Grand Challenges in Fungal Biotechnology

Abstract

Basidiomycete fungi are efficient organisms for conversion and degradation of plant biomass. This is due to combination of their extracellular enzymes and chemical reactions targeted to plant cell wall degradation. Wood-and litter-decomposing white rot fungi have unique ability to degrade and even mineralize all polymeric components of plant cell walls, including aromatic lignin, which makes them promising candidates for biotechnological applications using plant biomass as feedstock.Rapidly increasing whole genome sequence data has revealed the content of plant biomass modification related genes in different basidiomycete species. Comparative genome analyses have enlightened evolutionary events that have led to development of different fungal plant cell wall decay strategies, which are reflected in nuances detected between basidiomycete rot types and lifestyles in nature. However, basidiomycete genomes harbour a large number of genes encoding proteins with unknown functions, which remains to be characterized to fully understand the degradation process. In addition, fungal aromatic metabolism of plant biomass derived compounds has gained relatively little attention, although aromatic metabolic enzymes specifically acting on lignin structures would provide interesting options for biotechnological use. Still, low production levels of basidiomycete enzymes in commonly used ascomycete or bacterial host organisms often hamper their use in biotechnological applications. Another aspect that is in its infancy in basidiomycetes and restricts the use of their full potential is understanding of the regulatory systems driving the production of plant biomass degrading enzymes. In this chapter, recent developments in basidiomycete research with respect to plant biomass conversion will be discussed.

New Method for Identifying Fungal Kingdom Enzyme Hotspots from Genome Sequences

“…To unlock the full potential of plant biomass and agro-industrial feed stocks in the development of the new circular, bio-based economy, we need to identify new enzymes and microbes for improved bioprocessing of a wide spectrum of biomasses resources, processing sidestreams and wastes [2,3]. Fungi and specifically fungal genomes represent huge reservoirs of biotechnologically useful enzymes for such processes [3][4][5]. The current portfolio of enzymes used in industrial biotechnology and in biomass conversion is derived from a minute part of the Fungal (and Bacterial) Kingdoms [5].…”

“…Fungi and specifically fungal genomes represent huge reservoirs of biotechnologically useful enzymes for such processes [3][4][5]. The current portfolio of enzymes used in industrial biotechnology and in biomass conversion is derived from a minute part of the Fungal (and Bacterial) Kingdoms [5]. Clearly, the provision of new insight into the biomass degrading potential of fungi and comprehension of their enzyme profiles is imperative in the pursuit of new enzymes, improved resource efficiency, and biomass utilization [4,5].…”

“…The current portfolio of enzymes used in industrial biotechnology and in biomass conversion is derived from a minute part of the Fungal (and Bacterial) Kingdoms [5]. Clearly, the provision of new insight into the biomass degrading potential of fungi and comprehension of their enzyme profiles is imperative in the pursuit of new enzymes, improved resource efficiency, and biomass utilization [4,5]. The focus of the present study is to explore the exponentially growing space of un-annotated fungal genome data to identify promising fungal species and eco-physiological specializations with particularly rich and interesting CAZyme gene pools.…”

Clinorotation as a promising and environmentally friendly biotechnology in agriculture and some industries

“…However, there are scarce data about gravitropism and specifi cities of vital activity of these species in real or simulated microgravity. One of the species of this order, regarding whose sensitivity to changes in the direction of the there are some data, is Agaricus bisporus (Nevalainen H 2020). The fruiting bodies of this mushroom have negative gravitropism (i.e.…”

“…Therefore, A. bisporus is suffi ciently sensitive to the changes in the direction of the to be used as a model organism in this study. In addition, this mushroom is one of the most frequently cultivated in the world, often used as a model organism in different studies (Nevalainen H 2020). Having taken the abovementioned facts into consideration, we selected A. bisporus to be the model organism in this study.…”