Regulation of secondary metabolite production in filamentous ascomycetes

Fungi are renowned for their ability to produce bioactive small molecules otherwise known as secondary metabolites. These molecules have attracted much attention due to both detrimental (e.g. toxins) and beneficial (e.g. pharmaceuticals) effects on human endeavors. Once the topic only of chemical and biochemical studies, secondary metabolism research has reached a sophisticated level in the realm of genetic regulation. This review covers the latest insights into the processes regulating secondary metabolite production in filamentous fungi.     

Molecular genetics of heterokaryon incompatibility in filamentous ascomycetes.

Filamentous fungi spontaneously undergo vegetative cell fusion events within but also between individuals. These cell fusions (anastomoses) lead to cytoplasmic mixing and to the formation of vegetative heterokaryons (i.e., cells containing different nuclear types). The viability of these heterokaryons is genetically controlled by specific loci termed het loci (for heterokaryon incompatibility). Heterokaryotic cells formed between individuals of unlike het genotypes undergo a characteristic cell death reaction or else are severely inhibited in their growth. The biological significance of this phenomenon remains a puzzle. Heterokaryon incompatibility genes have been proposed to represent a vegetative self/nonself recognition system preventing heterokaryon formation between unlike individuals to limit horizontal transfer of cytoplasmic infectious elements. Molecular characterization of het genes and of genes participating in the incompatibility reaction has been achieved for two ascomycetes, Neurospora crassa and Podospora anserina. These analyses have shown that het genes are diverse in sequence and do not belong to a gene family and that at least some of them perform cellular functions in addition to their role in incompatibility. Divergence between the different allelic forms of a het gene is generally extensive, but single-amino-acid differences can be sufficient to trigger incompatibility. In some instances het gene evolution appears to be driven by positive selection, which suggests that the het genes indeed represent recognition systems. However, work on nonallelic incompatibility systems in P. anserina suggests that incompatibility might represent an accidental activation of a cellular system controlling adaptation to starvation.     

构巢曲霉与30种丝状子囊菌的基因组比较

为探讨丝状子囊菌的序列同源性,文章利用公开发表的真菌基因组序列构建本地基因组数据库,设置E值统计阈值为0.1,将构巢曲霉(Aspergillus nidulans)基因组的10560个注释基因分别与30种丝状子囊菌基因组比较。结果表明,同源匹配基因数量的多少可反映子囊菌之间的进化关系。构巢曲霉基因组的924个基因与这30种子囊菌基因组同时存在匹配序列,其中E值在10-5～0.1、10-30～10-5、10-100～10-30、0～10-100范围内都存在匹配序列的基因分别为6个、3个、6个和6个。ClustalX多序列比对分析显示,E值10-5～0.1的6组序列和E值10-30～10-5的3组序列均显示变异性过大而E值0～10-100的6组序列过于保守,E值介于10-100～10-30之间的6组同源序列可用于本研究的31种子囊菌系统学分析。     

Self-eating to grow and kill: autophagy in filamentous ascomycetes

Autophagy is a tightly controlled degradation process in which eukaryotic cells digest their own cytoplasm containing protein complexes and organelles in the vacuole or lysosome. Two types of autophagy have been described: macroautophagy and microautophagy. Both types can be further divided into nonselective and selective processes. Molecular analysis of autophagy over the last two decades has mostly used the unicellular ascomycetes Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Pichia pastoris. Genetic analysis in these yeasts has identified 36 autophagy-related (atg) genes; many are conserved in all eukaryotes, including filamentous ascomycetes. However, the autophagic machinery also evolved significant differences in fungi, as a consequence of adaptation to diverse fungal lifestyles. Intensive studies on autophagy in the last few years have shown that autophagy in filamentous fungi is not only involved in nutrient homeostasis but in other cellular processes such as cell differentiation, pathogenicity and secondary metabolite production. This mini-review focuses on the specific roles of autophagy in filamentous fungi.     

