Genomic and Experimental Investigations of Auriscalpium and Strobilurus Fungi Reveal New Insights into Pinecone Decomposition

Saprophytic fungi play vital roles in nutrient cycling and ecosystem dynamics. However, our understanding of how saprophytic fungi interact with each other to decompose organic matter is very limited. Here, we conducted field surveys of pinecone-colonizing/decomposing mushrooms, investigated the chemical compositions of decomposing pinecones, and analyzed seven new genomes of three pairs of mushrooms in the genera Auriscalpium and Strobilurus with substrate specificities. Each pair of mushrooms successively colonizes the pinecones of a different pine species: A. orientale-S. luchuensis on Pinus yunnanensis, A. vulgare-S. stephanocystis on Pinus sylvestris, and A. microsporum-S. pachcystidiatus/S. orientalis on Pinus armandii. Our analyses revealed evidence for both competition and cooperation between Auriscalpium and Strobilurus fungi during pinecone decomposition. Their successive colonization of the two fungi groups with complementary profiles of carbohydrate-active enzymes enabled efficient decomposition and utilization of pinecones. The Auriscalpium fungi are highly effective at utilizing the recalcitrant primary organic carbons such as lignin and hemicellulose in freshly fallen pinecones. The decomposition by Auriscalpium fungi enabled the successive colonization by Strobilurus fungi which can produce an arsenal of secondary metabolites such as strobilurins to inhibit other fungi and have abundant carbohydrate-active enzymes for effective utilization of the remaining organic compounds in pinecones.

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Genomic and Experimental Investigations of Auriscalpium and Strobilurus Fungi Reveal New Insights into Pinecone Decomposition

Journal of Fungi ◽

10.3390/jof7080679 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 7 (8) ◽

pp. 679

Author(s):

Panmeng Wang ◽

Jianping Xu ◽

Gang Wu ◽

Tiezhi Liu ◽

Zhu L. Yang

Keyword(s):

Organic Matter ◽

Fungal Species ◽

Ecosystem Dynamics ◽

Living Systems ◽

Experimental Investigations ◽

Genome Sequences ◽

Carbohydrate Active Enzymes ◽

Efficient Utilization ◽

Competition And Cooperation ◽

Pinus Yunnanensis

Saprophytic fungi (SPF) play vital roles in ecosystem dynamics and decomposition. However, because of the complexity of living systems, our understanding of how SPF interact with each other to decompose organic matter is very limited. Here we studied their roles and interactions in the decomposition of highly specialized substrates between the two genera Auriscalpium and Strobilurus fungi-colonized fallen pinecones of the same plant sequentially. We obtained the genome sequences from seven fungal species with three pairs: A. orientale-S. luchuensis, A. vulgare-S. stephanocystis and A. microsporum-S. pachcystidiatus/S. orientalis on cones of Pinus yunnanensis, P. sylvestris and P. armandii, respectively, and the organic profiles of substrate during decomposition. Our analyses revealed evidence for both competition and cooperation between the two groups of fungi during decomposition, enabling efficient utilization of substrates with complementary profiles of carbohydrate active enzymes (CAZymes). The Auriscalpium fungi are highly effective at utilizing the primary organic carbon, such as lignin, and hemicellulose in freshly fallen cones, facilitated the invasion and colonization by Strobilurus fungi. The Strobilurus fungi have genes coding for abundant CAZymes to utilize the remaining organic compounds and for producing an arsenal of secondary metabolites such as strobilurins that can inhibit other fungi from colonizing the pinecones.

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Melt Conditioned Direct Chill Casting (MC-DC) of Wrought Al-Alloys

Solid State Phenomena ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/ssp.141-143.403 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 141-143 ◽

pp. 403-408 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Reza Haghayeghi ◽

Yuan Liu ◽

Zhong Yun Fan

Keyword(s):

Liquid Metal ◽

Processing Parameters ◽

Direct Chill ◽

Al Alloys ◽

Experimental Investigations ◽

Chemical Compositions ◽

Compositional Uniformity ◽

New Development ◽

Twin Screw ◽

High Degree

Melt Conditioned Direct Chill (MC-DC) casting is a new development for producing high-quality billets and slabs. In the MC-DC process, liquid metal is continuously fed into a MCAST (melt conditioning by advanced shear technology) machine, where the liquid metal is subjected to high shear rate and high degree of turbulence provided by a twin screw mechanism at temperatures either above or below the alloy liquidus, and the conditioned liquid metal is then fed continuously into a Direct Chill (DC) caster to produce billets or slabs. The MC-DC process is applicable to both Al- and Mg-alloys. In this paper we present our experimental investigations of the effects of processing parameters on the microstructural and compositional uniformity of 5xxx and 7xxx series Al-alloys. It has been confirmed by our experiments that the MC-DC process can produce billets and slabs with fine and uniform microstructure, uniform chemical compositions and much reduced cast defects, such as porosity and cracks.

