Methionine, either as a free amino acid or included in proteins, can be oxidized into methionine sulfoxide (MetO), which exists as R and S diastereomers. Almost all characterized organisms possess thioloxidoreductases named methionine sulfoxide reductase (Msr) enzymes to reduce MetO back to Met.MsrA and MsrB reduce the S and R diastereomers of MetO, respectively, with strict stereospecificity and are found in almost all organisms. Another type of thiol-oxidoreductase, the free-methionine-Rsulfoxide reductase (fRMsr), identified so far in prokaryotes and a few unicellular eukaryotes, reduces the R MetO diastereomer of the free amino acid. Moreover, some bacteria possess molybdenumcontaining enzymes that reduce MetO, either in the free or protein-bound forms. All these Msrs play important roles in the protection of organisms against oxidative stress. Fungi are heterotrophic eukaryotes that colonize all niches on Earth and play fundamental functions, in organic matter recycling, as symbionts, or as pathogens of numerous organisms. However, our knowledge on fungal Msrs is still limited. Here, we performed a survey of msr genes in almost 700 genomes across the fungal kingdom.We show that most fungi possess one gene coding for each type of methionine sulfoxide reductase: MsrA, MsrB, and fRMsr. However, several fungi living in anaerobic environments or as obligate intracellular parasites were devoid of msr genes. Sequence inspection and phylogenetic analyses allowed us to identify non-canonical sequences with potentially novel enzymatic properties. Finaly, we identified several ocurences of msr horizontal gene transfer from bacteria to fungi.
Material and methods
Search for Msr homologs in fungi.The protein sequence of MsrA (Uniprot accession # C8Z745), MsrB (Uniprot accession # P25566) and fRMsr (Uniprot accession # P36088) from S. cerevisiae, MsrP (Uniprot accession # P76342) and BisC (Uniprot accession # P20099) from Escherichia coli, TorZ (Uniprot accession # P44798) from Haemophilus influenzae, and DorA (Uniprot accession # Q57366) from Rhodobacter sphaeroides were used as BLASTP and TBLASTN [49] queries to identify msr genes in 683 genomes available in the MycoCosm database [50] (https://mycocosm.jgi.doe.gov/mycocosm/home).
2.2.List of all explored fungal genomes.