Lignin degradation
The ligninolytic properties of the two strains were investigated. YK-624 showed 32.7% ligninolytic activity and 13.9% weight loss (Fig. 1). P. chrysosporium showed only 6.7% ligninolytic activity and 4.6% weight loss (Fig. 1). These results are in good agreement with those of our previous study, in which YK-624 had significantly higher ligninolytic activity [13].
Sequence assembly
Total RNA was extracted from biological triplicates of YK-624 and P. chrysosporium on wood meal and holocellulose meal after an incubation period of 10 days (termed YKwood, YKholo, PCwood, and PCholo). cDNA libraries were constructed after purification of mRNA for sequencing by MiSEq. Raw paired-end (2 × 76 bp) sequences from mRNAs were obtained: 33,539,967 and 32,722,656 reads for YK-624 and P. chrysosporium, respectively. The high-quality reads (quality values > 30) were assembled into 44,250 (N50 length = 1,020 bp) and 33,340 (N50 length = 1,426 bp) unigenes. Furthermore, ribosomal RNA (rRNA) and genes were obtained from mitochondrial sequences that matched entries in the SILVA (version 111) rRNA database [17] and were excluded from Trinity unigenes.
Functional annotations
The unigenes were searched against the Swiss-Prot and Uniref 90 databases by local BLASTX and annotated with gene ontology (GO) terms for functional annotation (Table S1; Table S2). Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between the ligninolytic and nonligninolytic conditions were identified in this study. There were 985 upregulated genes and 1,085 downregulated genes in YK-624 (Table S1). In P. chrysosporium, 1,257 genes were upregulated, while 1,296 genes were downregulated (Table S2). The role of the ligninolytic enzymes LiP and MnP in lignin degradation has been extensively documented [18]. In the present study, three LiPs and five MnPs were upregulated in YK-624, while only two LiPs and one MnP were upregulated in P. chrysosporium under ligninolytic conditions (Tables S1 and S2). This may explain the high degradation efficiency of YK-624. In addition, some lignin-degrading auxiliary enzymes, including glyoxal oxidase (EC:1.2.3.5), glucose oxidase (EC:1.1.3.4), and aryl-alcohol dehydrogenase (EC:1.1.1.91), were also detected under ligninolytic conditions. Glyoxal oxidase and glucose oxidase are involved in the oxidative generation of H2O2 [19]. Aryl-alcohol dehydrogenase is produced during the ligninolytic growth phase of the fungus [20]. Moreover, ATPase, ATP synthase (EC:3.6.3.14) and NADH-cytochrome b5 reductases were upregulated in YK-624, suggesting that it generated more energy than P. chrysosporium under ligninolytic conditions.
GO enrichment analysis of the two white-rot fungi was performed in the present study. We found 19 upregulated and 12 downregulated GO terms in YK-624. The most enriched GO terms were “ATPase activity” in the molecular functions category, “transport” and “transmembrane transport” in the biological processes category, and “ribosome” in the cellular components category under ligninolytic conditions (Table 1). These results further demonstrated that YK-624 produced more energy for lignin degradation. In contrast, only “hydrogen ion transmembrane transporter activity” in molecular functions and “ATP synthesis coupled proton transport” in biological processes were significantly enriched in P. chrysosporium (Table S3). It was reported that the transportation of lignin-derived aromatic molecules is very important for biomass applications [21]. This transportation activity was detected in both fungi.
Table 1
Enrichment of gene ontology terms in differentially expressed sequences in P. sordida YK-624 detected by PAGE
GO_name | GO_id | Number of sequences | Z core | P-value | FDR |
BP | transport | GO:0006810 | 128 | 6.478 | 9.32E-11 | 4.02E-09 |
BP | transmembrane transport | GO:0055085 | 407 | 5.933 | 2.98E-09 | 1.07E-07 |
MF | ATPase activity, coupled to transmembrane movement of substances | GO:0042626 | 57 | 5.326 | 1.01E-07 | 3.1E-06 |
MF | metal ion transmembrane transporter activity | GO:0046873 | 16 | 5.011 | 5.42E-07 | 1.37E-05 |
BP | metal ion transport | GO:0030001 | 22 | 4.128 | 3.67E-05 | 0.0007 |
CC | ribosome | GO:0005840 | 110 | 3.822 | 0.0001 | 0.0019 |
MF | structural constituent of ribosome | GO:0003735 | 112 | 3.782 | 0.0002 | 0.0021 |
BP | glycolytic process | GO:0006096 | 12 | 3.685 | 0.0002 | 0.0029 |
BP | translation | GO:0006412 | 109 | 3.576 | 0.0003 | 0.0042 |
CC | membrane | GO:0016020 | 276 | 3.336 | 0.0008 | 0.0097 |
MF | ATPase activity | GO:0016887 | 106 | 3.158 | 0.0016 | 0.0171 |
BP | DNA replication | GO:0006260 | 44 | 3.123 | 0.0018 | 0.0184 |
BP | response to oxidative stress | GO:0006979 | 21 | 3.039 | 0.0024 | 0.0223 |
MF | serine-type endopeptidase activity | GO:0004252 | 17 | 3.001 | 0.0027 | 0.0242 |
MF | transporter activity | GO:0005215 | 21 | 2.930 | 0.0034 | 0.0293 |
MF | threonine-type endopeptidase activity | GO:0004298 | 16 | 2.848 | 0.0044 | 0.0339 |
CC | proteasome core complex | GO:0005839 | 16 | 2.848 | 0.0044 | 0.0339 |
BP | proteolysis involved in cellular protein catabolic process | GO:0051603 | 16 | 2.848 | 0.0044 | 0.0339 |
MF | transferase activity, transferring acyl groups | GO:0016746 | 25 | 2.737 | 0.0062 | 0.0432 |
