Insight into different environmental niches adaptation and allergenicity from the Cladosporium sphaerospermum genome, a common human allergy-eliciting Dothideomycetes

Abstract

Cladosporium sphaerospermum, a dematiaceous saprophytic fungus commonly found in diverse environments, has been reported to cause allergy and other occasional diseases in humans. However, its basic biology and genetic information are largely unexplored. A clinical isolate C. sphaerospermum genome, UM 843, was re-sequenced and combined with previously generated sequences to form a model 26.89 Mb genome containing 9,652 predicted genes. Functional annotation on predicted genes suggests the ability of this fungus to degrade carbohydrate and protein complexes. Several putative peptidases responsible for lung tissue hydrolysis were identified. These genes shared high similarity with the Aspergillus peptidases. The UM 843 genome encodes a wide array of proteins involved in the biosynthesis of melanin, siderophores, cladosins and survival in high salinity environment. In addition, a total of 28 genes were predicted to be associated with allergy. Orthologous gene analysis together with 22 other Dothideomycetes showed genes uniquely present in UM 843 that encode four class 1 hydrophobins which may be allergens specific to Cladosporium. The mRNA of these hydrophobins were detected by RT-PCR. The genomic analysis of UM 843 contributes to the understanding of the biology and allergenicity of this widely-prevalent species.

Insight into the cold adaptation and hemicellulose utilization of Cladosporium neopsychrotolerans from genome analysis and biochemical characterization

“…In comparison to other biomass-degrading fungi, Cladosporium spp. contain a larger number of CAZymes involved in the degradation of hemicellulose and pectin, 129–218 vs. 49–124 (86.1–92.8% vs. 52.0–82.1%), confirming the preference of Cladosporium for soft plant tissues as a carbon source 36 . The CAZymes of SL-16 were also compared with those of the two Cladosporium strains (Supplementary Table S1 , Table 2 ).…”

“…Two genomes of Cladosporium have been sequenced and functionally annotated, and their nutritional modes may account for the evolution of functional genes. The tomato leaf mold pathogen C. fulvum has a genome of 61.1 Mb that contains 14,127 predicted genes 31 , while the human allergen and occasional pathogen C. sphaerospermum has a genome of 26.9 Mb that contains 9,652 predicted genes 36 , 64 . Both genomes encode wide arrays of CAZymes (445 for C. fulvum and 605 for C. sphaerospermum ), which are related to their nutritional strategy and host specificity 45 , 65 .…”

“…Currently 205 species are accepted in Cladosporium , and only a few temperature studies were undertaken in eurypsychrophilic Cladosporium species 23 , 27 – 30 . Cladosporium is normally associated with a necrotrophic or hemibiotrophic lifestyle 31 and has great capability of degrading lignocellulose 22 , 32 – 36 and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons like phenanthrene and anthracene 37 , 38 . However, so for only a few Carbohydrate Active enZymes (CAZymes), including glucoamylase 39 , xylanase 40 , 41 and α-galactosidase 42 , have been functionally characterized.…”

Fungi Isolated From House Flies (Diptera: Muscidae) on Penned Cattle in South Texas

“…of flies b CFU c Freq.Importance d Agaricales Asterophora parasitica Buillard110.05 Capnodiales Cladosporium sp. (5, 7)10693.11 Cladosporium cladosporoides Fresen (4)25168175.82Airborne at Texas cattle feedlots (Wilson et al 2002); Flies from horse stables in Germany (Gestmann et al 2012) Cladosporium oxysporum Berkeley & Curtis3532.39Human cutaneous phaeohyphomycosis infections (Gugnani et al 2006) Cladosporium perangustum Bensch et al4472.12 Cladosporium sphaerospermum Penzig1150.68Human respiratory tract infections (Yew et al 2016) Cladosporium tenuissimum Cooke2381.71 Eurotiales Aspergillus sp. (1, 3, 7)2371.67 Aspergillus deflectus Fennel & Raper120.09Canine mycosis (Robinson et al 2000) Aspergillus ochraceopetaliformis Batista et al140.18Onychomycosis (Brasch et al 2009) Aspergillus subramanianii Visagie et al110.05…”

Genomic analysis of ant domatia-associated melanized fungi (Chaetothyriales, Ascomycota)

“…Upregulation of membrane transporters and increased gene dosage of this family of proteins are well-known mechanisms to acquire resistance against a variety of stressors (Sanglard et al 2009;Morschhauser 2010;Yew et al 2016). In the genomes of fungi colonizing ant domatia, the number of membrane proteins is reduced compared to other Chaetothyriales (Blasi et al 2017;Teixeira et al 2017).…”