真菌次级代谢的新时代

真菌作为世界上仅次于昆虫的第二大生物类群与人类有着长久而密切的关系,特别是在化学水平。人们意识到真菌是有害和有益化合物的重要来源起因于两个事件:一是20世纪60年代黄曲霉毒素导致的火鸡中毒事件,二是被称为第二次世界大战神奇药物的青霉素作为第一种广谱抗生素被发现(Nesbittetal.1962;Quinn2013)。这些生物活性分子叫做次级代谢产物,又叫做天然产物。在天然产物学科100多年的研究史中,大量的有益和有害的天然产物被发现,例如:临床上广泛使用的洛伐他汀、棘白霉素和紫衫醇等药物,真菌大环内酯类抗线虫thermolide类化合物,具有除草活性的aspterric acid,伏马毒素、赭曲霉素A和单端孢霉烯族毒素等真菌毒素(Hoffmeister&Keller 2008;Chen et al. 2013;Yan et al. 2018;Gil-Serna et al. 2020;Zhang et al. 2020)。     

曲霉无性发育及其与次级代谢相关性研究进展

曲霉(Aspergillus)是应用于工业生产的一类重要微生物,它与人类生活及医药卫生等方面密切相关。分生孢子的形成是曲霉无性繁殖的主要方式,它是个复杂的过程,需要多个基因参与调控,且分生孢子的形成与次级代谢产物的生物合成有密切的关系。本文综述了曲霉分生孢子形成的调控模式,简述了曲霉中连接无性发育和曲霉毒素生物合成的G-蛋白信号通路,及既参与发育调控又参与曲霉次级代谢调控的Velvet蛋白家族,可为其他丝状真菌的研究提供理论指导,对工业生产也有很重要的意义。     

MORN1 has a conserved role in asexual and sexual development across the apicomplexa

The gene encoding the membrane occupation and recognition nexus protein MORN1 is conserved across the Apicomplexa. In Toxoplasma gondii, MORN1 is associated with the spindle poles, the anterior and posterior rings of the inner membrane complex (IMC). The present study examines the localization of MORN1 during the coccidian development of T. gondii and three Eimeria species (in the definitive host) and erythrocytic schizogony of Plasmodium falciparum. During asexual proliferation, MORN1 is associated with the posterior ring of the IMCs of the multiple daughters forming during T. gondii endopolygeny and schizogony in Eimeria and P. falciparum. Furthermore, the expression of P. falciparum MORN1 protein peaked in late schizogony. These data fit a model with a conserved role for MORN1 during IMC assembly in all variations of asexual development. An important new observation is the reactivity of MORN1 antibody with certain sexual stages in T. gondii and Eimeria species. Here MORN1 is organized as a ring-like structure where the microgametes bud from the microgametocyte while in mature microgametes it is present near the flagellar basal bodies and mitochondrion. These observations suggest a conserved role for MORN1 in both asexual and sexual development across the Apicomplexa.     

Mulching has negative impact on fungal and plant diversity in Slovak oligotrophic grasslands

