Deciphering the Structure & Function of Secondary Metabolites from Anaerobic Fungi
EMSL Project ID
50386
Abstract
We recently uncovered the biosynthetic machinery to produce a wide array of secondary metabolites within the genomes of the anaerobic fungal phylum Neocallimastigomycota. These fungi live among complex microbial consortia that degrade biomass within large herbivore guts. Anaerobic fungi are already known to produce the largest suite of biomass-degrading enzymes of all fungi (Solomon et al., Science, 2016). We hypothesize that anaerobic gut fungi synthesize secondary metabolites that confer an evolutionary advantage to the fungi, enabling them to survive and thrive as important members of the consortia. We postulate that anaerobic fungi enhance secondary metabolite production during stressful conditions, such as low nutrient availability, the presence of oxygen, or microbial competition. We seek to test our hypotheses and generate complementary datasets by combining transcriptomic, gene synthesis, metabolomics, proteomics, and NMR at the JGI and EMSL user facilities. Overall, this collaborative project will accelerate the identification of novel metabolites from anaerobic fungi, which could be used directly as biofuels and bioproducts or harnessed as tools to modulate microbial consortia. Project Details
Project type
FICUS Research
Start Date
2018-10-01
End Date
2021-09-30
Status
Closed
Released Data Link
Team
Principal Investigator