Reactive oxygen species

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) occur in the rhizosphere and in plant tissues as obligate symbionts, having key roles in plant evolution and nutrition. AMF possess endobacteria, and genome sequencing of the endobacterium Candidatus Glomeribacter gigasporarum revealed a reduced genome and a dependence on the fungal host. To understand the effect of bacteria on fungal fitness, we used next-generation sequencing to analyse the transcriptional profile of Gigaspora margarita in the presence and in the absence of its endobacterium. Genomic data on AMF are limited; therefore, we first generated a gene catalogue for G. margarita. Transcriptome analysis revealed that the endobacterium has a stronger effect on the pre-symbiotic phase of the fungus. Coupling transcriptomics with cell biology and physiological approaches, we demonstrate that the bacterium increases the fungal sporulation success, raises the fungal bioenergetic capacity, increasing ATP production, and eliciting mechanisms to detoxify reactive oxygen species. By using TAT peptide to translocate the bioluminescent calcium reporter aequorin, we demonstrated that the line with endobacteria had a lower basal intracellular calcium concentration than the cured line. Lastly, the bacteria seem to enhance the fungal responsiveness to strigolactones, the plant molecules that AMF perceive as branching factors. Although the endobacterium exacts a nutritional cost on the AMF, endobacterial symbiosis improves the fungal ecological fitness by priming mitochondrial metabolic pathways and giving the AMF more tools to face environmental stresses. Thus, we hypothesise that, as described for the human microbiota, endobacteria may increase AMF innate immunity.

Symbiosis with an endobacterium increases the fitness of a mycorrhizal fungus, raising its bioenergetic potential

Heat stress (HS) influences the growth and development of organisms. Thus, a comprehensive understanding of how organisms sense HS and respond to it is required. Ganoderma lucidum, a higher basidiomycete with bioactive secondary metabolites, has become a potential model system due to the complete sequencing of its genome, transgenic systems, and reliable reverse genetic tools. In this study, we found that HS inhibited mycelium growth, reduced hyphal branching, and induced the accumulation of ganoderic acid biosynthesis and heat shock proteins (HSPs) in G. lucidum. Our data showed that HS induced a significant increase in cytosolic Ca2+ concentration. Further evidence showed that Ca2+ might be a factor in the HS-mediated regulation of hyphal branching, ganoderic acid (GA) biosynthesis, and the accumulation of HSPs. Our results further showed that the calcium-permeable channel gene (cch)-silenced and phosphoinositide-specific phospholipase gene (plc)-silenced strains reduced the HS-induced increase in HSP expression compared with that observed for the wild type (WT). This study demonstrates that cytosolic Ca2+ participates in heat shock signal transduction and regulates downstream events in filamentous fungi.
 IMPORTANCEGanoderma lucidum, a higher basidiomycete with bioactive secondary metabolites, has become a potential model system for evaluating how environmental factors regulate the development and secondary metabolism of basidiomycetes. Heat stress (HS) is an important environmental challenge. In this study, we found that HS inhibited mycelium growth, reduced hyphal branching, and induced HSP expression and ganoderic acid biosynthesis in G. lucidum. Further evidence showed that Ca2+ might be a factor in the HS-mediated regulation of hyphal branching, GA biosynthesis, and the accumulation of HSPs. This study demonstrates that cytosolic Ca2+ participates in heat shock signal transduction and regulates downstream events in filamentous fungi. Our research offers a new way to understand the mechanism underlying the physiological and metabolic responses to other environmental factors in G. lucidum. This research may also provide the basis for heat shock signal transduction studies of other fungi.

Heat Stress Modulates Mycelium Growth, Heat Shock Protein Expression, Ganoderic Acid Biosynthesis, and Hyphal Branching of Ganoderma lucidum via Cytosolic Ca2+

Functional analysis of the role of glutathione peroxidase (GPx) in the ROS signaling pathway, hyphal branching and the regulation of ganoderic acid biosynthesis in Ganoderma lucidum.

