Transposable elements (TEs) are exceptional contributors to eukaryotic genome diversity. Their ubiquitous presence impacts the genomes of nearly all species and mediates genome evolution by causing mutations and chromosomal rearrangements and by modulating gene expression. We performed an exhaustive analysis of the TE content in 18 fungal genomes, including strains of the same species and species of the same genera. Our results depicted a scenario of exceptional variability, with species having 0.02 to 29.8% of their genome consisting of transposable elements. A detailed analysis performed on two strains of Pleurotus ostreatus uncovered a genome that is populated mainly by Class I elements, especially LTR-retrotransposons amplified in recent bursts from 0 to 2 million years (My) ago. The preferential accumulation of TEs in clusters led to the presence of genomic regions that lacked intra- and inter-specific conservation. In addition, we investigated the effect of TE insertions on the expression of their nearby upstream and downstream genes. Our results showed that an important number of genes under TE influence are significantly repressed, with stronger repression when genes are localized within transposon clusters. Our transcriptional analysis performed in four additional fungal models revealed that this TE-mediated silencing was present only in species with active cytosine methylation machinery. We hypothesize that this phenomenon is related to epigenetic defense mechanisms that are aimed to suppress TE expression and control their proliferation.

Recently, the lignin-degrading basidiomycete Pleurotus ostreatus has become a widely used model organism for fungal genomic and transcriptomic analyses. The increasing interest in this species has led to an increasing number of studies analyzing the transcriptional regulation of multigene families that encode extracellular enzymes. Reverse transcription (RT) followed by real-time PCR is the most suitable technique for analyzing the expression of gene sets under multiple culture conditions. In this work, we tested the suitability of 13 candidate genes for their use as reference genes in P. ostreatus time course cultures for enzyme production. We applied three different statistical algorithms and obtained a combination of stable reference genes for optimal normalization of RT-quantitative PCR assays. This reference index can be used for future transcriptomic analyses and validation of transcriptome sequencing or microarray data. Moreover, we analyzed the expression patterns of a laccase and a manganese peroxidase (lacc10 and mnp3, respectively) in lignocellulose and glucose-based media using submerged, semisolid, and solid-state fermentation. By testing different normalization strategies, we demonstrate that the use of nonvalidated reference genes as internal controls leads to biased results and misinterpretations of the biological responses underlying expression changes.T he basidiomycete Pleurotus ostreatus is an efficient producer of extracellular enzymes, such as laccases (Lacs; EC 1.10.3.2) and manganese peroxidases (MnPs; EC 1.11.1.13), which are notable for their application in multiple industrial and biotechnological processes (1, 2). It has a special relevance in agroindustry due to its worldwide cultivation for mushroom production, and it has also been studied for its nutritional and medicinal value (3). Currently, two genomic sequences of P. ostreatus are publicly available, and it has become a very popular model organism for the study of fungal genetics and comparative genomics (4-6). Additionally, many studies on the production of ligninolytic enzymes, with a focus on culture optimization for enzyme production, have recently been published. Most of these enzymes are encoded by genes organized in gene families, which are occasionally arranged into clusters as a result of gene duplications.Despite the information uncovered by sequencing efforts, substantial work on the functional characterization of gene family members remains to be performed. In this sense, transcriptomic analyses are powerful tools for providing an understanding of gene regulation and the presumptive function of genes. Despite the high productivity and low cost of transcriptome sequencing (RNA-seq), reverse transcription (RT) followed by real-time PCR (RT-quantitative PCR [RT-qPCR]) is likely the best option for analyzing the expression patterns of certain genes under multiple conditions. Additionally, it is the most reliable technique for validating RNA-seq and microarray data because of its specificity, reproducibility, and capacity...

Transposable elements constitute an important fraction of eukaryotic genomes. Given their mutagenic potential, host-genomes have evolved epigenetic defense mechanisms to limit their expansion. In fungi, epigenetic modifications have been widely studied in ascomycetes, although we lack a global picture of the epigenetic landscape in basidiomycetes. In this study, we analysed the genome-wide epigenetic and transcriptional patterns of the white-rot basidiomycete Pleurotus ostreatus throughout its life cycle. Our results performed by using high-throughput sequencing analyses revealed that strain-specific DNA methylation profiles are primarily involved in the repression of transposon activity and suggest that 21 nt small RNAs play a key role in transposon silencing. Furthermore, we provide evidence that transposon-associated DNA methylation, but not sRNA production, is directly involved in the silencing of genes surrounded by transposons. Remarkably, we found that nucleus-specific methylation levels varied in dikaryotic strains sharing identical genetic complement but different subculture conditions. Finally, we identified key genes activated in the fruiting process through the comparative analysis of transcriptomes. This study provides an integrated picture of epigenetic defense mechanisms leading to the transcriptional silencing of transposons and surrounding genes in basidiomycetes. Moreover, our findings suggest that transcriptional but not methylation reprogramming triggers fruitbody development in P. ostreatus.

Background Coniophora olivacea is a basidiomycete fungus belonging to the order Boletales that produces brown-rot decay on dead wood of conifers. The Boletales order comprises a diverse group of species including saprotrophs and ectomycorrhizal fungi that show important differences in genome size.ResultsIn this study we report the 39.07-megabase (Mb) draft genome assembly and annotation of C. olivacea. A total of 14,928 genes were annotated, including 470 putatively secreted proteins enriched in functions involved in lignocellulose degradation. Using similarity clustering and protein structure prediction we identified a new family of 10 putative lytic polysaccharide monooxygenase genes. This family is conserved in basidiomycota and lacks of previous functional annotation. Further analyses showed that C. olivacea has a low repetitive genome, with 2.91% of repeats and a restrained content of transposable elements (TEs). The annotation of TEs in four related Boletales yielded important differences in repeat content, ranging from 3.94 to 41.17% of the genome size. The distribution of insertion ages of LTR-retrotransposons showed that differential expansions of these repetitive elements have shaped the genome architecture of Boletales over the last 60 million years.Conclusions Coniophora olivacea has a small, compact genome that shows macrosynteny with Coniophora puteana. The functional annotation revealed the enzymatic signature of a canonical brown-rot. The annotation and comparative genomics of transposable elements uncovered their particular contraction in the Coniophora genera, highlighting their role in the differential genome expansions found in Boletales species.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12864-017-4243-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.