A genetic toolbox for exploring the life style of the rock-inhabiting black fungus Knufia petricola

  • After their discovery on rock surfaces in cold and hot deserts, a polyphyletic group of ascomycetous black fungi was found to dominate a range of hostile environments – natural and man-made, from salterns to dishwashers, roofs and solar panels. Together with bacteria and algae they may establish subaerial biofilms and cause weathering of the surfaces they grow on. Their impressive survival abilities as well as their constitutive protective pigmentation and cluster-like microcolony organisation are similar in environmental isolates as well as in heat-tolerant opportunistic pathogens of animals and humans. The exact genetic properties that ensure their survival in extreme environments can be studied if some black fungi were amenable to genetic manipulations. We selected the rock-inhabiting fungus Knufia petricola (class Eurotiomycetes, order Chaetothyriales) that grows moderately in axenic culture and exhibits all the characteristics of microcolonial black fungi such as yeast-like cellAfter their discovery on rock surfaces in cold and hot deserts, a polyphyletic group of ascomycetous black fungi was found to dominate a range of hostile environments – natural and man-made, from salterns to dishwashers, roofs and solar panels. Together with bacteria and algae they may establish subaerial biofilms and cause weathering of the surfaces they grow on. Their impressive survival abilities as well as their constitutive protective pigmentation and cluster-like microcolony organisation are similar in environmental isolates as well as in heat-tolerant opportunistic pathogens of animals and humans. The exact genetic properties that ensure their survival in extreme environments can be studied if some black fungi were amenable to genetic manipulations. We selected the rock-inhabiting fungus Knufia petricola (class Eurotiomycetes, order Chaetothyriales) that grows moderately in axenic culture and exhibits all the characteristics of microcolonial black fungi such as yeast-like cell growth, absence of reproductive structures and constitutive dihydroxynaphthalene (DHN) melanogenesis (Nai et al. 2013, Fungal Genet Biol). We developed protocols to efficiently generate and transform protoplasts resulting in stable homokaryotic transformants by targeting genes involved in pigment synthesis and expressing fluorescent reporter genes. Hence, endogenous and foreign genes can be expressed from episomal AMA1-containing plasmids and genome-integrated DNA constructs. Moderate rates of homologous recombination allow for both ectopic and targeted integrations. CRISPR-Cas9 was further validated as a strategy for obtaining selection marker-free mutants and silencing via RNA interference as an approach to study essential genes. Availability of this genetic toolbox and an annotated genome sequence of the strain A95 is paving the way for studying interactions of K. petricola with environmental stressors, material surfaces, soil matrices and phototrophic symbionts.zeige mehrzeige weniger

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Metadaten
Autor*innen:Anna GorbushinaORCiD
Koautor*innen:Nicole Knabe, Oliver Voigt, Felix Heeger, Julia Schumacher
Dokumenttyp:Posterpräsentation
Veröffentlichungsform:Präsentation
Sprache:Englisch
Jahr der Erstveröffentlichung:2020
Organisationseinheit der BAM:4 Material und Umwelt
4 Material und Umwelt / 4.0 Abteilungsleitung und andere
DDC-Klassifikation:Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften / Ingenieurwissenschaften / Sanitär- und Kommunaltechnik; Umwelttechnik
Freie Schlagwörter:black fungi; genetics; genomics
Themenfelder/Aktivitätsfelder der BAM:Umwelt
Umwelt / Umwelt-Material-Interaktionen
Veranstaltung:European Conference on Fungal Genetics (ECFG15)
Veranstaltungsort:Rome, Italy
Beginndatum der Veranstaltung:17.02.2020
Enddatum der Veranstaltung:20.02.2020
Verfügbarkeit des Dokuments:Datei im Netzwerk der BAM verfügbar ("Closed Access")
Datum der Freischaltung:24.03.2020
Referierte Publikation:Nein
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