useful xenologs, as exemplified by NOD-like receptors transferred to Mortierellomycota. Closely related fungi have similar rates of intronization of xenologs. Posttransfer gene fusions and losses of protein domains are common and may influence the encoded proteins' functions. We argue that there is no universal approach for HGT identification and inter- and intra-kingdom transfers require tailored identification methods. Our results help to better understand how and to what extent HGT has shaped the metabolic, adaptive, and immune capabilities of fungi.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michał Aleksander Ciach
- Faculty of Mathematics, Informatics and Mechanics, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
- Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Julia Pawłowska
- Institute of Evolutionary Biology, Faculty of Biology, Biological and Chemical Research Centre, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Paweł Górecki
- Faculty of Mathematics, Informatics and Mechanics, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Anna Muszewska
- Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
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2
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Pawlowska TE. Symbioses between fungi and bacteria: from mechanisms to impacts on biodiversity. Curr Opin Microbiol 2024; 80:102496. [PMID: 38875733 PMCID: PMC11323152 DOI: 10.1016/j.mib.2024.102496] [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: 07/10/2023] [Revised: 05/20/2024] [Accepted: 05/31/2024] [Indexed: 06/16/2024]
Abstract
Symbiotic interactions between fungi and bacteria range from positive to negative. They are ubiquitous in free-living as well as host-associated microbial communities worldwide. Yet, the impact of fungal-bacterial symbioses on the organization and dynamics of microbial communities is uncertain. There are two reasons for this uncertainty: (1) knowledge gaps in the understanding of the genetic mechanisms underpinning fungal-bacterial symbioses and (2) prevailing interpretations of ecological theory that favor antagonistic interactions as drivers stabilizing biological communities despite the existence of models emphasizing contributions of positive interactions. This review synthesizes information on fungal-bacterial symbioses common in the free-living microbial communities of the soil as well as in host-associated polymicrobial biofilms. The interdomain partnerships are considered in the context of the relevant community ecology models, which are discussed critically.
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Affiliation(s)
- Teresa E Pawlowska
- School of Integrative Plant Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
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3
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Lax C, Mondo SJ, Osorio-Concepción M, Muszewska A, Corrochano-Luque M, Gutiérrez G, Riley R, Lipzen A, Guo J, Hundley H, Amirebrahimi M, Ng V, Lorenzo-Gutiérrez D, Binder U, Yang J, Song Y, Cánovas D, Navarro E, Freitag M, Gabaldón T, Grigoriev IV, Corrochano LM, Nicolás FE, Garre V. Symmetric and asymmetric DNA N6-adenine methylation regulates different biological responses in Mucorales. Nat Commun 2024; 15:6066. [PMID: 39025853 PMCID: PMC11258239 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-50365-2] [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: 01/30/2024] [Accepted: 07/05/2024] [Indexed: 07/20/2024] Open
Abstract
DNA N6-adenine methylation (6mA) has recently gained importance as an epigenetic modification in eukaryotes. Its function in lineages with high levels, such as early-diverging fungi (EDF), is of particular interest. Here, we investigated the biological significance and evolutionary implications of 6mA in EDF, which exhibit divergent evolutionary patterns in 6mA usage. The analysis of two Mucorales species displaying extreme 6mA usage reveals that species with high 6mA levels show symmetric methylation enriched in highly expressed genes. In contrast, species with low 6mA levels show mostly asymmetric 6mA. Interestingly, transcriptomic regulation throughout development and in response to environmental cues is associated with changes in the 6mA landscape. Furthermore, we identify an EDF-specific methyltransferase, likely originated from endosymbiotic bacteria, as responsible for asymmetric methylation, while an MTA-70 methylation complex performs symmetric methylation. The distinct phenotypes observed in the corresponding mutants reinforced the critical role of both types of 6mA in EDF.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carlos Lax
- Departamento de Genética y Microbiología, Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, Spain
| | - Stephen J Mondo
- U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
- Department of Agricultural Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, 80523, USA
- Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Macario Osorio-Concepción
- Departamento de Genética y Microbiología, Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, Spain
| | - Anna Muszewska
- Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Pawinskiego 5A, 02-106, Warsaw, Poland
| | | | - Gabriel Gutiérrez
- Departamento de Genética, Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain
| | - Robert Riley
- U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Anna Lipzen
- U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Jie Guo
- U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Hope Hundley
- U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Mojgan Amirebrahimi
- U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Vivian Ng
- U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Damaris Lorenzo-Gutiérrez
- Departamento de Genética y Microbiología, Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, Spain
| | - Ulrike Binder
- Institute of Hygiene and Medical Microbiology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Junhuan Yang
- College of Food Science and Engineering, Lingnan Normal University, Zhanjiang, 524048, China
| | - Yuanda Song
- Colin Ratledge Center for Microbial Lipids, School of Agricultural Engineering and Food Science, Shandong University of Technology, Zibo, 255049, China
| | - David Cánovas
- Departamento de Genética, Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain
| | - Eusebio Navarro
- Departamento de Genética y Microbiología, Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, Spain
| | - Michael Freitag
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, 97331, USA
| | - Toni Gabaldón
- Barcelona Supercomputing Centre (BSC-CNS), Plaça Eusebi Güell, 1-3, 08034, Barcelona, Spain
- Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Baldiri Reixac, 10, 08028, Barcelona, Spain
- Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Infecciosas (CIBERINFEC), Barcelona, Spain
| | - Igor V Grigoriev
- U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
- Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
- Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Luis M Corrochano
- Departamento de Genética, Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain.
| | - Francisco E Nicolás
- Departamento de Genética y Microbiología, Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, Spain.
| | - Victoriano Garre
- Departamento de Genética y Microbiología, Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, Spain.