基于比较基因组学方法的丝状子囊菌同源序列分析

为探讨丝状子囊菌基因组的同源保守序列作为标记基因,利用Standalone BLASTN方法将构巢曲霉全基因组基因分别与30种丝状子囊菌基因组比较.构巢曲霉与每个丝状子囊菌基因组之间的同源匹配基因数量似乎可反映子囊菌之间的进化关系,构巢曲霉（10,560个基因）与15种散囊菌纲其他真菌间的匹配基因数量为5,179-7,747个,其中与另外7个同属的种匹配的基因数量为7,434-7,747个,而与亲缘关系较远的2种锤舌菌纲真菌灰葡萄孢和核盘菌的匹配基因数量分别仅有4,318个和4,242个.构巢曲霉的10,560个基因与20余种子囊菌基因组同时匹配的基因数为3,509个,占33.2％,构巢曲霉基因与30种子囊菌共同匹配的基因仅924个.此外,E值大小在10-30_0.1范围的同源序列变异性大,而在0-10-100范围的同源序列高度保守.随着基因组序列数据的增加,比较基因组方法将会在真菌系统学研究领域发挥更大的作用.     

Origin and distribution of epipolythiodioxopiperazine (ETP) gene clusters in filamentous ascomycetes

Background  

Genes responsible for biosynthesis of fungal secondary metabolites are usually tightly clustered in the genome and co-regulated with metabolite production. Epipolythiodioxopiperazines (ETPs) are a class of secondary metabolite toxins produced by disparate ascomycete fungi and implicated in several animal and plant diseases. Gene clusters responsible for their production have previously been defined in only two fungi. Fungal genome sequence data have been surveyed for the presence of putative ETP clusters and cluster data have been generated from several fungal taxa where genome sequences are not available. Phylogenetic analysis of cluster genes has been used to investigate the assembly and heredity of these gene clusters.     

A steep phosphoinositide bis-phosphate gradient forms during fungal filamentous growth

Membrane lipids have been implicated in many critical cellular processes, yet little is known about the role of asymmetric lipid distribution in cell morphogenesis. The phosphoinositide bis-phosphate PI(4,5)P(2) is essential for polarized growth in a range of organisms. Although an asymmetric distribution of this phospholipid has been observed in some cells, long-range gradients of PI(4,5)P(2) have not been observed. Here, we show that in the human pathogenic fungus Candida albicans a steep, long-range gradient of PI(4,5)P(2) occurs concomitant with emergence of the hyphal filament. Both sufficient PI(4)P synthesis and the actin cytoskeleton are necessary for this steep PI(4,5)P(2) gradient. In contrast, neither microtubules nor asymmetrically localized mRNAs are critical. Our results indicate that a gradient of PI(4,5)P(2), crucial for filamentous growth, is generated and maintained by the filament tip-localized PI(4)P-5-kinase Mss4 and clearing of this lipid at the back of the cell. Furthermore, we propose that slow membrane diffusion of PI(4,5)P(2) contributes to the maintenance of such a gradient.     

Development of ToxA and ToxB promoter-driven fluorescent protein expression vectors for use in filamentous ascomycetes

The green fluorescent protein (GFP) has been established as the premier in vivo reporter for investigations of gene expression, protein localization, and cell and organism dynamics. The fungal transformation vector pCT74, with sGFP under the control of the ToxA promoter from Pyrenophora tritici-repentis, effectively expresses GFP in a diverse group of filamentous ascomycetes. Due to the versatility of ToxA promoter-driven expression of GFP, we constructed an additional set of fluorescent protein expression vectors to expand the color palette of fluorescent markers for use in filamentous fungi. EYFP, ECFP and mRFP1 were successfully expressed from the ToxA promoter in its fungus of origin, P. tritici-repentis, and a distant relative, Verticillium dahliae. Additionally the ToxB promoter from P. tritici-repentis drove expression of sGFP in V. dahliae, suggesting a similar potential to the ToxA promoter for heterologous expression in ascomycetes. The suite of fungal transformation vectors presented here promise to be useful for a variety of fungal research applications.     

Biofungicide utilizations of antifungal proteins of filamentous ascomycetes: current and foreseeable future developments

Today’s dearth of effective antimicrobial agents can be overcome by the use of antimicrobial proteins, which are produced naturally by a wide range of organisms including microorganisms, plants and mammals. These small basic proteins are highly stable, easy to manufacture on a large scale, and any resistance against them develops only rarely. These proteins are therefore good candidates for the treatment and prevention of various fungal infections. Importantly, these protein-based antimycotics can even be expressed heterologously in suitable organisms and can be used for various agricultural purposes in the future including biocontrol applications. In this review, we summarize today’s knowledge on the sources, structures, large-scale productions, direct surface applications as well as on the heterologous expressions in host plants of the small molecular mass antifungal proteins produced by filamentous fungi. Future developments foreseeable in this promising area of antifungal protein research are also presented and discussed in this review.     

