More than a million species of fungi are estimated to live on this planet, but most of that diversity remains unknown because the fungi have avoided detection and have not been cultured for study in laboratories. A team led by researchers at the Joint Genome Institute has developed a pipeline to generate genomes from single cells of uncultivated fungi. The approach was tested on several uncultivated fungal species representing the earliest evolutionary branches in the fungal genealogy that provide a repertoire of important and valuable gene products.
JGI, JBEI Present First Results of Genus-Wide Aspergillus Project
Found in microbial communities around the world, Aspergillus fungi are pathogens, decomposers, and important sources of biotechnologically-important enzymes. In a study published ahead the week of January 8, 2018 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a team led by researchers at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), the Joint Genome Institute (JGI), and the DOE’s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) report the first results of a long-term plan to sequence, annotate and analyze the genomes of 300 Aspergillus fungi. These findings are a proof of concept of novel methods to functionally annotate genomes in order to more quickly identify genes of interest. Read more on the JGI website.
JGI Helps Analyze Dry Rot’s Adaptation to Built Environments
Unlike white rots, brown rots break down only the cellulose and hemicellulose, leaving the lignin behind. The brown rot Serpula lacrymans is typically found in spruce and other conifers in boreal forests. As these trees were harvested for constructing buildings, the dry rot fungus migrated indoors and across borders, adapting to thrive in manmade environments. Reported January 5, 2018 in The ISME Journal, a comparative genomics analysis by a team led by University of Oslo scientists and including JGI researchers lends insights on how the fungus has responded to manmade changes in its ecological habitat, adapting to thrive in built environments. Learn more on the JGI website.
JGI Sheds Light on Fungal-Bacterial Mutualism
In heritable mutualisms, hosts pass on beneficial symbionts between generations. The origin of this relationship though, is often antagonistic and the parasite first needs to secure its own transmission before working with the host. Using the mutualistic relationship between the plant pathogenic fungus Rhizopus microsporus (Rm) and Burkholderia endobacteria, JGI and Cornell University researchers reported on how the antagonistic-to-mutualistic transition occurs in Nature Communications. The team found that the oil-producing fungus is highly dependent on the Burkholderia endobacteria to proliferate both sexually and asexually. This dependence is consistent with the addiction model of mutualism evolution. Read more on the JGI website.
JGI Comparative Genomics of Humongous Fungus Helps Explain Size, Pathogenicity
As part of an international team, researchers at the Joint Genome Institute (JGI) helped sequence and analyze the genomes of four fungi of the genus Armillaria. Often called the humongous fungus, Armillaria form some of the planet’s largest living organisms. They are also among the most devastating fungal pathogens, capable of breaking down all of the components of a host plant’s cell walls.
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