Go with the flow: mechanisms driving water transport during vegetative growth and fruiting

Fungi need water for all stages of life. Notably, mushrooms consist of ∼90% water. Fungi degrade organic matter by secreting enzymes. These enzymes need water to be able to break down the substrate. For instance, when the substrate is too dry, fungi transport water from moist areas to arid areas by hydraulic redistribution. Once nutrients are freed from the substrate, they are taken up by transporters lining the cell membrane. Thereby an intracellular osmotic potential is created which is greater than that of the substrate, and water follows by osmosis. Aquaporins may facilitate water uptake depending on the conditions. Since fungi possess a cell wall, the cell volume will not increase much by water uptake, but the cell membrane will exert higher pressure on the cell wall, thereby building up turgor. Fungi have tightly coordinated osmotic regulatory controls via the HOG pathway. When water is getting scarce, this pathway makes sure that enough osmolytes are synthesized to allow sufficient water uptake for maintaining turgor homeostasis. The fungal network is interconnected and allows water flow when small pressure differences exist. These pressure differences can be the result of growth, differential osmolyte uptake/synthesis or external osmotic conditions. Overall, the water potential of the substrate and of fungal tissues determine whether water will flow, since water flows from an area of high- to a low water potential area, when unobstructed. In this review we aim to give a comprehensive view on how fungi obtain and translocate water needed for their development. We have taken Agaricus bisporus growing on compost and casing soil as a case study, to discuss water relations during fruiting in detail. Using the current state-of-the-art we found that there is a discrepancy between the models describing water transport to mushrooms and the story that water potentials tell us.     

工业有机污染对小型水体沉积物真菌群落的影响分析

【背景】有机污染对水体沉积物中的微生物多样性影响极大,而目前有关污染水体沉积物中真菌多样性的研究较少。【目的】研究不同程度有机污染下水体沉积物中真菌种群的多样性特征,探究工业有机污染对真菌群落的影响。【方法】应用化学分析方法和高通量测序技术进行研究,并分析水质、沉积物成分等环境因子与沉积物真菌多样性的相关性。【结果】随着污染程度的降低,水体沉积物中真菌序列数、OTU数和Shannon多样性指数均呈上升趋势。未分类真菌、子囊菌门和担子菌门是沉积物真菌群落中的主要优势种类,主要优势属为Zopfiella、Westerdykella、Clypeosphaeria、Ilyonectria、Paracremonium、Aspergillus。真菌Shannon指数与水体溶解氧(dissolvedoxygen,DO)极显著正相关,与沉积物有机质和总磷含量显著负相关,Simpson指数与水体总氮(total nitrogen,TN)、氨氮(NH3-N)、总磷(total phosphorus,TP)显著相关。【结论】有机污染导致水体溶解氧下降和沉积物有机质增加,从而导致污染区真菌多样性显著下降。Zopfiella、Penicillium、Emericellopsis、Westerdykella、Jugulospora、Chromelosporium可能参与曝气处理区域沉积物兼氧条件下污染物的去除,Ilyonectria、Mortierella、Epicoccum可能主要参与水生生物残体分解、污染物的吸附沉降等过程。     

Spatial and seasonal changes in species diversity of epilithic fungi along environmental gradients of a river

相似文献   

Deep Sequencing of Subseafloor Eukaryotic rRNA Reveals Active Fungi across Marine Subsurface Provinces

The deep marine subsurface is a vast habitat for microbial life where cells may live on geologic timescales. Because DNA in sediments may be preserved on long timescales, ribosomal RNA (rRNA) is suggested to be a proxy for the active fraction of a microbial community in the subsurface. During an investigation of eukaryotic 18S rRNA by amplicon pyrosequencing, unique profiles of Fungi were found across a range of marine subsurface provinces including ridge flanks, continental margins, and abyssal plains. Subseafloor fungal populations exhibit statistically significant correlations with total organic carbon (TOC), nitrate, sulfide, and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC). These correlations are supported by terminal restriction length polymorphism (TRFLP) analyses of fungal rRNA. Geochemical correlations with fungal pyrosequencing and TRFLP data from this geographically broad sample set suggests environmental selection of active Fungi in the marine subsurface. Within the same dataset, ancient rRNA signatures were recovered from plants and diatoms in marine sediments ranging from 0.03 to 2.7 million years old, suggesting that rRNA from some eukaryotic taxa may be much more stable than previously considered in the marine subsurface.     