The fungal cell wall is the external and first layer that fungi use to interact with the environment. Every stress signal, before being translated into an appropriate stress response, needs to overtake this layer. Many signaling pathways are involved in translating stress signals, but the cell wall integrity (CWI) signaling pathway is the one responsible for the maintenance and biosynthesis of the fungal cell wall. In fungi, the CWI signal is composed of a mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) module. After the start of the phosphorylation cascade, the CWI signal induces the expression of cell-wall-related genes. However, the function of the CWI signal is not merely the activation of cell wall biosynthesis, but also the regulation of expression and production of specific molecules that are used by fungi to better compete in the environment. These molecules are normally defined as secondary metabolites or natural products. This review is focused on secondary metabolites affected by the CWI signal pathway with a special focus on relevant natural products such as melanins, mycotoxins, and antibacterial compounds.

https://www.mdpi.com/2309-608X/3/4/68/pdf

The Cell Wall Integrity Signaling Pathway and Its Involvement in Secondary Metabolite Production

Ganoderma lucidum has drawn worldwide interest with regard to its secondary metabolism and pharmaceutical activity. However, the development of such research has been limited because of a lack of basic biological knowledge. Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidases (Nox) have recently been highlighted because of the many important biological roles in plants and animals; however, the exact functions of Nox are still not fully understood in fungi. In this study, we identified two Nox isoforms (NoxA and NoxB) and a regulator, NoxR. RNA interference was used, and silencing of the Nox isoforms and NoxR expression indicated a central role for these genes in hyphal branching, fruiting body development, reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, ROS resistance and ganoderic acid biosynthesis regulation. Further mechanistic investigation revealed that Nox-generated ROS elevated cytosolic Ca(2+) levels by activating a plasma membrane Ca(2+) influx pathway, thereby inducing the Ca(2+) signal pathway to regulate ganoderic acid biosynthesis and hyphal branching. Importantly, our results highlight the Nox functions in signal crosstalk between ROS and Ca(2+), and these findings provide an excellent opportunity to identify the potential pathway linking ROS networks to calcium signalling in fungi and suggest that plants, animals and fungi share a conserved signal-crosstalk mechanism.

Functions of the nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase family in Ganoderma lucidum: an essential role in ganoderic acid biosynthesis regulation, hyphal branching, fruiting body development, and oxidative-stress resistance.

Acetic acid at 5–8 mM increased ganoderic acid (GA) accumulation in Ganoderma lucidum. After optimization by the response surface methodology, the GA content reached 5.5/100 mg dry weight, an increase of 105 % compared with the control. The intermediate metabolites of GA biosynthesis, lanosterol and squalene also increased to 47 and 15.8 μg/g dry weight, respectively, in response to acetic acid. Acetic acid significantly induced transcription levels of sqs, lano, hmgs and cyp51 in the GA biosynthesis pathway. An acetic acid-unregulated acetyl coenzyme A synthase (acs) gene was selected from ten candidate homologous acs genes. The results indicate that acetic acid alters the expression of genes related to acetic acid assimilation and increases GA biosynthesis and the metabolic levels of lanosterol, squalene and GA-a, thereby resulting in GA accumulation.

Transcript and metabolite alterations increase ganoderic acid content in Ganoderma lucidum using acetic acid as an inducer

The mitogen-activated protein kinase GlSlt2 regulates fungal growth, fruiting body development, cell wall integrity, oxidative stress and ganoderic acid biosynthesis in Ganoderma lucidum.

Xiongbiao Li

Papers

Functions of the nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase family in Ganoderma lucidum: an essential role in ganoderic acid biosynthesis regulation, hyphal branching, fruiting body development, and oxidative-stress resistance.

Transcript and metabolite alterations increase ganoderic acid content in Ganoderma lucidum using acetic acid as an inducer

The mitogen-activated protein kinase GlSlt2 regulates fungal growth, fruiting body development, cell wall integrity, oxidative stress and ganoderic acid biosynthesis in Ganoderma lucidum.