Distinct Growth and Secretome Strategies for Two Taxonomically Divergent Brown Rot Fungi

Journal Article · Fri Jan 27 00:00:00 EST 2017 · Applied and Environmental Microbiology

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1128/aem.02987-16· OSTI ID:1536859

Presley, Gerald N. ^[1]; Schilling, Jonathan S. ^[2]; Löffler, Frank E. ^[2]

---

1. Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (United States). Dept. of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering; DOE/OSTI
2. Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (United States). Dept. of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering

Brown rot fungi are wood-degrading fungi that employ both oxidative and hydrolytic mechanisms to degrade wood. Hydroxyl radicals that facilitate the oxidative component are powerful nonselective oxidants and are incompatible with hydrolytic enzymes unless they are spatially segregated in wood. Differential gene expression has been implicated in the segregation of these reactions inPostia placenta, but it is unclear if this two-step mechanism varies in other brown rot fungi with different traits and life history strategies that occupy different niches in nature. We employed proteomics to analyze a progression of wood decay on thin wafers, using brown rot fungi with significant taxonomic and niche distances:Serpula lacrymans(Boletales; “dry rot” lumber decay) andGloeophyllum trabeum(order Gloeophyllales; slash, downed wood). Both fungi produced greater oxidoreductase diversity upon wood colonization and greater glycoside hydrolase activity later, consistent with a two-step mechanism. The two fungi invested very differently, however, in terms of growth (infrastructure) versus protein secretion (resource capture), with the ergosterol/extracted protein ratio being 7-fold higher withS. lacrymansthan withG. trabeum. In line with the native substrate associations of these fungi, hemicellulase-specific activities were dominated by mannanase inS. lacrymansand by xylanase inG. trabeum. Consistent with previous observations,S. lacrymansdid not produce glycoside hydrolase 6 (GH6) cellobiohydrolases (CBHs) in this study, despite taxonomically belonging to the order Boletales, which is distinguished among brown rot fungi by having CBH genes. This work suggests that distantly related brown rot fungi employ staggered mechanisms to degrade wood, but the underlying strategies vary among taxa.Wood-degrading fungi are important in forest nutrient cycling and offer promise in biotechnological applications. Brown rot fungi are unique among these fungi in that they use a nonenzymatic oxidative pretreatment before enzymatic carbohydrate hydrolysis, enabling selective removal of carbohydrates from lignin. This capacity has independently evolved multiple times, but it is unclear if different mechanisms underpin similar outcomes. Here, we grew fungi directionally on wood wafers and we found similar two-step mechanisms in taxonomically divergent brown rot fungi. The results, however, revealed strikingly different growth strategies, withS. lacrymansinvesting more in biomass production than secretion of proteins andG. trabeumshowing the opposite pattern, with a high diversity of uncharacterized proteins. The “simplified”S. lacrymanssecretomic system could help narrow gene targets central to oxidative brown rot pretreatments, and a comparison of its distinctions withG. trabeumand other brown rot fungi (e.g.,Postia placenta) might offer similar traction in noncatabolic genes.

• Research Organization: Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC)
• Grant/Contract Number: SC0004012; SC0012742
• OSTI ID: 1536859
• Journal Information: Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Journal Name: Applied and Environmental Microbiology Journal Issue: 7 Vol. 83; ISSN 0099-2240
• Publisher: American Society for Microbiology
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
Basidiomycetes
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Gloeophyllum trabeum
Microbiology
Serpula lacrymans
glycoside hydrolase
proteomics