Abstract
Many fungi form persistent and dormant sclerotia with compact hardened mycelia during unfavorable circumstances. While most of these sclerotia are small in size, Wolfiporia cocos, a wood-decay fungus, grows into giant sclerotia, which are mainly composed of polysaccharides of linear (1→3)-β-D-glucans. To explore the underlying mechanism of converting sophisticated wood polysaccharides for biosynthesis of highly homogenized glucans in W. cocos, we sequenced and assembled the genome of a cultivated W. cocos strain (WCLT) in China. The 62-Mb haploid genome contains 44.2% repeat sequences, of which, 48.0% are transposable elements (TEs). Contrary to the genome of W. cocos from North America, WCLT has independently undergone a partial genome duplication (PGD) event. The large-scale TE insertion and PGD occurrence overlapped with an archeological Pleistocene stage of low oxygen and high temperature, and these stresses might have induced the differences in sclerotium due to geographical distribution. The wood decomposition enzymes, as well as sclerotium-regulator kinases, aquaporins, and highly expanded gene families such as NAD-related families, together with actively expressed 1,3-β-glucan synthase for sclerotium polysaccharides, all have contributed to the sclerotium formation and expansion. This study shall inspire further exploration on how fungi convert wood into simple glucans in the sclerotium of W. cocos.
Highlights
Forming a sclerotium is of utmost importance for fungi to survive and maintain their life cycle in various adverse environments
The epidermis of W. cocos sclerotium is a continuous layer of tightly packed hyphal tips that become thick walls with dark pigments to form an impervious outer layer
In order to comprehensively identify genetic components related to sclerotium formation, we sequenced a cultivated strain of W. cocos 2018LT001
Summary
Forming a sclerotium is of utmost importance for fungi to survive and maintain their life cycle in various adverse environments. W. cocos forming into a giant sclerotium, an ideal object for studying the formation and development of sclerotium, has been extensively used as a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for over 2,000 years in China and other Asian countries (Wang W. et al, 2015). The pharmacological effects of the sclerotium include tumor suppression (Chen et al, 2010), immune enhancement (Wu et al, 2016), and anti-inflammatory activity (Li et al, 2015), and the biologically active compounds of W. cocos are mainly concentrated in triterpenes and polysaccharides. As a brown rot fungus, W. cocos secretes enzymes that effectively decompose cellulose and lignin, which have profound effects on the planetary biomass recycling and bioenergy production (Baldrian and Valásková, 2008)
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