MF | cation binding | GO:0043169 | 14 | -2.768 | 0.0056 | 0.0406 |
MF | nucleic acid binding | GO:0003676 | 218 | -2.781 | 0.0054 | 0.0404 |
MF | nutrient reservoir activity | GO:0045735 | 11 | -3.062 | 0.0022 | 0.0216 |
MF | protein kinase activity | GO:0004672 | 260 | -3.961 | 7.46E-05 | 0.0012 |
BP | protein phosphorylation | GO:0006468 | 263 | -3.998 | 6.39E-05 | 0.0011 |
MF | structural constituent of cell wall | GO:0005199 | 13 | -4.293 | 1.76E-05 | 0.0003 |
CC | fungal-type cell wall | GO:0009277 | 13 | -4.293 | 1.76E-05 | 0.0003 |
MF | protein binding | GO:0005515 | 990 | -5.000 | 5.73E-07 | 1.37E-05 |
BP | carbohydrate metabolic process | GO:0005975 | 216 | -8.000 | 1.33E-15 | 7.19E-14 |
MF | hydrolase activity, hydrolyzing O-glycosyl compounds | GO:0004553 | 155 | -8.027 | 8.88E-16 | 6.39E-14 |
CC | extracellular region | GO:0005576 | 39 | -10.671 | 0 | 0 |
MF | cellulose binding | GO:0030248 | 33 | -10.816 | 0 | 0 |
GO gene ontology, PAGE parametric analysis of gene set enrichment, BP biological process, MF molecular function, CC cellular component, FDR False discovery rate, Log Fold Change values between fermenting and non-fermenting conditions were used to calculate Z scores. Log Fold change values of each GO terms upregulated in fermenting condition is represented by positive numbers and downregulated is represented by negative numbers |
Table 2
Enrichment of gene ontology terms in differentially expressed sequences in P. chrysosporium detected by PAGE
GO_name | GO_id | Number of sequences | Z core | P-value | FDR |
MF | hydrogen ion transmembrane transporter activity | GO:0015078 | 13 | 5.096 | 3.47E-07 | 1.43E-05 |
BP | ATP synthesis coupled proton transport | GO:0015986 | 10 | 4.551 | 5.35E-06 | 0.0002 |
BP | carbohydrate metabolic process | GO:0005975 | 201 | -8.175 | 2.22E-16 | 1.15E-14 |
MF | hydrolase activity, hydrolyzing O-glycosyl compounds | GO:0004553 | 139 | -10.242 | 0 | 0 |
CC | extracellular region | GO:0005576 | 34 | -15.308 | 0 | 0 |
MF | cellulose binding | GO:0030248 | 28 | -17.335 | 0 | 0 |
GO gene ontology, PAGE parametric analysis of gene set enrichment, BP biological process, MF molecular function, CC cellular component, FDR False discovery rate, Log Fold Change values between fermenting and non-fermenting conditions were used to calculate Z scores. Log Fold change values of each GO terms upregulated in fermenting condition is represented by positive numbers and downregulated is represented by negative numbers |
To explore the underlying mechanisms for the high lignin degradation of YK-624, we mapped all upregulated genes in YK-624 and P. chrysosporium to Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) metabolic pathways. Our results suggested that the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites and their metabolic pathways were the most frequently represented pathways. We compared the DEGs in YK-624 and P. chrysosporium under ligninolytic conditions according to the KEGG pathway assignments. A summary of transcripts involved in the lignin-degrading pathways of YK-624 is shown (Fig. 2) and the pathways include carbon metabolism, the tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA cycle), oxidative phosphorylation and xenobiotic biodegradation. In all, 18 genes were mapped to these pathways in YK-624, but only 4 were mapped to these pathways in P. chrysosporium. The TCA cycle and oxidative phosphorylation pathways involve important biochemical reactions in energy production. In YK-624, citrate synthase (EC:2.3.3.1), aconitate hydratase (EC:4.2.1.3), isocitrate lyase (EC:4.1.3.1), ubiquinol-cytochrome c reductase cytochrome b subunit, cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (EC:1.9.3.1) and F-type H+-transporting ATPase subunit c, which are involved in these two processes, were upregulated (Fig. 2 and Table S1). At the same time, pyruvate dehydrogenase E1 component beta subunit (EC:1.2.4.1) and acetyl-CoA synthetase (EC:6.2.1.1) were also upregulated, and the products of the metabolic pathways that they are involved in will go further into the TCA cycle. The other 4 upregulated genes were malonate-semialdehyde dehydrogenase (acetylating)/methylmalonate-semialdehyde dehydrogenase (EC:1.2.1.18 1.2.1.27), fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase I (EC:3.1.3.11), glycine hydroxymethyltransferase (EC:2.1.2.1) and catalase (EC:1.11.1.6), which are responsible for lipid metabolism, glycolysis, and carbon metabolism; thus, YK-624 generated more ATP for lignin degradation. All the energy generated by accelerating metabolic pathways as described above will be used for xenobiotic biodegradation. Aldehyde dehydrogenase (NAD+) (EC:1.2.1.3), salicylate hydroxylase (EC:1.14.13.1), carboxymethylenebutenolidase (EC:3.1.1.45), amidase (EC:3.5.1.4), nitrilase (EC:3.5.5.1) and phenol 2-monooxygenase (EC:1.14.13.7), which are involved in xenobiotic biodegradation, were also upregulated in YK-624 (Fig. 2). It was reported that the addition of alkali lignin (Sigma 45-471003) can increase energy production in the bacterium Enterobacter lignolyticus SCF1 [22]. ATP-dependent mechanisms play an important role in aromatic compounds derived from lignin degradation [21]. Hereby, we assume that YK-624 produces more energy to degrade lignin.