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Coexistence and Competition betweenTomicus yunnanensisandT. minor(Coleoptera: Scolytinae) in Yunnan Pine

Psyche A Journal of Entomology ◽

10.1155/2012/185312 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 2012 ◽

pp. 1-6 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Rong Chun Lu ◽

Hong Bin Wang ◽

Zhen Zhang ◽

John A. Byers ◽

You Ju Jin ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Thin Layer ◽

Bark Beetles ◽

Yunnan Province ◽

Southwest China ◽

Lower Trunk ◽

Competition And Cooperation ◽

Pinus Yunnanensis ◽

Pine Trees ◽

Tomicus Minor ◽

Intensity Of Competition

Competition and cooperation between bark beetles,Tomicus yunnanensisKirkendall and Faccoli andTomicus minor(Hartig) (Coleoptera: Scolytinae) were examined when they coexisted together in living Yunnan pine trees (Pinus yunnanensisFranchet) in Yunnan province in Southwest China.T. yunnanensisbark beetles were observed to initiate dispersal from pine shoots to trunks in November, while the majority ofT. minorbegins to transfer in December.T. yunnanensismainly attacks the top and middle parts of the trunk, whereasT. minormainly resides in the lower and middle parts of the trunk. The patterns of attack densities of these two species were similar, but withT. yunnanensiscolonizing the upper section of the trunk andT. minorthe lower trunk. The highest attack density ofT. Yunnanensiswas 297 egg galleries/m2, and the highest attack density ofT. minorwas 305 egg galleries/m2. Although there was significant overlap for the same bark areas, the two species generally colonize different areas of the tree, which reduces the intensity of competition for the relatively thin layer of phloem-cambium tissues where the beetles feed and reside.

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Discovery of novel carbohydrate-active enzymes through the rational exploration of the protein sequences space

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ◽

10.1073/pnas.1815791116 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 116 (13) ◽

pp. 6063-6068 ◽

Cited By ~ 44

Author(s):

William Helbert ◽

Laurent Poulet ◽

Sophie Drouillard ◽

Sophie Mathieu ◽

Mélanie Loiodice ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Amino Acid ◽

Sequence Similarity ◽

Protein Sequences ◽

Environmental Dna ◽

Carbohydrate Active Enzymes ◽

Modern Biology ◽

Substrate Specificities ◽

Cazy Database

Over the last two decades, the number of gene/protein sequences gleaned from sequencing projects of individual genomes and environmental DNA has grown exponentially. Only a tiny fraction of these predicted proteins has been experimentally characterized, and the function of most proteins remains hypothetical or only predicted based on sequence similarity. Despite the development of postgenomic methods, such as transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics, the assignment of function to protein sequences remains one of the main challenges in modern biology. As in all classes of proteins, the growing number of predicted carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes) has not been accompanied by a systematic and accurate attribution of function. Taking advantage of the CAZy database, which groups CAZymes into families and subfamilies based on amino acid similarities, we recombinantly produced 564 proteins selected from subfamilies without any biochemically characterized representatives, from distant relatives of characterized enzymes and from nonclassified proteins that show little similarity with known CAZymes. Screening these proteins for activity on a wide collection of carbohydrate substrates led to the discovery of 13 CAZyme families (two of which were also discovered by others during the course of our work), revealed three previously unknown substrate specificities, and assigned a function to 25 subfamilies.