DNA分子标记技术在真菌系统学研究中的应用及影响

DNA分子标记技术为真菌系统进化研究提供了许多新的方法,真菌分子系统学已成为一门成熟的学科。简述了真菌分子系统学的发展简史和代表性的研究方法以及对真菌系统学的主要贡献,包括将广义的真菌划分为3个类群,粘菌和卵菌不再属于真菌界成员。真菌生命之树项目的研究结果对真菌界高阶分类系统作出重大调整,将先前的4个门(壶菌门、接合菌门、子囊菌门和担子菌门)变为7个门(微孢子虫门、壶菌门、新丽鞭毛菌门、芽枝霉门、球囊菌门、子囊菌门和担子菌门)和4个亚门,并对真菌各类群概念作出修订。此外,DNA分子标记技术对真菌种概念的认识、有性型-无性型关联及分子生态学等研究领域产生了重要影响。     

土壤真菌多样性及分子生态学研究进展

真菌是土壤中一类重要的微生物,参与有机质分解,与植物共生为植物提供养分,同时病原真菌也会引起粮食产量的降低．土壤真菌多样性在维持生态系统的平衡和为人类提供大量未开发资源上起到了独特而重要的作用．本文从物种多样性、生境多样性、功能多样性角度阐述了土壤真菌多样性,并从农田、林地、草地、极端环境与一些复杂环境土壤真菌多样性层面综述了土壤真菌多样性分子生态学研究进展。同时论述了一些影响真菌多样性的因素,并对土壤真菌多样性研究的前景提出展望．     

Assimilation of alternative sulfur sources in fungi

Fungi are well known for their metabolic versatility, whether it is the degradation of complex organic substrates or the biosynthesis of intricate secondary metabolites. The vast majority of studies concerning fungal metabolic pathways for sulfur assimilation have focused on conventional sources of sulfur such as inorganic sulfur ions and sulfur-containing biomolecules. Less is known about the metabolic pathways involved in the assimilation of so-called “alternative” sulfur sources such as sulfides, sulfoxides, sulfones, sulfonates, sulfate esters and sulfamates. This review summarizes our current knowledge regarding the structural diversity of sulfur compounds assimilated by fungi as well as the biochemistry and genetics of metabolic pathways involved in this process. Shared sequence homology between bacterial and fungal sulfur assimilation genes have lead to the identification of several candidate genes in fungi while other enzyme activities and pathways so far appear to be specific to the fungal kingdom. Increased knowledge of how fungi catabolize this group of compounds will ultimately contribute to a more complete understanding of sulfur cycling in nature as well as the environmental fate of sulfur-containing xenobiotics.     

Fungal functional ecology: bringing a trait‐based approach to plant‐associated fungi

Fungi play many essential roles in ecosystems. They facilitate plant access to nutrients and water, serve as decay agents that cycle carbon and nutrients through the soil, water and atmosphere, and are major regulators of macro‐organismal populations. Although technological advances are improving the detection and identification of fungi, there still exist key gaps in our ecological knowledge of this kingdom, especially related to function . Trait‐based approaches have been instrumental in strengthening our understanding of plant functional ecology and, as such, provide excellent models for deepening our understanding of fungal functional ecology in ways that complement insights gained from traditional and ‐omics‐based techniques. In this review, we synthesize current knowledge of fungal functional ecology, taxonomy and systematics and introduce a novel database of fungal functional traits (Fun^Fun). Fun^Fun is built to interface with other databases to explore and predict how fungal functional diversity varies by taxonomy, guild, and other evolutionary or ecological grouping variables. To highlight how a quantitative trait‐based approach can provide new insights, we describe multiple targeted examples and end by suggesting next steps in the rapidly growing field of fungal functional ecology.     

