Abstract
Cladosporium sphaerospermum, a dematiaceous saprophytic fungus commonly found in diverse environments, has been reported to cause allergy and other occasional diseases in humans. However, its basic biology and genetic information are largely unexplored. A clinical isolate C. sphaerospermum genome, UM 843, was re-sequenced and combined with previously generated sequences to form a model 26.89 Mb genome containing 9,652 predicted genes. Functional annotation on predicted genes suggests the ability of this fungus to degrade carbohydrate and protein complexes. Several putative peptidases responsible for lung tissue hydrolysis were identified. These genes shared high similarity with the Aspergillus peptidases. The UM 843 genome encodes a wide array of proteins involved in the biosynthesis of melanin, siderophores, cladosins and survival in high salinity environment. In addition, a total of 28 genes were predicted to be associated with allergy. Orthologous gene analysis together with 22 other Dothideomycetes showed genes uniquely present in UM 843 that encode four class 1 hydrophobins which may be allergens specific to Cladosporium. The mRNA of these hydrophobins were detected by RT-PCR. The genomic analysis of UM 843 contributes to the understanding of the biology and allergenicity of this widely-prevalent species.
Highlights
Study[7], it was found to be the most often isolated species and frequently recovered from blood
Microscopic morphology showed that the hyphae were closely septated with thick and darkened septa; the conidia were globose to subglobose and brown to dark brown in colour, each with a prominent scar at the end of the conidium and ramoconidia (Fig. 1c,d)
Under the scanning electron microscopy (SEM), coronate conidia showed characteristics described by Dugan et al.[9], i.e. they were protuberant, thickened, darkened with a central convex dome and surrounded by a raised periclinal rim
Summary
The three putative genes from DOTH 14960 shared ≥60% similarity with Schizosaccharomyces pombe MAPK Spk[1] (Fus[3] orthologue) (GenBank: P27638) This protein is responsible for appressorium formation and pathogenicity of certain plant pathogenic fungi, sexual/asexual reproduction, hyphal growth and. Might be a heterothallic fungus with a predicted high-mobility-group (HMG) domain containing Mat[1,2] gene (UM843_3044), sharing 65.05% identity with Dothistroma septosporum Mat[1,2] (GenBank: ABK91354) This suggested that sexual reproduction might occur in C. sphaerospermum. The genes involved in mating and cell cycle in fungi are initiated by Fus[3] MAPK signalling pathway which is stimulated by pheromones[19], no pheromone genes were predicted in UM 843 These features posed a possibility that this fungal strain is unable to carry out mating process despite the presence of sexual reproduction genes. Reads from 500 bp insert library (Mb) Reads from 5 kb insert library (Mb) Total Reads (Mb) Assembly size (bp) Number of contigs (≥200 bp) Contigs size (N50) (kb) Number of scaffolds (≥1000 bp) Scaffolds size (N50) (bp) G+C content (%) Number of predicted genes (≥99 bp) Average gene length (bp) Average number of exons per gene rRNA tRNA KEGG GO KOG Pfam
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