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Use of Reclaimed Rubber Cell in Highway Pavement: An Experimental Research

International Journal of Innovative Technology and Exploring Engineering - Special Issue ◽

10.35940/ijitee.f1216.0486s419 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 8 (6S4) ◽

pp. 1047-1052

Keyword(s):

Environmental Concern ◽

Flexible Pavement ◽

Model Tests ◽

Laboratory Model ◽

Experimental Investigations ◽

Effective Utilization ◽

Test Tank ◽

The World ◽

Waste Tyres ◽

Reinforcing Material

With the rapidly growing number of vehicles around the world, the disposal of the waste and discarded tyres is a serious concern worldwide. There are few investigations reported in the literature w.r.t. the use of the regenerated rubber derived from the waste tyres in the construction of pavements. The highway construction forms a potential sector for the use of such waste whereby the problem of its disposal will get eliminated on one hand and reduce the environmental concern on the other hand. The use of such waste is found to improve the performance and strength of the pavement. This paper presents the limited experimental investigations on the use of innovative reinforcement in the form of rubber cell derived from the regenerated or reclaimed tyres in the pavement application. The rubber cell derived is similar to conventional geocell. The experimental study entails the use of the rubber cell placed within the conventional granular sub-base (GSB) of the conventional flexible pavement through a model pavement. The laboratory model tests were conducted with the help of the test tank of dimensions (1 m × 1m × 1m). The sub-base was placed above the weak subgrade in a test tank. The results of the laboratory model tests indicates the better performance of the pavement with the use of the rubber cell in the sub-base as compared to the performance of the pavement with conventional granular subbase without rubber cell reinforcement. The study confirms the effective utilization of the discarded tyres as a reinforcing material in the pavements.

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Analytical Electron Microscopy of Ion-Implanted Metals

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s042482010011831x ◽

1985 ◽

Vol 43 ◽

pp. 282-285

Author(s):

D.I. Potter ◽

M. Ahmed ◽

K. Ruffing

Keyword(s):

Electron Microscopy ◽

Ion Implantation ◽

Friction And Wear ◽

Analytical Electron Microscopy ◽

Chemical Compositions ◽

Surface Chemical ◽

Near Surface ◽

The Past ◽

Analytical Electron ◽

Property Changes

Ion implantation, used extensively for the past decade in fabricating semiconductor devices, now provides a unique means for altering the near-surface chemical compositions and microstructures of metals. These alterations often significantly improve physical properties that depend on the surface of the material; for example, catalysis, corrosion, oxidation, hardness, friction and wear. Frequently the mechanisms causing these beneficial alterations and property changes remain obscure and much of the current research in the area of ion implantation metallurgy is aimed at identifying such mechanisms. Investigators thus confront two immediate questions: To what extent is the chemical composition changed by implantation? What is the resulting microstructure? These two questions can be investigated very fruitfully with analytical electron microscopy (AEM), as described below.

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TEM/AEM characterization of fine-grained clay minerals in very-low-grade rocks: Evaluation of contamination by empa involving celadonite family minerals

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100165938 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 54 ◽

pp. 694-695

Author(s):

Gejing Li ◽

D. R. Peacor ◽

D. S. Coombs ◽

Y. Kawachi

Keyword(s):

Electron Microscopy ◽

Volcanic Rocks ◽

Analytical Electron Microscopy ◽

Metamorphic Rocks ◽

New Mineral ◽

Chemical Compositions ◽

Low Grade ◽

Fine Grained ◽

Depth Analysis ◽

Mineral Aggregates

Recent advances in transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and analytical electron microscopy (AEM) have led to many new insights into the structural and chemical characteristics of very finegrained, optically homogeneous mineral aggregates in sedimentary and very low-grade metamorphic rocks. Chemical compositions obtained by electron microprobe analysis (EMPA) on such materials have been shown by TEM/AEM to result from beam overlap on contaminant phases on a scale below resolution of EMPA, which in turn can lead to errors in interpretation and determination of formation conditions. Here we present an in-depth analysis of the relation between AEM and EMPA data, which leads also to the definition of new mineral phases, and demonstrate the resolution power of AEM relative to EMPA in investigations of very fine-grained mineral aggregates in sedimentary and very low-grade metamorphic rocks.Celadonite, having end-member composition KMgFe3+Si4O10(OH)2, and with minor substitution of Fe2+ for Mg and Al for Fe3+ on octahedral sites, is a fine-grained mica widespread in volcanic rocks and volcaniclastic sediments which have undergone low-temperature alteration in the oceanic crust and in burial metamorphic sequences.

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