Cryophilic fungi to denote fungi in the cryosphere

Fungi are widely distributed in the cryosphere where the habitat is constantly or seasonally covered with snow and/or ice. Fungi normally have different cells in their life cycle; fungal thermal dependence varies according to their life cycle stages and is completely different from that of bacteria. Examples are illustrated to show that the concept of psychrophile by Morita (1975) does not apply to fungi, and we propose a new term “cryophilic fungi” for those that spend a certain life stage or whole life cycle (sexual and/or asexual reproductive stages) in the cryosphere.     

Skeleton bones in museum indoor environments offer niches for fungi and are affected by weathering and deposition of secondary minerals

Large skeleton specimens are often featured as iconic open displays in Natural History Museums, for example, the blue whale ‘Hope’ at the Natural History Museum, London. A study on Hope's bone surface was performed to assess the biodeterioration potential of fungi. Fungi were isolated, and a fungal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) clone library survey was performed on dust and bone material. Mineral particles derived from bone and dust were analysed using energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, variable pressure scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and high vacuum SEM. Results showed that bone material, although mainly mineral in nature, and therefore less susceptible than organic materials to biodeterioration phenomena in the indoor environments, offers niches for specialized fungi and is affected by unusual and yet not so well-documented mechanisms of alteration. Areas of bone surface were covered with a dense biofilm mostly composed of fungal hyphae, which produced tunnelling and extensive deposition of calcium and iron-containing secondary minerals. Airborne halophilic and xerophilic fungi including taxa grouping into Ascomycota and Basidiomycota, capable of displacing salts and overcome little water availability, were found to dominate the microbiome of the bone surface.     

Identification of fungi associated with municipal compost using DNA-based techniques

Fungi are important in terrestrial decay processes. However, fungi associated with organic decay during composting are still not well known. In this study culture-independent methods were used to identify fungi associated with composting organic municipal wastes to gain a better understanding of the diversity of fungi associated with this process. Fungal communities from 0, 210, and 410 day-old compost samples were assessed with DNA fingerprinting using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and by the analysis of DNA sequences from rDNA clone libraries. From 207 rDNA sequences, 82 fungal OTU’s were detected. A disproportionate number of yeast sequences were detected in Day 0 clone libraries, including the human pathogens Candida tropicalis and Candida krusei (Saccharomycetales). Basidiomycetes accounted for over half of the clones from the Day 210 sample. Clones of Cercophora and Neurospora species accounted for most of the fungal clones of the Day 410 sample. No Zygomycetes or Aspergillus species were detected in this study. These findings call for a reassessment of long held views about the organisms involved in the composting of organic municipal wastes.     

Intraspecific diversity affects stress response and the ecological performance of a cosmopolitan aquatic fungus

Fungi play an important role in organic matter turnover and ensure key ecosystem services in freshwaters. The relationships between intraspecific fungal diversity and key ecological processes remain largely unknown. We examined the effects of intraspecific diversity of Articulospora tetracladia, a cosmopolitan fungal decomposer thriving on plant detritus in streams. Alder leaves were inoculated with 1 or mixtures of 2–8 fungal strains for 35 d, and leaf litter decomposition and fungal reproduction were quantified in the presence and absence of 2 mg L⁻¹ of cadmium (Cd), a common stressor in polluted streams. Intraspecific diversity and identity affected fungal reproduction, but not leaf decomposition. Under metal stress, leaf decomposition slightly increased with intraspecific diversity. Fungal reproduction increased with intraspecific diversity and was greater in mixed assemblages, either in the absence or presence of Cd. Effect size of intraspecific diversity was higher under Cd stress for fungal reproduction, but no differences were found for leaf mass loss, with or without metal. The impacts of intraspecific diversity loss may jeopardize fungal survival and fungal functions, namely microbial leaf decomposition and leaf litter condition for invertebrate shredders in streams, particularly under metal stress.     

