A recent article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (https://www.pnas.org/content/117/11/6003.long) reports on how a fungus senses and responds to different carbon sources, making the most nutritious choices for utilization of a plant biomass buffet. The findings reported in this article are the fruit of a collaborative project between the laboratories of PMB faculty member N. Louise Glass, Igor Grigoriev and Ronan O’Malley, members of the DOE Joint Genome Institute, and Philipp Benz, of the Technical University of Munich. The article reports the application of a new technology for fungi, termed DNA-affinity purification and sequencing (DAP-seq) and transcriptional profiling to determine how fungi sense simple to complex carbohydrates. Fungal organisms are used in the biotechnology sector to produce enzymes, proteins, and other chemicals for production of biofuels, and bioproducts for the textile and food industry. Thus, understanding how fungi decide what to eat and when will enable novel engineering approaches to efficiently harness these organisms to sustainably produce bioproducts. The work described in this study was funded by the Energy Biosciences Institute, a Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, a Joint Genome Institute Community Science Program grant (CSP 982), and funds from the Fred E. Dickinson Chair of Wood Science and Technology. See additional articles from LBNL and JGI at https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2020/06/03/how-fungi-choose-food/ and https://jgi.doe.gov/how-filamentous-fungi-sense-food-neurospora/.
University of California, Berkeley | Plant & Microbial Biology