Abstract
Background Lignocellulosic biomass is an organic matrix composed of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. In nature, lignin degradation by basidiomycetes is the key step in lignocellulose decay. The white-rot fungus Phanerochaete sordida YK-624 (YK-624) has been extensively studied due to its high lignin degradation ability. In our previous study, it was demonstrated that YK-624 can secrete lignin peroxidase and manganese peroxidase for lignin degradation. However, the underlying mechanism for lignin degradation by YK-624 remains unknown.Results Here, we analyzed YK-624 gene expression following growth under ligninolytic and nonligninolytic conditions and compared the differentially expressed genes in YK-624 to those in the model white-rot fungus P. chrysosporium by next-generation sequencing. More ligninolytic enzymes and lignin-degrading auxiliary enzymes were upregulated in YK-624. This might explain the high degradation efficiency of YK-624. In addition, the genes involved in energy metabolism pathways, such as the TCA cycle, oxidative phosphorylation, lipid metabolism, carbon metabolism and glycolysis, were upregulated under ligninolytic conditions in YK-624.Conclusions In the present study, the first differential gene expression analysis of YK-624 under ligninolytic and nonligninolytic conditions was reported. The results obtained in this study indicated that YK-624 produces more energy- and lignin-degrading enzymes for more efficient lignin biodegradation.
Manganese peroxidases of the white rot fungus Phanerochaete sordida.