High Spatial Resolution Infrared Micro-Spectroscopy Reveals the Mechanism of Leaf Lignin Decomposition by Aquatic Fungi

Organic carbon is a critical component of aquatic systems, providing energy storage and transfer between organisms. Fungi are a major decomposer group in the aquatic carbon cycle, and are one of few groups thought to be capable of breaking down woody (lignified) tissue. In this work we have used high spatial resolution (synchrotron light source) infrared micro-spectroscopy to study the interaction between aquatic fungi and lignified leaf vein material (xylem) from River Redgum trees (E. camaldulensis) endemic to the lowland rivers of South-Eastern Australia. The work provides spatially explicit evidence that fungal colonisation of leaf litter involves the oxidative breakdown of lignin immediately adjacent to the fungal tissue and depletion of the lignin-bound cellulose. Cellulose depletion occurs over relatively short length scales (5–15 µm) and highlights the likely importance of mechanical breakdown in accessing the carbohydrate content of this resource. Low bioavailability compounds (oxidized lignin and polyphenols of plant origin) remain in colonised leaves, even after fungal activity diminishes, and suggests a possible pathway for the sequestration of carbon in wetlands. The work shows that fungi likely have a critical role in the partitioning of lignified material into a biodegradable fraction that can re-enter the aquatic carbon cycle, and a recalcitrant fraction that enters long-term storage in sediments or contribute to the formation of dissolved organic carbon in the water column.     

Importance of Saprotrophic Freshwater Fungi for Pollen Degradation

Fungi and bacteria are the major organic matter (OM) decomposers in aquatic ecosystems. While bacteria are regarded as primary mineralizers in the pelagic zone of lakes and oceans, fungi dominate OM decomposition in streams and wetlands. Recent findings indicate that fungal communities are also active in lakes, but little is known about their diversity and interactions with bacteria. Therefore, the decomposer niche overlap of saprotrophic fungi and bacteria was studied on pollen (as a seasonally recurring source of fine particulate OM) by performing microcosm experiments with three different lake types. Special emphasis was placed on analysis of fungal community composition and diversity. We hypothesized that (I) pollen select for small saprotrophic fungi and at the same time for typical particle-associated bacteria; (II) fungal communities form specific free-living and attached sub-communities in each lake type; (III) the ratio between fungi or bacteria on pollen is controlled by the lake''s chemistry. Bacteria-to-fungi ratios were determined by quantitative PCR (qPCR), and bacterial and fungal diversity were studied by clone libraries and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) fingerprints. A protease assay was used to identify functional differences between treatments. For generalization, systematic differences in bacteria-to-fungi ratios were analyzed with a dataset from the nearby Baltic Sea rivers. High abundances of Chytridiomycota as well as occurrences of Cryptomycota and yeast-like fungi confirm the decomposer niche overlap of saprotrophic fungi and bacteria on pollen. As hypothesized, microbial communities consistently differed between the lake types and exhibited functional differences. Bacteria-to-fungi ratios correlated well with parameters such as organic carbon and pH. The importance of dissolved organic carbon and nitrogen for bacteria-to-fungi ratios was supported by the Baltic Sea river dataset. Our findings highlight the fact that carbon-to-nitrogen ratios may also control fungal contributions to OM decomposition in aquatic ecosystems.     

Insect pathology and fungal endophytes

Fungi that occur inside asymptomatic plant tissues are known as fungal endophytes. Different genera of fungal entomopathogens have been reported as naturally occurring fungal endophytes, and it has been shown that it is possible to inoculate plants with fungal entomopathogens, making them endophytic. Their mode of action against insects appears to be due to antibiosis or feeding deterrence. Research aimed at understanding the fungal ecology of entomopathogenic fungi, and their role as fungal endophytes, could lead to a new paradigm on how to successfully use these organisms in biological control programs.     