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4
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Vargas-Gastélum L, Romer AS, Ghotbi M, Dallas JW, Alexander NR, Moe KC, McPhail KL, Neuhaus GF, Shadmani L, Spatafora JW, Stajich JE, Tabima JF, Walker DM. Herptile gut microbiomes: a natural system to study multi-kingdom interactions between filamentous fungi and bacteria. mSphere 2024; 9:e0047523. [PMID: 38349154 PMCID: PMC10964425 DOI: 10.1128/msphere.00475-23] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2023] [Accepted: 01/10/2024] [Indexed: 03/27/2024] Open
Abstract
Reptiles and amphibians (herptiles) are some of the most endangered and threatened species on the planet and numerous conservation strategies are being implemented with the goal of ensuring species recovery. Little is known, however, about the gut microbiome of wild herptiles and how it relates to the health of these populations. Here, we report results from the gut microbiome characterization of both a broad survey of herptiles, and the correlation between the fungus Basidiobolus, and the bacterial community supported by a deeper, more intensive sampling of Plethodon glutinosus, known as slimy salamanders. We demonstrate that bacterial communities sampled from frogs, lizards, and salamanders are structured by the host taxonomy and that Basidiobolus is a common and natural component of these wild gut microbiomes. Intensive sampling of multiple hosts across the ecoregions of Tennessee revealed that geography and host:geography interactions are strong predictors of distinct Basidiobolus operational taxonomic units present within a given host. Co-occurrence analyses of Basidiobolus and bacterial community diversity support a correlation and interaction between Basidiobolus and bacteria, suggesting that Basidiobolus may play a role in structuring the bacterial community. We further the hypothesis that this interaction is advanced by unique specialized metabolism originating from horizontal gene transfer from bacteria to Basidiobolus and demonstrate that Basidiobolus is capable of producing a diversity of specialized metabolites including small cyclic peptides.IMPORTANCEThis work significantly advances our understanding of biodiversity and microbial interactions in herptile microbiomes, the role that fungi play as a structural and functional members of herptile gut microbiomes, and the chemical functions that structure microbiome phenotypes. We also provide an important observational system of how the gut microbiome represents a unique environment that selects for novel metabolic functions through horizontal gene transfer between fungi and bacteria. Such studies are needed to better understand the complexity of gut microbiomes in nature and will inform conservation strategies for threatened species of herpetofauna.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lluvia Vargas-Gastélum
- Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, USA
| | - Alexander S. Romer
- Department of Biology, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, USA
| | - Marjan Ghotbi
- Research Division 3, Marine Ecology, GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - Jason W. Dallas
- Department of Biology, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, USA
| | - N. Reed Alexander
- Department of Biology, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, USA
| | - Kylie C. Moe
- Department of Biology, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, USA
| | - Kerry L. McPhail
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, USA
| | - George F. Neuhaus
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, USA
| | - Leila Shadmani
- Department of Microbiology and Plant Pathology, University of California Riverside, Riverside, California, USA
| | - Joseph W. Spatafora
- Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, USA
| | - Jason E. Stajich
- Department of Microbiology and Plant Pathology, University of California Riverside, Riverside, California, USA
- Institute for Integrative Genome Biology, University of California, Riverside, California, USA
| | - Javier F. Tabima
- Department of Biology, Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Donald M. Walker
- Department of Biology, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, USA
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5
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Gryganskyi AP, Hajek AE, Voloshchuk N, Idnurm A, Eilenberg J, Manfrino RG, Bushley KE, Kava L, Kutovenko VB, Anike F, Nie Y. Potential for Use of Species in the Subfamily Erynioideae for Biological Control and Biotechnology. Microorganisms 2024; 12:168. [PMID: 38257994 PMCID: PMC10820730 DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms12010168] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2023] [Revised: 01/08/2024] [Accepted: 01/10/2024] [Indexed: 01/24/2024] Open
Abstract
The fungal order Entomophthorales in the Zoopagomycota includes many fungal pathogens of arthropods. This review explores six genera in the subfamily Erynioideae within the family Entomophthoraceae, namely, Erynia, Furia, Orthomyces, Pandora, Strongwellsea, and Zoophthora. This is the largest subfamily in the Entomophthorales, including 126 described species. The species diversity, global distribution, and host range of this subfamily are summarized. Relatively few taxa are geographically widespread, and few have broad host ranges, which contrasts with many species with single reports from one location and one host species. The insect orders infected by the greatest numbers of species are the Diptera and Hemiptera. Across the subfamily, relatively few species have been cultivated in vitro, and those that have require more specialized media than many other fungi. Given their potential to attack arthropods and their position in the fungal evolutionary tree, we discuss which species might be adopted for biological control purposes or biotechnological innovations. Current challenges in the implementation of these species in biotechnology include the limited ability or difficulty in culturing many in vitro, a correlated paucity of genomic resources, and considerations regarding the host ranges of different species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrii P. Gryganskyi
- Division of Biological & Nanoscale Technologies, UES, Inc., Dayton, OH 45432, USA
| | - Ann E. Hajek
- Department of Entomology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA;
| | - Nataliya Voloshchuk
- Faculty of Plant Protection, Biotechnology and Ecology, National University of Life & Environmental Sciences of Ukraine, 03041 Kyiv, Ukraine; (N.V.); (L.K.)
- Department of Food Science, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
| | - Alexander Idnurm
- School of BioSciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia;
| | - Jørgen Eilenberg
- Department of Plant & Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, DK-1870 Frederiksberg, Denmark;
| | - Romina G. Manfrino
- CEPAVE—Center for Parasitological & Vector Studies, CONICET-National Scientific & Technical Research Council, UNLP-National University of La Plata, La Plata 1900, Buenos Aires, Argentina;
| | | | - Liudmyla Kava
- Faculty of Plant Protection, Biotechnology and Ecology, National University of Life & Environmental Sciences of Ukraine, 03041 Kyiv, Ukraine; (N.V.); (L.K.)
| | - Vira B. Kutovenko
- Agrobiological Faculty of Plant Protection, National University of Life & Environmental Sciences of Ukraine, 03041 Kyiv, Ukraine;
| | - Felicia Anike
- Department of Natural Resources & Environmental Design, North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University, Greensboro, NC 27401, USA;
| | - Yong Nie
- School of Civil Engineering & Architecture, Anhui University of Technology, Ma’anshan 243002, China;
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6
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Rassbach J, Hilsberg N, Haensch VG, Dörner S, Gressler J, Sonnabend R, Semm C, Voigt K, Hertweck C, Gressler M. Non-canonical two-step biosynthesis of anti-oomycete indole alkaloids in Kickxellales. Fungal Biol Biotechnol 2023; 10:19. [PMID: 37670394 PMCID: PMC10478498 DOI: 10.1186/s40694-023-00166-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2023] [Accepted: 08/06/2023] [Indexed: 09/07/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Fungi are prolific producers of bioactive small molecules of pharmaceutical or agricultural interest. The secondary metabolism of higher fungi (Dikarya) has been well-investigated which led to > 39,000 described compounds. However, natural product researchers scarcely drew attention to early-diverging fungi (Mucoro- and Zoopagomycota) as they are considered to rarely produce secondary metabolites. Indeed, only 15 compounds have as yet been isolated from the entire phylum of the Zoopagomycota. RESULTS Here, we showcase eight species of the order Kickxellales (phylum Zoopagomycota) as potent producers of the indole-3-acetic acid (IAA)-derived compounds lindolins A and B. The compounds are produced both under laboratory conditions and in the natural soil habitat suggesting a specialized ecological function. Indeed, lindolin A is a selective agent against plant-pathogenic oomycetes such as Phytophthora sp. Lindolin biosynthesis was reconstituted in vitro and relies on the activity of two enzymes of dissimilar evolutionary origin: Whilst the IAA-CoA ligase LinA has evolved from fungal 4-coumaryl-CoA synthetases, the subsequently acting IAA-CoA:anthranilate N-indole-3-acetyltransferase LinB is a unique enzyme across all kingdoms of life. CONCLUSIONS This is the first report on bioactive secondary metabolites in the subphylum Kickxellomycotina and the first evidence for a non-clustered, two-step biosynthetic route of secondary metabolites in early-diverging fungi. Thus, the generally accepted "gene cluster hypothesis" for natural products needs to be reconsidered for early diverging fungi.
