| Abstract Detail
Emerging infectious diseases by zoosporic parasites Sain, Divya [2], Melida, Hugo [1], Bulone, Vincent [1], Stajich, Jason [2]. Fungal cell wall evolution reconstructed from genomes of early diverging fungi. The outer membrane of fungal cells are defined by cell walls that made up of chitin and glucan polysaccharides and define a rigid protection barrier that is remodeled as part of growth. Much of the work to define the genetics and biochemistry of the fungal cell wall has focused on Dikarya fungi. We have focused an analysis using genomics and biochemical profiling to better characterize cell walls from a variety of early diverging fungi. Our analysis of the polysaccharide biosynthetic pathways and highlight their evolutionary features and higher complexity in terms of gene copy numbers among species from early diverging Mucormycota, Chytridiomycota, and Blastocladiomyocta. This work uncovers the presence in mucormycetes (Phycomyces blakesleeanus and Rhizopus delemar) of abundant fucose based polysaccharides similar to algal mucorans. These unexpected polymers are associated with unusually low amounts of glucans and a higher proportion of chitin compared to N. crassa. In addition, composition of cell walls from Allomyces and Spizellomyces is significantly different based on biochemical profiling providing additional key differences between these flagellated lineages. Phylogenomic analyses of genes encoding carbohydrate synthases, chitin-modifying enzymes and enzymes involved in nucleotide-sugar formation provide evidence for duplication events during evolution of cell wall metabolism in fungi. Altogether, the data highlight the specificity of mucormycete cell walls, shared signatures in blastocladiomycete and dikarya walls, and challenges to the dogma that fungal walls exhibit comparable structures regardless of their phylogenetic position.
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Related Links:
FungiDB
Stajich Lab
1 - KTH, Glycoscience, Stockholm, Sweden
2 - University of California-Riverside, Plant Pathology & Microbiology, 900 University Ave, Riverside, CA, 92521, USA
Keywords:
evolution
wall composition
phylogenomics
chytrid
zoosporic.
Presentation Type: Symposium or Colloquium Presentation
Session: SY7
Location: Auditorium/Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center
Date: Wednesday, June 11th, 2014
Time: 3:00 PM
Number: SY7005
Abstract ID:221
Candidate for Awards:None |
