Significance Wood decay fungi have historically been characterized as either white rot, which degrade all components of plant cell walls, including lignin, or brown rot, which leave lignin largely intact. Genomic analyses have shown that white-rot species possess multiple lignin-degrading peroxidases (PODs) and expanded suites of enzymes attacking crystalline cellulose. To test the adequacy of the white/brown-rot categories, we analyzed 33 fungal genomes. Some species lack PODs, and thus resemble brown-rot fungi, but possess the cellulose-degrading apparatus typical of white-rot fungi. Moreover, they appear to degrade lignin, based on decay analyses on wood wafers. Our results indicate that the prevailing paradigm of white rot vs. brown rot does not capture the diversity of fungal wood decay mechanisms.

Amatoxins, the lethal constituents of poisonous mushrooms in the genus Amanita, are bicyclic octapeptides. Two genes in A. bisporigera, AMA1 and PHA1, directly encode ␣-amanitin, an amatoxin, and the related bicyclic heptapeptide phallacidin, a phallotoxin, indicating that these compounds are synthesized on ribosomes and not by nonribosomal peptide synthetases. ␣-Amanitin and phallacidin are synthesized as proproteins of 35 and 34 amino acids, respectively, from which they are predicted to be cleaved by a prolyl oligopeptidase. AMA1 and PHA1 are present in other toxic species of Amanita section Phalloidae but are absent from nontoxic species in other sections. The genomes of A. bisporigera and A. phalloides contain multiple sequences related to AMA1 and PHA1. The predicted protein products of this family of genes are characterized by a hypervariable ''toxin'' region capable of encoding a wide variety of peptides of 7-10 amino acids flanked by conserved sequences. Our results suggest that these fungi have a broad capacity to synthesize cyclic peptides on ribosomes.amanitin ͉ cyclic peptide ͉ phalloidin ͉ phallotoxin ͉ amatoxin

SUMMARY Amatoxins are ribosomally-encoded and post-translationally modified peptides (RiPPs) that account for the majority of fatal mushroom poisonings of humans. A representative amatoxin is the bicyclic octapeptide α-amanitin formed via head-to-tail macrocyclization, which is ribosomally biosynthesized as a 35-amino acid propeptide in Amanita bisporigera and in the distantly related mushroom Galerina marginata. Although members of the prolyl oligopeptidase (POP) family of serine proteases were proposed to play a role in α- amanitin post-translational processing the exact mechanistic details are not known. Here, we show that a specific prolyl oligopeptidase (GmPOPB) is required for toxin maturation in G. marginata. Recombinant GmPOPB catalyzed two nonprocessive reactions: hydrolysis at an internal Pro to release the C-terminal 25mer from the 35mer propeptide, and transpeptidation at the second Pro to produce the cyclic octamer. On the other hand, we show that GmPOPA, the putative housekeeping POP of G. marginata, behaves like a conventional POP.

Amatoxins, including α-amanitin, are bicyclic octapeptides found in mushrooms (Agaricomycetes, Agaricales) of certain species in the genera Amanita, Galerina, Lepiota, and Conocybe. Amatoxins and the chemically similar phallotoxins are synthesized on ribosomes in Amanita bisporigera, Amanita phalloides, and Amanita ocreata. In order to determine if amatoxins are synthesized by a similar mechanism in another, distantly related mushroom, we obtained genome survey sequence data from a monokaryotic isolate of Galerina marginata, which produces α-amanitin. The genome of G. marginata contains two copies of the α-amanitin gene (GmAMA1-1 and GmAMA1-2). The α-amanitin proprotein sequences of G. marginata (35 amino acids) are highly divergent from AMA1 of A. bisporigera except for the toxin region itself (IWGIGCNP in single-letter amino acid code) and the amino acids immediately upstream (N[A/S]TRLP). G. marginata does not contain any related toxin-encoding sequences besides GmAMA1-1 and GmAMA1-2. DNA from two other α-amanitin-producing isolates of Galerina (G. badipes and G. venenata) hybridized to GmAMA1, whereas DNA from the toxin non-producing species Galerina hybrida did not. Expression of the GmAMA1 genes was induced by growth on low carbon. RNASeq evidence indicates that both copies of GmAMA1 are expressed approximately equally. A prolyl oligopeptidase (POP) is strongly implicated in processing of the cyclic peptide toxins of A. bisporigera and Conocybe apala. G. marginata has two predicted POP genes; one, like AbPOPB of A. bisporigera, is present only in the toxin-producing isolates of Galerina and the other, like AbPOPA of A. bisporigera, is present in all species. Our results indicate that G. marginata biosynthesizes amatoxins on ribosomes by a pathway similar to Amanita species, involving a genetically encoded proprotein of 35 amino acids that is post-translationally processed by a POP. However, due to the high degree of divergence, the evolutionary relationship between AMA1 in the genera Amanita and Galerina is unclear.