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Affiliation(s)
- Johannes Rassbach
- Faculty of Biological Sciences, Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Winzerlaer Strasse 2, 07745, Jena, Germany
- Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology-Hans-Knöll-Institute, Winzerlaer Strasse 2, 07745, Jena, Germany
| | - Nathalie Hilsberg
- Faculty of Biological Sciences, Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Winzerlaer Strasse 2, 07745, Jena, Germany
- Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology-Hans-Knöll-Institute, Winzerlaer Strasse 2, 07745, Jena, Germany
| | - Veit G Haensch
- Biomolecular Chemistry, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology-Hans-Knöll-Institute, Adolf-Reichwein-Strasse 23, 07745, Jena, Germany
| | - Sebastian Dörner
- Faculty of Biological Sciences, Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Winzerlaer Strasse 2, 07745, Jena, Germany
- Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology-Hans-Knöll-Institute, Winzerlaer Strasse 2, 07745, Jena, Germany
| | - Julia Gressler
- Faculty of Biological Sciences, Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Winzerlaer Strasse 2, 07745, Jena, Germany
- Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology-Hans-Knöll-Institute, Winzerlaer Strasse 2, 07745, Jena, Germany
| | - Robin Sonnabend
- Faculty of Biological Sciences, Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Winzerlaer Strasse 2, 07745, Jena, Germany
- Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology-Hans-Knöll-Institute, Winzerlaer Strasse 2, 07745, Jena, Germany
| | - Caroline Semm
- Faculty of Biological Sciences, Institute of Microbiology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Neugasse 25, 07743, Jena, Germany
- Jena Microbial Resource Collection (JMRC), Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology-Hans Knöll Institute, Adolf-Reichwein-Strasse 23, 07745, Jena, Germany
| | - Kerstin Voigt
- Faculty of Biological Sciences, Institute of Microbiology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Neugasse 25, 07743, Jena, Germany
- Jena Microbial Resource Collection (JMRC), Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology-Hans Knöll Institute, Adolf-Reichwein-Strasse 23, 07745, Jena, Germany
| | - Christian Hertweck
- Biomolecular Chemistry, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology-Hans-Knöll-Institute, Adolf-Reichwein-Strasse 23, 07745, Jena, Germany
- Faculty of Biological Sciences, Institute of Microbiology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Neugasse 25, 07743, Jena, Germany
| | - Markus Gressler
- Faculty of Biological Sciences, Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Winzerlaer Strasse 2, 07745, Jena, Germany.
- Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology-Hans-Knöll-Institute, Winzerlaer Strasse 2, 07745, Jena, Germany.
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7
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Merényi Z, Krizsán K, Sahu N, Liu XB, Bálint B, Stajich JE, Spatafora JW, Nagy LG. Genomes of fungi and relatives reveal delayed loss of ancestral gene families and evolution of key fungal traits. Nat Ecol Evol 2023; 7:1221-1231. [PMID: 37349567 PMCID: PMC10406608 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-023-02095-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2022] [Accepted: 05/11/2023] [Indexed: 06/24/2023]
Abstract
Fungi are ecologically important heterotrophs that have radiated into most niches on Earth and fulfil key ecological services. Despite intense interest in their origins, major genomic trends of their evolutionary route from a unicellular opisthokont ancestor to derived multicellular fungi remain poorly known. Here we provide a highly resolved genome-wide catalogue of gene family changes across fungal evolution inferred from the genomes of 123 fungi and relatives. We show that a dominant trend in early fungal evolution has been the gradual shedding of protist genes and the punctuated emergence of innovation by two main gene duplication events. We find that the gene content of non-Dikarya fungi resembles that of unicellular opisthokonts in many respects, owing to the conservation of protist genes in their genomes. The most rapidly duplicating gene groups included extracellular proteins and transcription factors, as well as ones linked to the coordination of nutrient uptake with growth, highlighting the transition to a sessile osmotrophic feeding strategy and subsequent lifestyle evolution as important elements of early fungal history. These results suggest that the genomes of pre-fungal ancestors evolved into the typical filamentous fungal genome by a combination of gradual gene loss, turnover and several large duplication events rather than by abrupt changes. Consequently, the taxonomically defined Fungi represents a genomically non-uniform assemblage of species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zsolt Merényi
- Synthetic and Systems Biology Unit, Institute of Biochemistry, Biological Research Centre, Szeged, Hungary
| | - Krisztina Krizsán
- Synthetic and Systems Biology Unit, Institute of Biochemistry, Biological Research Centre, Szeged, Hungary
- Institute of Forensic Genetics, Hungarian Institute for Forensic Sciences, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Neha Sahu
- Synthetic and Systems Biology Unit, Institute of Biochemistry, Biological Research Centre, Szeged, Hungary
| | - Xiao-Bin Liu
- Synthetic and Systems Biology Unit, Institute of Biochemistry, Biological Research Centre, Szeged, Hungary
| | - Balázs Bálint
- Synthetic and Systems Biology Unit, Institute of Biochemistry, Biological Research Centre, Szeged, Hungary
| | - Jason E Stajich
- Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA
- Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, University of California, Riverside, CA, USA
| | - Joseph W Spatafora
- Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA
| | - László G Nagy
- Synthetic and Systems Biology Unit, Institute of Biochemistry, Biological Research Centre, Szeged, Hungary.
