Carbon signaling cascades that enable the carbohydrate-selective plant biomass degradation by brown rot fungi
EMSL Project ID
51393
Abstract
Fungi are dominant microbes for carbon turnover of plant biomass in terrestrial systems. Some of them, namely brown rot fungi, evolved more efficient mechanisms than others, causing the fast decomposition and utilization of woody biomass. Due to the efficacy in plant biomass decomposition and the unique carbohydrate-selective nutritional mode, it is believed that brown rot fungi harbor the toolkits that can be used for industrial conversion of lignocellulose. To understand the unique mechanisms used by brown rot, our recent research, supported by the DOE BER Systems Biology grant (2018-2021), have shifted towards looking at brown rot machinery at system level.By pan-omics, our studies have revealed that a 'two-step' mechanism was adopted by brown rot fungi, which included a staggered upregulation of oxidoreductases ahead of the conventional CAZy hydrolases. However, the regulatory mechanism controlling the 'two-step' process is still unknown. We hypothesize that carbon metabolites and the relevant signaling cascades play important regulatory roles during brown rot process. In this project, we plan to leverage the expertise of EMSL in functional and system biology to establish the carbon regulatory network as brown rot progresses. Our specific objectives are as follows:
1) Test the gene expression patterns on lignocellulose substrates by RNA-seq in model fungus Postia placenta, identify 'carbon regulon' and build the 'real time carbon-gene network' by mapping the carbon influences onto temporal brown rot metabolomics data.
2) Build the signaling cascade that mediate the carbon effects by in silico discovery of cis- and trans-regulatory elements of the regulatory network, and verify the TF-DNA binding by both in vitro and in vivo efforts.
Project Details
Project type
Large-Scale EMSL Research
Start Date
2020-10-01
End Date
2022-11-30
Status
Closed
Released Data Link
Team
Principal Investigator
Co-Investigator(s)
Team Members