A complete inventory of all enzymes in the eukaryotic methionine salvage pathway

The methionine salvage pathway is universally used to regenerate methionine from 5'-methylthioadenosine, a byproduct of certain reactions involving S-adenosylmethionine. We identified and verified the genes encoding the enzymes of all steps in this cycle in a commonly used eukaryotic model system: the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The genes encoding 5'-methylthioribose-1-phosphate isomerase and 5'-methylthioribulose-1-phosphate dehydratase are herein named MRI1 and MDE1, respectively. The 5'-methylthioadenosine phosphorylase was verified as Meu1p, the 2,3-dioxomethiopentane-1-phosphate enolase/phosphatase as Utr4p and the aci-reductone dioxygenase as Adi1p. The homologue of the enolase/phosphatase gene, YNL010w, was excluded from its candidate role in the cycle. The methodology used involved auxotrophic growth tests and analysis of intracellular 5'-methylthioadenosine in deletion mutants. The last step, a transamination of 4-methylthio-2-oxobutyrate to yield methionine, was found to be a highly redundant step. It was catalysed by amino acid transaminases, mainly coupled with aromatic and branched chain amino acids as amino donors, but also with proline, lysine and glutamate/glutamine. The aromatic amino acid transaminases, Aro8p and Aro9p, and the branched chain amino acid transaminases, Bat1p and Bat2p, seemed to be the main enzymes exhibiting 4-methylthio-2-oxobutyrate transaminase activity. Bat2p was found to be less specific and used proline, lysine, tyrosine and glutamate as amino donors in addition to the branched chain amino acids. Thus, for the first time, all enzymes of the methionine salvage pathway were identified in a eukaryote.     

反义RNA技术在丝状真菌代谢工程中的应用

丝状真菌作为一种重要的工业微生物,采用各种表达调控技术对其代谢途径进行改造以便适应生产需求成为当前的研究热点之一。反义RNA技术是代谢工程中调控基因表达的一种重要手段,且由于其操作简单避免了基因敲除技术的复杂性,在丝状真菌体系中有着良好的应用前景。本综述中,从反义RNA的作用机理、真菌体系的基因工程技术以及目前反义RNA技术的应用等方面,对反义RNA技术在丝状真菌代谢工程中的应用进行了概述。     

From three-dimensional morphology to effective diffusivity in filamentous fungal pellets

Filamentous fungi are exploited as cell factories in biotechnology for the production of proteins, organic acids, and natural products. Hereby, fungal macromorphologies adopted during submerged cultivations in bioreactors strongly impact the productivity. In particular, fungal pellets are known to limit the diffusivity of oxygen, substrates, and products. To investigate the spatial distribution of substances inside fungal pellets, the diffusive mass transport must be locally resolved. In this study, we present a new approach to obtain the effective diffusivity in a fungal pellet based on its three-dimensional morphology. Freeze-dried Aspergillus niger pellets were studied by X-ray microcomputed tomography, and the results were reconstructed to obtain three-dimensional images. After processing these images, representative cubes of the pellets were subjected to diffusion computations. The effective diffusion factor and the tortuosity of each cube were calculated using the software GeoDict. Afterwards, the effective diffusion factor was correlated with the amount of hyphal material inside the cubes (hyphal fraction). The obtained correlation between the effective diffusion factor and hyphal fraction shows a large deviation from the correlations reported in the literature so far, giving new and more accurate insights. This knowledge can be used for morphological optimization of filamentous pellets to increase the yield of biotechnological processes.     

Exon-intron structure of genes in complete fungal genomes

Computer analysis of genes was performed for lower fungi Aspergillus fumigatus, Candida glabrata, Cryptococcus neoformans, Debaryomyces hansenii, Encephalitozoon cuniculi, Eremothecium gossypii, Kluyveromyces lactis, Magnaporthe grisea, Neurospora crassa, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, Ustilago maydis, and Yarrowia lipolytica. The content of genes with an exon-intron structure in their genomes varied from 0.7 to 97.0%. The exon-intron structure substantially changes with an increasing portion of intron-containing genes. Gene size and total exon length proved to linearly depend on the intron number in the A. fumigatus, C. neoformans, M. grisea, N. crassa, S. pombe, and U. maydis genomes.