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8
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Gryganskyi AP, Golan J, Muszewska A, Idnurm A, Dolatabadi S, Mondo SJ, Kutovenko VB, Kutovenko VO, Gajdeczka MT, Anishchenko IM, Pawlowska J, Tran NV, Ebersberger I, Voigt K, Wang Y, Chang Y, Pawlowska TE, Heitman J, Vilgalys R, Bonito G, Benny GL, Smith ME, Reynolds N, James TY, Grigoriev IV, Spatafora JW, Stajich JE. Sequencing the Genomes of the First Terrestrial Fungal Lineages: What Have We Learned? Microorganisms 2023; 11:1830. [PMID: 37513002 PMCID: PMC10386755 DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms11071830] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2023] [Revised: 07/13/2023] [Accepted: 07/16/2023] [Indexed: 07/30/2023] Open
Abstract
The first genome sequenced of a eukaryotic organism was for Saccharomyces cerevisiae, as reported in 1996, but it was more than 10 years before any of the zygomycete fungi, which are the early-diverging terrestrial fungi currently placed in the phyla Mucoromycota and Zoopagomycota, were sequenced. The genome for Rhizopus delemar was completed in 2008; currently, more than 1000 zygomycete genomes have been sequenced. Genomic data from these early-diverging terrestrial fungi revealed deep phylogenetic separation of the two major clades-primarily plant-associated saprotrophic and mycorrhizal Mucoromycota versus the primarily mycoparasitic or animal-associated parasites and commensals in the Zoopagomycota. Genomic studies provide many valuable insights into how these fungi evolved in response to the challenges of living on land, including adaptations to sensing light and gravity, development of hyphal growth, and co-existence with the first terrestrial plants. Genome sequence data have facilitated studies of genome architecture, including a history of genome duplications and horizontal gene transfer events, distribution and organization of mating type loci, rDNA genes and transposable elements, methylation processes, and genes useful for various industrial applications. Pathogenicity genes and specialized secondary metabolites have also been detected in soil saprobes and pathogenic fungi. Novel endosymbiotic bacteria and viruses have been discovered during several zygomycete genome projects. Overall, genomic information has helped to resolve a plethora of research questions, from the placement of zygomycetes on the evolutionary tree of life and in natural ecosystems, to the applied biotechnological and medical questions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrii P. Gryganskyi
- Division of Biological & Nanoscale Technologies, UES, Inc., Dayton, OH 45432, USA
| | - Jacob Golan
- Department of Botany, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA;
| | - Anna Muszewska
- Institute of Biochemistry & Biophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, 01-224 Warsaw, Poland;
| | - Alexander Idnurm
- School of BioSciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia;
| | - Somayeh Dolatabadi
- Biology Department, Hakim Sabzevari University, Sabzevar 96179-76487, Iran;
| | - Stephen J. Mondo
- U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; (S.J.M.); (I.V.G.)
| | - Vira B. Kutovenko
- Department of Agrobiology, National University of Life & Environmental Sciences, 03041 Kyiv, Ukraine; (V.B.K.)
| | - Volodymyr O. Kutovenko
- Department of Agrobiology, National University of Life & Environmental Sciences, 03041 Kyiv, Ukraine; (V.B.K.)
| | | | - Iryna M. Anishchenko
- MG Kholodny Institute of Botany, National Academy of Sciences, 01030 Kyiv, Ukraine;
| | - Julia Pawlowska
- Institute of Evolutionary Biology, Faculty of Biology, Biological & Chemical Research Centre, University of Warsaw, 02-089 Warsaw, Poland;
| | - Ngoc Vinh Tran
- Plant Pathology Department, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA; (N.V.T.); (G.L.B.); (M.E.S.)
| | - Ingo Ebersberger
- Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research & Infection Biology, 07745 Jena, Germany; (I.E.); (K.V.)
| | - Kerstin Voigt
- Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research & Infection Biology, 07745 Jena, Germany; (I.E.); (K.V.)
| | - Yan Wang
- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 1A1, Canada;
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, ON M1C 1A4, Canada
| | - Ying Chang
- Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore 119077, Singapore;
| | - Teresa E. Pawlowska
- School of Integrative Plant Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA; (T.E.P.); (N.R.)
| | - Joseph Heitman
- Department of Molecular Genetics & Microbiology, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC 27710, USA;
| | - Rytas Vilgalys
- Biology Department, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA;
| | - Gregory Bonito
- Department of Plant, Soil & Microbial Sciences, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA;
| | - Gerald L. Benny
- Plant Pathology Department, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA; (N.V.T.); (G.L.B.); (M.E.S.)
| | - Matthew E. Smith
- Plant Pathology Department, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA; (N.V.T.); (G.L.B.); (M.E.S.)
| | - Nicole Reynolds
- School of Integrative Plant Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA; (T.E.P.); (N.R.)
| | - Timothy Y. James
- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA;
| | - Igor V. Grigoriev
- U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; (S.J.M.); (I.V.G.)
- Department of Plant & Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Joseph W. Spatafora
- Department of Botany & Plant Pathology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA;
| | - Jason E. Stajich
- Department of Microbiology & Plant Pathology, University of California, Riverside, CA 93106, USA;
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9
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Kirchgaessner L, Wurlitzer JM, Seibold PS, Rakhmanov M, Gressler M. A genetic tool to express long fungal biosynthetic genes. Fungal Biol Biotechnol 2023; 10:4. [PMID: 36726159 PMCID: PMC9893682 DOI: 10.1186/s40694-023-00152-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2022] [Accepted: 01/22/2023] [Indexed: 02/03/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Secondary metabolites (SMs) from mushroom-forming fungi (Basidiomycota) and early diverging fungi (EDF) such as Mucoromycota are scarcely investigated. In many cases, production of SMs is induced by unknown stress factors or is accompanied by seasonable developmental changes on fungal morphology. Moreover, many of these fungi are considered as non-culturable under laboratory conditions which impedes investigation into SM. In the post-genomic era, numerous novel SM genes have been identified especially from EDF. As most of them encode multi-module enzymes, these genes are usually long which limits cloning and heterologous expression in traditional hosts. RESULTS An expression system in Aspergillus niger is presented that is suitable for the production of SMs from both Basidiomycota and EDF. The akuB gene was deleted in the expression host A. niger ATNT∆pyrG, resulting in a deficient nonhomologous end-joining repair mechanism which in turn facilitates the targeted gene deletion via homologous recombination. The ∆akuB mutant tLK01 served as a platform to integrate overlapping DNA fragments of long SM genes into the fwnA locus required for the black pigmentation of conidia. This enables an easy discrimination of correct transformants by screening the transformation plates for fawn-colored colonies. Expression of the gene of interest (GOI) is induced dose-dependently by addition of doxycycline and is enhanced by the dual TetON/terrein synthase promoter system (ATNT) from Aspergillus terreus. We show that the 8 kb polyketide synthase gene lpaA from the basidiomycete Laetiporus sulphureus is correctly assembled from five overlapping DNA fragments and laetiporic acids are produced. In a second approach, we expressed the yet uncharacterized > 20 kb nonribosomal peptide synthetase gene calA from the EDF Mortierella alpina. Gene expression and subsequent LC-MS/MS analysis of mycelial extracts revealed the production of the antimycobacterial compound calpinactam. This is the first report on the heterologous production of a full-length SM multidomain enzyme from EDF. CONCLUSIONS The system allows the assembly, targeted integration and expression of genes of > 20 kb size in A. niger in one single step. The system is suitable for evolutionary distantly related SM genes from both Basidiomycota and EDF. This uncovers new SM resources including genetically intractable or non-culturable fungi.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leo Kirchgaessner
