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. 2012 Jul 19:13:321.
doi: 10.1186/1471-2164-13-321.

Degradation of different pectins by fungi: correlations and contrasts between the pectinolytic enzyme sets identified in genomes and the growth on pectins of different origin

Isabelle Benoit  1 , Pedro M Coutinho, Henk A Schols, Jan P Gerlach, Bernard Henrissat, Ronald P de Vries
Affiliations

Degradation of different pectins by fungi: correlations and contrasts between the pectinolytic enzyme sets identified in genomes and the growth on pectins of different origin

Isabelle Benoit et al. BMC Genomics. .

Abstract

Background: Pectins are diverse and very complex biomolecules and their structure depends on the plant species and tissue. It was previously shown that derivatives of pectic polymers and oligosaccharides from pectins have positive effects on human health. To obtain specific pectic oligosaccharides, highly defined enzymatic mixes are required. Filamentous fungi are specialized in plant cell wall degradation and some produce a broad range of pectinases. They may therefore shed light on the enzyme mixes needed for partial hydrolysis.

Results: The growth profiles of 12 fungi on four pectins and four structural elements of pectins show that the presence/absence of pectinolytic genes in the fungal genome clearly correlates with their ability to degrade pectins. However, this correlation is less clear when we zoom in to the pectic structural elements.

Conclusions: This study highlights the complexity of the mechanisms involved in fungal degradation of complex carbon sources such as pectins. Mining genomes and comparative genomics are promising first steps towards the production of specific pectinolytic fractions.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic representation of pectin structural elements [[6]].
Figure 2
Figure 2
Correlation between growth profile and genome contents.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Hierarchical clustering of the fungal species grown on pectins and pectic elements. The growth of the 12 fungal species on the 4 pectins and 4 structural elements was used to generate a distance tree (see material and method for detail on measurements of the growth). The scores are represented by a colour scale from poor/no growth, deep blue to very good growth, yellow. The figure was edited using Mev [57].
Figure 4
Figure 4
Growth on RGI related to GH93 presence.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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