Carbon assimilating fungi from surface ocean to subseafloor revealed by coupled phylogenetic and stable isotope analysis

Fungi are ubiquitous in the ocean and hypothesized to be important members of marine ecosystems, but their roles in the marine carbon cycle are poorly understood. Here, we use ¹³C DNA stable isotope probing coupled with phylogenetic analyses to investigate carbon assimilation within diverse communities of planktonic and benthic fungi in the Benguela Upwelling System (Namibia). Across the redox stratified water column and in the underlying sediments, assimilation of ¹³C-labeled carbon from diatom extracellular polymeric substances (¹³C-dEPS) by fungi correlated with the expression of fungal genes encoding carbohydrate-active enzymes. Phylogenetic analysis of genes from ¹³C-labeled metagenomes revealed saprotrophic lineages related to the facultative yeast Malassezia were the main fungal foragers of pelagic dEPS. In contrast, fungi living in the underlying sulfidic sediments assimilated more ¹³C-labeled carbon from chemosynthetic bacteria compared to dEPS. This coincided with a unique seafloor fungal community and dissolved organic matter composition compared to the water column, and a 100-fold increased fungal abundance within the subseafloor sulfide-nitrate transition zone. The subseafloor fungi feeding on ¹³C-labeled chemolithoautotrophs under anoxic conditions were affiliated with Chytridiomycota and Mucoromycota that encode cellulolytic and proteolytic enzymes, revealing polysaccharide and protein-degrading fungi that can anaerobically decompose chemosynthetic necromass. These subseafloor fungi, therefore, appear to be specialized in organic matter that is produced in the sediments. Our findings reveal that the phylogenetic diversity of fungi across redox stratified marine ecosystems translates into functionally relevant mechanisms helping to structure carbon flow from primary producers in marine microbiomes from the surface ocean to the subseafloor.Subject terms: Microbial ecology, Fungal ecology, Microbiome, Biogeochemistry     

An overview of antifungal peptides derived from insect

Fungi are not classified as plants or animals. They resemble plants in many ways but do not produce chlorophyll or make their own food photosynthetically like plants. Fungi are useful for the production of beer, bread, medicine, etc. More complex than viruses or bacteria; fungi can be destructive human pathogens responsible for various diseases in humans. Most people have a strong natural immunity against fungal infection. However, fungi can cause diseases when this immunity breaks down. In the last few years, fungal infection has increased strikingly and has been accompanied by a rise in the number of deaths of cancer patients, transplant recipients, and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) patients owing to fungal infections. The growth rate of fungi is very slow and quite difficult to identify. A series of molecules with antifungal activity against different strains of fungi have been found in insects, which can be of great importance to tackle human diseases. Insects secrete such compounds, which can be peptides, as a part of their immune defense reactions. Active antifungal peptides developed by insects to rapidly eliminate infectious pathogens are considered a component of the defense munitions. This review focuses on naturally occurring antifungal peptides from insects and their challenges to be used as armaments against human diseases.     

High spatial resolution analysis of fungal cell biochemistry--bridging the analytical gap using synchrotron FTIR spectromicroscopy.

Fungi impact humans and the environment in many ways, for good and ill. Some fungi support the growth of terrestrial plants or are used in biotechnology, and yet others are established or emerging pathogens. In some cases, the same organism may play different roles depending on the context or the circumstance. A better understanding of the relationship between fungal biochemical composition as related to the fungal growth environment is essential if we are to support or control their activities. Synchrotron FTIR (sFTIR) spectromicroscopy of fungal hyphae is a major new tool for exploring cell composition at a high spatial resolution. Brilliant synchrotron light is essential for this analysis due to the small size of fungal hyphae. sFTIR biochemical characterization of subcellular variation in hyphal composition will allow detailed exploration of fungal responses to experimental treatments and to environmental factors.