- grid.9613.d0000 0001 1939 2794Institute of Pharmacy, Department Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Winzerlaer Strasse 2, 07745 Jena, Germany ,grid.418398.f0000 0001 0143 807XDepartment Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology - Hans Knöll Institute, Winzerlaer Strasse 2, 07745 Jena, Germany ,grid.413047.50000 0001 0658 7859Faculty Medical Technology and Biotechnology, Ernst Abbe University of Applied Sciences Jena, Carl-Zeiss-Promenade 2, 07745 Jena, Germany
| | - Jacob M. Wurlitzer
- grid.9613.d0000 0001 1939 2794Institute of Pharmacy, Department Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Winzerlaer Strasse 2, 07745 Jena, Germany ,grid.418398.f0000 0001 0143 807XDepartment Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology - Hans Knöll Institute, Winzerlaer Strasse 2, 07745 Jena, Germany
| | - Paula S. Seibold
- grid.9613.d0000 0001 1939 2794Institute of Pharmacy, Department Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Winzerlaer Strasse 2, 07745 Jena, Germany ,grid.418398.f0000 0001 0143 807XDepartment Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology - Hans Knöll Institute, Winzerlaer Strasse 2, 07745 Jena, Germany
| | - Malik Rakhmanov
- grid.9613.d0000 0001 1939 2794Institute of Pharmacy, Department Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Winzerlaer Strasse 2, 07745 Jena, Germany ,grid.418398.f0000 0001 0143 807XDepartment Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology - Hans Knöll Institute, Winzerlaer Strasse 2, 07745 Jena, Germany
| | - Markus Gressler
- grid.9613.d0000 0001 1939 2794Institute of Pharmacy, Department Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Winzerlaer Strasse 2, 07745 Jena, Germany ,grid.418398.f0000 0001 0143 807XDepartment Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology - Hans Knöll Institute, Winzerlaer Strasse 2, 07745 Jena, Germany
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10
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Reynolds NK, Stajich JE, Benny GL, Barry K, Mondo S, LaButti K, Lipzen A, Daum C, Grigoriev IV, Ho HM, Crous PW, Spatafora JW, Smith ME. Mycoparasites, Gut Dwellers, and Saprotrophs: Phylogenomic Reconstructions and Comparative Analyses of Kickxellomycotina Fungi. Genome Biol Evol 2023; 15:evac185. [PMID: 36617272 PMCID: PMC9866270 DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evac185] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2022] [Revised: 12/15/2022] [Accepted: 12/20/2022] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Improved sequencing technologies have profoundly altered global views of fungal diversity and evolution. High-throughput sequencing methods are critical for studying fungi due to the cryptic, symbiotic nature of many species, particularly those that are difficult to culture. However, the low coverage genome sequencing (LCGS) approach to phylogenomic inference has not been widely applied to fungi. Here we analyzed 171 Kickxellomycotina fungi using LCGS methods to obtain hundreds of marker genes for robust phylogenomic reconstruction. Additionally, we mined our LCGS data for a set of nine rDNA and protein coding genes to enable analyses across species for which no LCGS data were obtained. The main goals of this study were to: 1) evaluate the quality and utility of LCGS data for both phylogenetic reconstruction and functional annotation, 2) test relationships among clades of Kickxellomycotina, and 3) perform comparative functional analyses between clades to gain insight into putative trophic modes. In opposition to previous studies, our nine-gene analyses support two clades of arthropod gut dwelling species and suggest a possible single evolutionary event leading to this symbiotic lifestyle. Furthermore, we resolve the mycoparasitic Dimargaritales as the earliest diverging clade in the subphylum and find four major clades of Coemansia species. Finally, functional analyses illustrate clear variation in predicted carbohydrate active enzymes and secondary metabolites (SM) based on ecology, that is biotroph versus saprotroph. Saprotrophic Kickxellales broadly lack many known pectinase families compared with saprotrophic Mucoromycota and are depauperate for SM but have similar numbers of predicted chitinases as mycoparasitic.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Jason E Stajich
- Department of Microbiology & Plant Pathology and Institute for Integrative Genome Biology, University of California–Riverside
| | | | - Kerrie Barry
- U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
| | - Stephen Mondo
- U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
| | - Kurt LaButti
- U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
| | - Anna Lipzen
- U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
| | - Chris Daum
- U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
| | - Igor V Grigoriev
- U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
- Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California Berkeley
| | - Hsiao-Man Ho
- Department of Science Education, University of Education, 134, Section 2, Heping E. Road, National Taipei, Taipei 106, Taiwan
| | - Pedro W Crous
- Department of Evolutionary Phytopathology, Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute, Uppsalalaan 8, 3584 CT, Utrecht, The Netherlands
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11
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Sonnabend R, Seiler L, Gressler M. Regulation of the Leucine Metabolism in Mortierella alpina. J Fungi (Basel) 2022; 8:196. [PMID: 35205950 PMCID: PMC8880518 DOI: 10.3390/jof8020196] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2022] [Revised: 02/14/2022] [Accepted: 02/15/2022] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The oleaginous fungus Mortierella alpina is a safe source of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in industrial food and feed production. Besides PUFA production, pharmaceutically relevant surface-active and antimicrobial oligopeptides were isolated from this basal fungus. Both production of fatty acids and oligopeptides rely on the biosynthesis and high turnover of branched-chain-amino acids (BCAA), especially l-leucine. However, the regulation of BCAA biosynthesis in basal fungi is largely unknown. Here, we report on the regulation of the leucine, isoleucine, and valine metabolism in M. alpina. In contrast to higher fungi, the biosynthetic genes for BCAA are hardly transcriptionally regulated, as shown by qRT-PCR analysis, which suggests a constant production of BCAAs. However, the enzymes of the leucine metabolism are tightly metabolically regulated. Three enzymes of the leucine metabolism were heterologously produced in Escherichia coli, one of which is inhibited by allosteric feedback loops: The key regulator is the α-isopropylmalate synthase LeuA1, which is strongly disabled by l-leucine, α-ketoisocaproate, and propionyl-CoA, the precursor of the odd-chain fatty acid catabolism. Its gene is not related to homologs from higher fungi, but it has been inherited from a phototrophic ancestor by horizontal gene transfer.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Markus Gressler
- Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology, Hans-Knöll-Institute, Winzerlaer Strasse 2, 07745 Jena, Germany; (R.S.); (L.S.)