Mulching (cutting of vegetation without removal of clippings) is used as a low-cost method for maintaining remote or abandoned grasslands in Slovakia. The likely consequence of mulching is seasonal nutrient enrichment resulting from decomposition of plant litter by saprotrophic organisms. The potential changes in biodiversity of the ecosystem caused by long-term application of mulching are to date only very poorly understood. In order to examine the impact of mulching on soil mycobiota, we compared six different grassland management regimes applied over nine years on a sub-montane oligotrophic Nardus pasture in the Central Slovakia. The diversity of soil fungi was assessed using DNA metabarcoding of the ITS2 regions of the nrRNA locus performed by Illumina MiSeq.We focused on a particular group of macrofungi which is characteristic of traditionally managed and undisturbed European grasslands, and which are often the dominant soil fungi in these habitats. These are collectively known as CHEGD fungi (the acronym of the constituent taxa: Clavariaceae, Hygrophoraceae, Entolomataceae, Geoglossaceae and Dermoloma). We compared the relative abundance and diversity of CHEGD fungi with the total fungal and plant diversity. CHEGD fungi were dominant across all management treatments. Although there were no statistical effects of treatments on total fungal richness and diversity, CHEGD fungi and vascular plants diversity and richness were lower on plots where mulching or no management were imposed, suggesting that such management regimes would have a negative impact on grassland fungi. However, no single treatment covered the total CHEGD diversity of the study, indicating that the localized use of mulching in addition to traditional managements can enhance overall diversity of grasslands in the area. Our results also suggest that the impact of mulching depends on the season when the grassland is mulched and it might be reduced by combination with other management treatments. The high relative abundance and sensitivity of CHEDG fungi in oligotrophic grasslands to management treatments makes them excellent indicators of grassland natural quality and is consistent with the ecological importance of this fungal group.     

中国丝状真菌次级代谢分子调控研究进展

在目前已知的具有生物活性的微生物次级代谢物中约有50%是由丝状真菌产生的,其中包括人们所熟知的青霉素、环孢菌素A以及洛伐他汀等。鉴于丝状真菌次级代谢物在农业、医药和工业上的重要价值,它们的生物合成及其分子调控一直备受关注。丝状真菌次级代谢物的生物合成是一个复杂的过程,一般涉及多步酶学反应,该过程往往受到不同水平的调控。深入了解丝状真菌次级代谢的分子调控机制,可以为其产量的提高、新骨架化合物的发掘以及隐性次级代谢物的激活奠定重要的理论基础。本文以丝状真菌次级代谢分子调控为主线,重点介绍近40年来我国科研工作者在该领域取得的研究进展,并对这一领域未来的发展进行展望。     

Living in a fungal world: impact of fungi on soil bacterial niche development

The colonization of land by plants appears to have coincided with the appearance of mycorrhiza-like fungi. Over evolutionary time, fungi have maintained their prominent role in the formation of mycorrhizal associations. In addition, however, they have been able to occupy other terrestrial niches of which the decomposition of recalcitrant organic matter is perhaps the most remarkable. This implies that, in contrast to that of aquatic organic matter decomposition, bacteria have not been able to monopolize decomposition processes in terrestrial ecosystems. The emergence of fungi in terrestrial ecosystems must have had a strong impact on the evolution of terrestrial bacteria. On the one hand, potential decomposition niches, e.g. lignin degradation, have been lost for bacteria, whereas on the other hand the presence of fungi has itself created new bacterial niches. Confrontation between bacteria and fungi is ongoing, and from studying contemporary interactions, we can learn about the impact that fungi presently have, and have had in the past, on the ecology and evolution of terrestrial bacteria. In the first part of this review, the focus is on niche differentiation between soil bacteria and fungi involved in the decomposition of plant-derived organic matter. Bacteria and fungi are seen to compete for simple plant-derived substrates and have developed antagonistic strategies. For more recalcitrant organic substrates, e.g. cellulose and lignin, both competitive and mutualistic strategies appear to have evolved. In the second part of the review, bacterial niches with respect to the utilization of fungal-derived substrates are considered. Here, several lines of development can be recognized, ranging from mutualistic exudate-consuming bacteria that are associated with fungal surfaces to endosymbiotic and mycophagous bacteria. In some cases, there are indications of fungal specific selection in fungus-associated bacteria, and possible mechanisms for such selection are discussed.     

Light effects on cell development and secondary metabolism in Monascus

In nature, light is one of most crucial environmental signals for developmental and physiological processes in various organisms, including filamentous fungi. We have found that both red light and blue light affect development in Monascus, influencing the processes of mycelium and spore formation, and the production of secondary metabolites such as -aminobutyric acid, red pigments, monacolin K and citrinin. Additionally, we observed that the wavelength of light affects these developmental and physiological processes in different ways. These findings suggest that Monascus possesses a system for differential light response and regulation.     

