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Characterization and functional analyses of the chitinase-encoding genes in the nematode-trapping fungus Arthrobotrys oligospora

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Abstract

Nematode-trapping fungi can secrete many extracellular hydrolytic enzymes such as serine proteases and chitinases to digest and penetrate nematode/egg-cuticles. However, little is known about the structure and function of chitinases in these fungi. In this study, 16 ORFs encoding putative chitinases, which all belong to glycoside hydrolase (GH) family 18, were identified from the Arthrobotrys oligospora genome. Bioinformatics analyses showed that these 16 putative chitinases differ in their functional domains, molecular weights and pI. Phylogenetic analysis grouped these A. oligospora chitinases into four clades: clades I, II, III and IV, respectively, including an A. oligospora-specific subclade (Clade IV-B) that contained high-molecular weight chitinases (≥100 kDa). Transcriptional analysis of A. oligospora chitinases suggested that the expression of most chitinases was repressed by carbon starvation, and all chitinases were up-regulated under nitrogen starvation. However, chitinase AO-190 was up-regulated under carbon and/or nitrogen starvation. Moreover, several chitinases (such as AO-59, AO-190 and AO-801) were up-regulated in the presence of chitinous substrates or a plant pathogenic fungus, indicating that they could play a role in biocontrol applications of A. oligospora. Our results provided a basis for further understanding the functions, diversities and evolutionary relationships between chitinase genes in nematode-trapping fungi.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Prof. Jianping Xu of the Dept. Biology, McMaster University, for valuable comments and critical discussions. The research described here is jointly supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (2013CB127500), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Approved Nos. 30960229, 31272093 and 31100894), the China National Tobacco Corporation (110201002023), the Department of Science and Technology of Yunnan Province (2009CI052), the West Light Foundation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (to Jinkui Yang), and the Yunnan Branch of China Tobacco Industrial Corporation (2010yn17).

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  1. Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Bio-Resources, and Key Laboratory of Microbial Diversity in Southwest China, Ministry of Education, Yunnan University, Kunming, 650091, People’s Republic of China

    Jinkui Yang, Yan Yu, Juan Li, Wei Zhu, Zongyi Geng, Dewei Jiang, Yunchuan Wang & Ke-Qin Zhang

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  1. Jinkui Yang
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Correspondence to Ke-Qin Zhang.

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Communicated by Erko Stackebrandt.

Jinkui Yang and Yan Yu contributed equally to this work.

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Yang, J., Yu, Y., Li, J. et al. Characterization and functional analyses of the chitinase-encoding genes in the nematode-trapping fungus Arthrobotrys oligospora . Arch Microbiol 195, 453–462 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-013-0894-6

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