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12
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Wurlitzer JM, Stanišić A, Ziethe S, Jordan PM, Günther K, Werz O, Kries H, Gressler M. Macrophage-targeting oligopeptides from Mortierella alpina. Chem Sci 2022; 13:9091-9101. [PMID: 36091214 PMCID: PMC9365243 DOI: 10.1039/d2sc00860b] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/10/2022] [Accepted: 07/15/2022] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
The realm of natural products of early diverging fungi such as Mortierella species is largely unexplored. Herein, the nonribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS) MalA catalysing the biosynthesis of the surface-active biosurfactants, malpinins, has been identified and biochemically characterised. The investigation of the substrate specificity of respective adenylation (A) domains indicated a substrate-tolerant enzyme with an unusual, inactive C-terminal NRPS module. Specificity-based precursor-directed biosynthesis yielded 20 new congeners produced by a single enzyme. Moreover, MalA incorporates artificial, click-functionalised amino acids which allowed postbiosynthetic coupling to a fluorophore. The fluorescent malpinin conjugate penetrates mammalian cell membranes via an phagocytosis-mediated mechanism, suggesting Mortierella oligopeptides as carrier peptides for directed cell targeting. The current study demonstrates substrate-specificity testing as a powerful tool to identify flexible NRPS modules and highlights basal fungi as reservoir for chemically tractable compounds in pharmaceutical applications. Specificity profiling of a nonribosomal peptide synthetase of an early diverging fungus revealed high substrate flexibility. Feeding studies with click-functionalised amino acids enabled the production of fluorescent peptides targeting macrophages.![]()
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacob M. Wurlitzer
- Department Pharmaceutical Microbiology at the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology (Hans-Knöll-Institute), Friedrich-Schiller-University, Winzerlaer Strasse 2, Jena 07745, Germany
| | - Aleksa Stanišić
- Junior Group Biosynthetic Design of Natural Products at the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology (Hans-Knöll-Institute), Beutenbergstrasse 11a, Jena 07745, Germany
| | - Sebastian Ziethe
- Department Pharmaceutical Microbiology at the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology (Hans-Knöll-Institute), Friedrich-Schiller-University, Winzerlaer Strasse 2, Jena 07745, Germany
| | - Paul M. Jordan
- Department Pharmaceutical/Medicinal Chemistry at the Friedrich-Schiller-University, Philosophenweg 14, Jena 07743, Germany
| | - Kerstin Günther
- Department Pharmaceutical/Medicinal Chemistry at the Friedrich-Schiller-University, Philosophenweg 14, Jena 07743, Germany
| | - Oliver Werz
- Department Pharmaceutical/Medicinal Chemistry at the Friedrich-Schiller-University, Philosophenweg 14, Jena 07743, Germany
| | - Hajo Kries
- Junior Group Biosynthetic Design of Natural Products at the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology (Hans-Knöll-Institute), Beutenbergstrasse 11a, Jena 07745, Germany
| | - Markus Gressler
- Department Pharmaceutical Microbiology at the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology (Hans-Knöll-Institute), Friedrich-Schiller-University, Winzerlaer Strasse 2, Jena 07745, Germany
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13
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Xi L, Qin X, Song Y, Han J, Li Z, Zhang J. Gut Microbial Alterations in Diarrheal Baer's Pochards ( Aythya baeri). Front Vet Sci 2021; 8:756486. [PMID: 34722711 PMCID: PMC8551490 DOI: 10.3389/fvets.2021.756486] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2021] [Accepted: 09/03/2021] [Indexed: 01/07/2023] Open
Abstract
The structure and composition of gut microbiota correlate with the occurrence and development of host health and disease. Diarrhea can cause alterations in gut microbiota in animals, and the changes in the gut microbial structure and composition may affect the development of diarrhea. However, there is a scarcity of information on the effects of diarrhea on gut fungal composition and structure, particularly in Baer's pochard (Aythya baeri). The current study was performed for high-throughput sequencing of the fungal-specific internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS-1) to detect the differences of gut mycobiota in healthy and diarrheal Baer's pochard. Results showed that the gut mycobiota not only decreased significantly in diversity but also in structure and composition. Statistical analysis between two groups revealed a significant decrease in the abundance of phylum Rozellomycota, Zoopagomycota, Mortierellomycota, and Kickxellomycota in diarrheal Baer's pochard. At the genus levels, fungal relative abundance changed significantly in 95 genera, with 56 fungal genera, such as Wickerhamomyces, Alternaria, Penicillium, Cystofilobasidium, and Filobasidium, increasing significantly in the gut of the diarrheal Baer's pochard. In conclusion, the current study revealed the discrepancy in the gut fungal diversity and community composition between the healthy and diarrheal Baer's pochard, laying the basis for elucidating the relationship between diarrhea and the gut mycobiota in Baer's pochard.
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Affiliation(s)
- Li Xi
- Department of Animal Science, College of Biology and Food, Shangqiu Normal University, Shangqiu, China.,Henan Engineering Research Center of Development and Application of Green Feed Additives, College of Biology and Food, Shangqiu Normal University, Shangqiu, China
| | - Xinxi Qin
- Department of Animal Science, College of Biology and Food, Shangqiu Normal University, Shangqiu, China
| | - Yumin Song
- Linyi Agricultural Science and Technology Career Academy, Linyi, China
| | - Jincheng Han
- Department of Animal Science, College of Biology and Food, Shangqiu Normal University, Shangqiu, China.,Henan Engineering Research Center of Development and Application of Green Feed Additives, College of Biology and Food, Shangqiu Normal University, Shangqiu, China
| | - Zhiqiang Li
- Department of Animal Science, College of Biology and Food, Shangqiu Normal University, Shangqiu, China.,Henan Engineering Research Center of Development and Application of Green Feed Additives, College of Biology and Food, Shangqiu Normal University, Shangqiu, China
| | - Jinliang Zhang
- Department of Animal Science, College of Biology and Food, Shangqiu Normal University, Shangqiu, China.,Henan Engineering Research Center of Development and Application of Green Feed Additives, College of Biology and Food, Shangqiu Normal University, Shangqiu, China
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14
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Avalos M, Garbeva P, Vader L, van Wezel GP, Dickschat JS, Ulanova D. Biosynthesis, evolution and ecology of microbial terpenoids. Nat Prod Rep 2021; 39:249-272. [PMID: 34612321 DOI: 10.1039/d1np00047k] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Covering: through June 2021Terpenoids are the largest class of natural products recognised to date. While mostly known to humans as bioactive plant metabolites and part of essential oils, structurally diverse terpenoids are increasingly reported to be produced by microorganisms. For many of the compounds biological functions are yet unknown, but during the past years significant insights have been obtained for the role of terpenoids in microbial chemical ecology. Their functions include stress alleviation, maintenance of cell membrane integrity, photoprotection, attraction or repulsion of organisms, host growth promotion and defense. In this review we discuss the current knowledge of the biosynthesis and evolution of microbial terpenoids, and their ecological and biological roles in aquatic and terrestrial environments. Perspectives on their biotechnological applications, knowledge gaps and questions for future studies are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mariana Avalos
- Institute of Biology, Leiden University, Sylviusweg 72, 2333 BE Leiden, The Netherlands. .,Department of Microbial Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), Droevendaalsesteeg 10, 6708 PB Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Paolina Garbeva
- Department of Microbial Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), Droevendaalsesteeg 10, 6708 PB Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Lisa Vader
- Institute of Biology, Leiden University, Sylviusweg 72, 2333 BE Leiden, The Netherlands.
| | - Gilles P van Wezel
- Institute of Biology, Leiden University, Sylviusweg 72, 2333 BE Leiden, The Netherlands. .,Department of Microbial Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), Droevendaalsesteeg 10, 6708 PB Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Jeroen S Dickschat
- Department of Microbial Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), Droevendaalsesteeg 10, 6708 PB Wageningen, The Netherlands.,University of Bonn, Kekulé-Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry, Gerhard-Domagk-Straße 1, 53121 Bonn, Germany
| | - Dana Ulanova
- Faculty of Agriculture and Marine Science, Kochi University, 200 Otsu, Monobe, Nankoku, Kochi 783-8502, Japan.