Low surfactant concentration increases fungal mineralization of a polychlorinated biphenyl congener but has no effect on overall metabolism

Three white rot fungi were compared for their ability to attack polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congeners in the presence and absence of the non-ionic Triton X-100 or the anionic Dowfax 8390 surfactants at half their critical micelle concentrations. Neither surfactant affected PCB biodegradation monitored by gas chromatography but the release of 14CO2 from 2,4',5-[U-14C]trichlorobiphenyl by Trametes versicolor was stimulated 12% by Triton X-100. Since mineralization is the complete metabolism of the congener and biodegradation was measured as substrate disappearance, Triton X-100 is proposed to aid intracellular solubilization of 2,4',5-trichlorobiphenyl for complete oxidation by T. versicolor.     

Arabidopsis NAD-malic enzyme functions as a homodimer and heterodimer and has a major impact on nocturnal metabolism

Although the nonphotosynthetic NAD-malic enzyme (NAD-ME) was assumed to play a central role in the metabolite flux through the tricarboxylic acid cycle, the knowledge on this enzyme is still limited. Here, we report on the identification and characterization of two genes encoding mitochondrial NAD-MEs from Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), AtNAD-ME1 and AtNAD-ME2. The encoded proteins can be grouped into the two clades found in the plant NAD-ME phylogenetic tree. AtNAD-ME1 belongs to the clade that includes known alpha-subunits with molecular masses of approximately 65 kD, while AtNAD-ME2 clusters with the known beta-subunits with molecular masses of approximately 58 kD. The separated recombinant proteins showed NAD-ME activity, presented comparable kinetic properties, and are dimers in their active conformation. Native electrophoresis coupled to denaturing electrophoresis revealed that in vivo AtNAD-ME forms a dimer of nonidentical subunits in Arabidopsis. Further support for this conclusion was obtained by reconstitution of the active heterodimer in vitro. The characterization of loss-of-function mutants for both AtNAD-MEs indicated that both proteins also exhibit enzymatic activity in vivo. Neither the single nor the double mutants showed a growth or developmental phenotype, suggesting that NAD-ME activity is not essential for normal autotrophic development. Nevertheless, metabolic profiling of plants completely lacking NAD-ME activity revealed differential patterns of modifications in light and dark periods and indicates a major role for NAD-MEs during nocturnal metabolism.     

Moderately high intake of folic acid has a negative impact on mouse embryonic development

BACKGROUND

The incidence of neural tube defects has diminished considerably since the implementation of food fortification with folic acid (FA). However, the impact of excess FA intake, particularly during pregnancy, requires investigation. In a recent study, we reported that a diet supplemented with 20‐fold higher FA than the recommended intake for rodents had adverse effects on embryonic mouse development at embryonic days (E)10.5 and 14.5. In this report, we examined developmental outcomes in E14.5 embryos after administering a diet supplemented with 10‐fold higher FA than recommended to pregnant mice with and without a mild deficiency of methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR).

METHODS

Pregnant mice with or without a deficiency in MTHFR were fed a control diet (recommended FA intake of 2 mg/kg diet for rodents) or an FA‐supplemented diet (FASD; 10‐fold higher than the recommended intake [20 mg/kg diet]). At E14.5, mice were examined for embryonic loss and growth retardation, and hearts were assessed for defects and for ventricular wall thickness.

RESULTS

Maternal FA supplementation was associated with embryonic loss, embryonic delays, a higher incidence of ventricular septal defects, and thinner left and right ventricular walls, compared to mothers fed control diet.

CONCLUSIONS

Our work suggests that even moderately high levels of FA supplementation may adversely affect fetal mouse development. Additional studies are warranted to evaluate the impact of high folate intake in pregnant women. Birth Defects Research (Part A), 2013. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.