Genome Sequencing and analyses of Two Marine Fungi from the North Sea Unraveled a Plethora of Novel Biosynthetic Gene Clusters

Abhishek Kumar (1) , Jens Laurids Sørensen , Frederik Teilfeldt Hansen , Mikko Arvas , Muhammad Fahad Syed , Lara Hassan , J Philipp Benz , Eric Record (2) , Bernard Henrissat (3) , Stefanie Pöggeler (4) , Frank Kempken , J. Philipp Benz

1 IP - Institut Pascal
2 BBF - Biodiversité et Biotechnologie Fongiques
3 AFMB - Architecture et fonction des macromolécules biologiques
4 Department of Genetics of Eukaryotic Microorganisms

Marine Fungi are potent secondary metabolite producers. However, limited genetic information are available their biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) and their biotechnological applications. To overcome this lack of information, herein, we used next-generation sequencing methods for genome sequencing of two marine fungi, isolated from the German Wadden Sea, namely Calcarisporium sp. KF525 and Pestalotiopsis sp. KF079. The assembled genome size of the marine isolate Calcarisporium sp. KF525 is about 36.8 Mb with 60 BGCs, while Pestalotiopsis sp. KF079 has a genome size of 47.5 Mb harboring 67 BGCs. Of all BGCs, 98% and 97% are novel clusters of Calcarisporium sp. and Pestalotiopsis sp., respectively. Only few of the BGCs were found to be expressed under laboratory conditions by RNA-seq analysis. The vast majority of all BGCs were found to be novel and unique for these two marine fungi. Along with a description of the identified gene clusters, we furthermore present important genomic features and life-style properties of these two fungi. The two novel fungal genomes provide a plethora of new BGCs, which may have biotechnological applications in the future, for example as novel drugs. The genomic characterizations will provide assistance in future genetics and genomic analyses of marine fungi.

Domains: Life Sciences [q-bio]; Quantitative Methods [q-bio.QM]

Abhishek Kumar, Jens Laurids Sørensen, Frederik Teilfeldt Hansen, Mikko Arvas, Muhammad Fahad Syed, et al.. Genome Sequencing and analyses of Two Marine Fungi from the North Sea Unraveled a Plethora of Novel Biosynthetic Gene Clusters. Scientific Reports, 2018, 8 (1), pp.10187. ⟨10.1038/s41598-018-28473-z⟩. ⟨hal-02094587⟩