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15
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Rämä T, Quandt CA. Improving Fungal Cultivability for Natural Products Discovery. Front Microbiol 2021; 12:706044. [PMID: 34603232 PMCID: PMC8481835 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2021.706044] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/06/2021] [Accepted: 08/23/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The pool of fungal secondary metabolites can be extended by activating silent gene clusters of cultured strains or by using sensitive biological assays that detect metabolites missed by analytical methods. Alternatively, or in parallel with the first approach, one can increase the diversity of existing culture collections to improve the access to new natural products. This review focuses on the latter approach of screening previously uncultured fungi for chemodiversity. Both strategies have been practiced since the early days of fungal biodiscovery, yet relatively little has been done to overcome the challenge of cultivability of as-yet-uncultivated fungi. Whereas earlier cultivability studies using media formulations and biological assays to scrutinize fungal growth and associated factors were actively conducted, the application of modern omics methods remains limited to test how to culture the fungal dark matter and recalcitrant groups of described fungi. This review discusses the development of techniques to increase the cultivability of filamentous fungi that include culture media formulations and the utilization of known chemical growth factors, in situ culturing and current synthetic biology approaches that build upon knowledge from sequenced genomes. We list more than 100 growth factors, i.e., molecules, biological or physical factors that have been demonstrated to induce spore germination as well as tens of inducers of mycelial growth. We review culturing conditions that can be successfully manipulated for growth of fungi and visit recent information from omics methods to discuss the metabolic basis of cultivability. Earlier work has demonstrated the power of co-culturing fungi with their host, other microorganisms or their exudates to increase their cultivability. Co-culturing of two or more organisms is also a strategy used today for increasing cultivability. However, fungi possess an increased risk for cross-contaminations between isolates in existing in situ or microfluidics culturing devices. Technological improvements for culturing fungi are discussed in the review. We emphasize that improving the cultivability of fungi remains a relevant strategy in drug discovery and underline the importance of ecological and taxonomic knowledge in culture-dependent drug discovery. Combining traditional and omics techniques such as single cell or metagenome sequencing opens up a new era in the study of growth factors of hundreds of thousands of fungal species with high drug discovery potential.
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Affiliation(s)
- Teppo Rämä
- Marbio, Norwegian College of Fishery Science, University of Tromsø – The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
| | - C. Alisha Quandt
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, Boulder, CO, United States
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16
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Goughenour KD, Whalin J, Slot JC, Rappleye CA. Diversification of Fungal Chitinases and Their Functional Differentiation in Histoplasma capsulatum. Mol Biol Evol 2021; 38:1339-1355. [PMID: 33185664 PMCID: PMC8042737 DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msaa293] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Chitinases enzymatically hydrolyze chitin, a highly abundant and utilized polymer of N-acetyl-glucosamine. Fungi are a rich source of chitinases; however, the phylogenetic and functional diversity of fungal chitinases are not well understood. We surveyed fungal chitinases from 373 publicly available genomes, characterized domain architecture, and conducted phylogenetic analyses of the glycoside hydrolase (GH18) domain. This large-scale analysis does not support the previous division of fungal chitinases into three major clades (A, B, C) as chitinases previously assigned to the “C” clade are not resolved as distinct from the “A” clade. Fungal chitinase diversity was partly shaped by horizontal gene transfer, and at least one clade of bacterial origin occurs among chitinases previously assigned to the “B” clade. Furthermore, chitin-binding domains (including the LysM domain) do not define specific clades, but instead are found more broadly across clades of chitinases. To gain insight into biological function diversity, we characterized all eight chitinases (Cts) from the thermally dimorphic fungus, Histoplasma capsulatum: six A clade, one B clade, and one formerly classified C clade chitinases. Expression analyses showed variable induction of chitinase genes in the presence of chitin but preferential expression of CTS3 in the mycelial stage. Activity assays demonstrated that Cts1 (B-I), Cts2 (A-V), Cts3 (A-V), Cts4 (A-V) have endochitinase activities with varying degrees of chitobiosidase function. Cts6 (C-I) has activity consistent with N-acetyl-glucosaminidase exochitinase function and Cts8 (A-II) has chitobiase activity. These results suggest chitinase activity is variable even within subclades and that predictions of functionality require more sophisticated models.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Janice Whalin
- Department of Microbiology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
| | - Jason C Slot
- Department of Plant Pathology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
| | - Chad A Rappleye
- Department of Microbiology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
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17
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Li Y, Steenwyk JL, Chang Y, Wang Y, James TY, Stajich JE, Spatafora JW, Groenewald M, Dunn CW, Hittinger CT, Shen XX, Rokas A. A genome-scale phylogeny of the kingdom Fungi. Curr Biol 2021; 31:1653-1665.e5. [PMID: 33607033 PMCID: PMC8347878 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2021.01.074] [Citation(s) in RCA: 114] [Impact Index Per Article: 38.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/11/2020] [Revised: 12/10/2020] [Accepted: 01/21/2021] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Phylogenomic studies using genome-scale amounts of data have greatly improved understanding of the tree of life. Despite the diversity, ecological significance, and biomedical and industrial importance of fungi, evolutionary relationships among several major lineages remain poorly resolved, especially those near the base of the fungal phylogeny. To examine poorly resolved relationships and assess progress toward a genome-scale phylogeny of the fungal kingdom, we compiled a phylogenomic data matrix of 290 genes from the genomes of 1,644 species that includes representatives from most major fungal lineages. We also compiled 11 data matrices by subsampling genes or taxa from the full data matrix based on filtering criteria previously shown to improve phylogenomic inference. Analyses of these 12 data matrices using concatenation- and coalescent-based approaches yielded a robust phylogeny of the fungal kingdom, in which ∼85% of internal branches were congruent across data matrices and approaches used. We found support for several historically poorly resolved relationships as well as evidence for polytomies likely stemming from episodes of ancient diversification. By examining the relative evolutionary divergence of taxonomic groups of equivalent rank, we found that fungal taxonomy is broadly aligned with both genome sequence divergence and divergence time but also identified lineages where current taxonomic circumscription does not reflect their levels of evolutionary divergence. Our results provide a robust phylogenomic framework to explore the tempo and mode of fungal evolution and offer directions for future fungal phylogenetic and taxonomic studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuanning Li
- Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, USA
| | - Jacob L Steenwyk
- Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, USA
| | - Ying Chang
- Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA
| | - Yan Wang
- Department of Microbiology and Plant Pathology, Institute for Integrative Genome Biology, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, USA; Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough and Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Timothy Y James
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
| | - Jason E Stajich
- Department of Microbiology and Plant Pathology, Institute for Integrative Genome Biology, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
| | - Joseph W Spatafora
- Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA
| | - Marizeth Groenewald
- Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute, 3584 CT, Utrecht 85167, the Netherlands
| | - Casey W Dunn
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA
| | - Chris Todd Hittinger
- Laboratory of Genetics, Center for Genomic Science Innovation, J.F. Crow Institute for the Study of Evolution, DOE Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, Wisconsin Energy Institute, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA
| | - Xing-Xing Shen
- State Key Laboratory of Rice Biology and Ministry of Agriculture Key Lab of Molecular Biology of Crop Pathogens and Insects, Institute of Insect Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China.
| | - Antonis Rokas
- Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, USA.
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18
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Koczyk G, Pawłowska J, Muszewska A. Terpenoid Biosynthesis Dominates among Secondary Metabolite Clusters in Mucoromycotina Genomes. J Fungi (Basel) 2021; 7:285. [PMID: 33918813 PMCID: PMC8070225 DOI: 10.3390/jof7040285] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/26/2021] [Revised: 03/24/2021] [Accepted: 04/06/2021] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Early-diverging fungi harbour unprecedented diversity in terms of living forms, biological traits and genome architecture. Before the sequencing era, non-Dikarya fungi were considered unable to produce secondary metabolites (SM); however, this perspective is changing. The main classes of secondary metabolites in fungi include polyketides, nonribosomal peptides, terpenoids and siderophores that serve different biological roles, including iron chelation and plant growth promotion. The same classes of SM are reported for representatives of early-diverging fungal lineages. Encouraged by the advancement in the field, we carried out a systematic survey of SM in Mucoromycotina and corroborated the presence of various SM clusters (SMCs) within the phylum. Among the core findings, considerable representation of terpene and nonribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS)-like candidate SMCs was found. Terpene clusters with diverse domain composition and potentially highly variable products dominated the landscape of candidate SMCs. A uniform low-copy distribution of siderophore clusters was observed among most assemblies. Mortierellomycotina are highlighted as the most potent SMC producers among the Mucoromycota and as a source of novel peptide products. SMC identification is dependent on gene model quality and can be successfully performed on a batch scale with genomes of different quality and completeness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Grzegorz Koczyk
- Department of Biometry and Bioinformatics, Institute of Plant Genetics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Strzeszynska 34, 60-479 Poznan, Poland
| | - Julia Pawłowska
- Institute of Evolutionary Biology, Faculty of Biology, Biological and Chemical Research Centre, University of Warsaw, Zwirki i Wigury 101, 02-089 Warsaw, Poland;
| | - Anna Muszewska
- Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Pawinskiego 5A, 02-106 Warsaw, Poland
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19
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Orłowska M, Steczkiewicz K, Muszewska A. Utilization of cobalamin is ubiquitous in early-branching fungal phyla. Genome Biol Evol 2021; 13:6157828. [PMID: 33682003 PMCID: PMC8085122 DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evab043] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/04/2020] [Revised: 02/15/2021] [Accepted: 03/01/2021] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Cobalamin is a cofactor present in essential metabolic pathways in animals and one of the water-soluble vitamins. It is a complex compound synthesized solely by prokaryotes. Cobalamin dependence is scattered across the tree of life. In particular, fungi and plants were deemed devoid of cobalamin. We demonstrate that cobalamin is utilized by all non-Dikarya fungi lineages. This observation is supported by the genomic presence of both B12-dependent enzymes and cobalamin modifying enzymes. Fungal cobalamin-dependent enzymes are highly similar to their animal homologs. Phylogenetic analyses support a scenario of vertical inheritance of the cobalamin usage with several losses. Cobalamin usage was probably lost in Mucorinae and at the base of Dikarya which groups most of the model organisms and which hindered B12-dependent metabolism discovery in fungi. Our results indicate that cobalamin dependence was a widely distributed trait at least in Opisthokonta, across diverse microbial eukaryotes and was likely present in the LECA.
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Affiliation(s)
- Małgorzata Orłowska
- Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Pawinskiego 5A, 02-106 Warsaw, Poland
| | - Kamil Steczkiewicz
- Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Pawinskiego 5A, 02-106 Warsaw, Poland
| | - Anna Muszewska
- Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Pawinskiego 5A, 02-106 Warsaw, Poland
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20
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Bacterial-Like Nonribosomal Peptide Synthetases Produce Cyclopeptides in the Zygomycetous Fungus Mortierella alpina. Appl Environ Microbiol 2021; 87:AEM.02051-20. [PMID: 33158886 DOI: 10.1128/aem.02051-20] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2020] [Accepted: 10/30/2020] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Fungi are traditionally considered a reservoir of biologically active natural products. However, an active secondary metabolism has long not been attributed to early-diverging fungi such as Mortierella Here, we report on the biosynthesis of two series of cyclic pentapeptides, the malpicyclins and malpibaldins, as products of Mortierella alpina ATCC 32222. The molecular structures of malpicyclins were elucidated by high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry (HR-MS/MS), Marfey's method, and one-dimensional (1D) and 2D nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. In addition, malpibaldin biosynthesis was confirmed by HR-MS. Genome mining and comparative quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) expression analysis pointed at two pentamodular nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs), malpicyclin synthetase MpcA and malpibaldin synthetase MpbA, as candidate biosynthetic enzymes. Heterologous production of the respective adenylation domains and substrate specificity assays proved promiscuous substrate selection and confirmed their respective biosynthetic roles. In stark contrast to known fungal NRPSs, MpbA and MpcA contain bacterial-like dual epimerase/condensation domains allowing the racemization of enzyme-tethered l-amino acids and the subsequent incorporation of d-amino acids into the metabolites. Phylogenetic analyses of both NRPS genes indicated a bacterial origin and a horizontal gene transfer into the fungal genome. We report on the as-yet-unexplored nonribosomal peptide biosynthesis in basal fungi which highlights this paraphylum as a novel and underrated resource of natural products.IMPORTANCE Fungal natural compounds are industrially produced, with application in antibiotic treatment, cancer medications, and crop plant protection. Traditionally, higher fungi have been intensively investigated concerning their metabolic potential, but reidentification of already known compounds is frequently observed. Hence, alternative strategies to acquire novel bioactive molecules are required. We present the genus Mortierella as representative of the early-diverging fungi as an underestimated resource of natural products. Mortierella alpina produces two families of cyclopeptides, designated malpicyclins and malpibaldins, respectively, via two pentamodular nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs). These enzymes are much more closely related to bacterial than to other fungal NRPSs, suggesting a bacterial origin of these NRPS genes in Mortierella Both enzymes were biochemically characterized and are involved in as-yet-unknown biosynthetic pathways of natural products in basal fungi. Hence, this report establishes early-diverging fungi as prolific natural compound producers and sheds light on the origin of their biosynthetic capacity.
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