Cocultivation of Anaerobic Fungi with Rumen Bacteria Establishes an Antagonistic Relationship. 2021

Candice L Swift, and Katherine B Louie, and Benjamin P Bowen, and Casey A Hooker, and Kevin V Solomon, and Vasanth Singan, and Chris Daum, and Christa P Pennacchio, and Kerrie Barry, and Vaithiyalingam Shutthanandan, and James E Evans, and Igor V Grigoriev, and Trent R Northen, and Michelle A O'Malley
Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California, USA.

Anaerobic gut fungi (Neocallimastigomycetes) live in the digestive tract of large herbivores, where they are vastly outnumbered by bacteria. It has been suggested that anaerobic fungi challenge growth of bacteria owing to the wealth of biosynthetic genes in fungal genomes, although this relationship has not been experimentally tested. Here, we cocultivated the rumen bacteria Fibrobacter succinogenes strain UWB7 with the anaerobic gut fungi Anaeromyces robustus or Caecomyces churrovis on a range of carbon substrates and quantified the bacterial and fungal transcriptomic response. Synthetic cocultures were established for at least 24 h, as verified by active fungal and bacterial transcription. A. robustus upregulated components of its secondary metabolism in the presence of Fibrobacter succinogenes strain UWB7, including six nonribosomal peptide synthetases, one polyketide synthase-like enzyme, and five polyketide synthesis O-type methyltransferases. Both A. robustus and C. churrovis cocultures upregulated S-adenosyl-l-methionine (SAM)-dependent methyltransferases, histone methyltransferases, and an acetyltransferase. Fungal histone 3 lysine 27 trimethylation marks were more abundant in coculture, and heterochromatin protein-1 was downregulated. Together, these findings suggest that fungal chromatin remodeling occurs when bacteria are present. F. succinogenes strain UWB7 upregulated four genes in coculture encoding drug efflux pumps, which likely protect the cell against toxins. Furthermore, untargeted nonpolar metabolomics data revealed at least one novel fungal metabolite enriched in coculture, which may be a defense compound. Taken together, these data suggest that A. robustus and C. churrovis produce antimicrobials when exposed to rumen bacteria and, more broadly, that anaerobic gut fungi are a source of novel antibiotics. IMPORTANCE Anaerobic fungi are outnumbered by bacteria by 4 orders of magnitude in the herbivore rumen. Despite their numerical disadvantage, they are resilient members of the rumen microbiome. Previous studies mining the genomes of anaerobic fungi identified genes encoding enzymes to produce natural products, which are small molecules that are often antimicrobials. In this work, we cocultured the anaerobic fungus Anaeromyces robustus or Caecomyes churrovis with rumen bacteria Fibrobacter succinogenes strain UWB7 and sequenced fungal and bacterial active genes via transcriptome sequencing (RNA-seq). Consistent with production of a fungal defense compound, bacteria upregulated genes encoding drug efflux pumps, which often export toxic molecules, and fungi upregulated genes encoding biosynthetic enzymes of natural products. Furthermore, tandem mass spectrometry detected an unknown fungal metabolite enriched in the coculture. Together, these findings point to an antagonistic relationship between anaerobic fungi and rumen bacteria resulting in the production of a fungal compound with potential antimicrobial activity.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D008828 Microbiological Techniques Techniques used in microbiology. Microbiologic Technic,Microbiologic Technics,Microbiologic Technique,Microbiological Technics,Technic, Microbiologic,Technics, Microbiological,Technique, Microbiologic,Techniques, Microbiologic,Microbiologic Techniques,Microbiological Technic,Microbiological Technique,Technic, Microbiological,Technics, Microbiologic,Technique, Microbiological,Techniques, Microbiological
D005658 Fungi A kingdom of eukaryotic, heterotrophic organisms that live parasitically as saprobes, including MUSHROOMS; YEASTS; smuts, molds, etc. They reproduce either sexually or asexually, and have life cycles that range from simple to complex. Filamentous fungi, commonly known as molds, refer to those that grow as multicellular colonies. Fungi, Filamentous,Molds,Filamentous Fungi,Filamentous Fungus,Fungus,Fungus, Filamentous,Mold
D000693 Anaerobiosis The complete absence, or (loosely) the paucity, of gaseous or dissolved elemental oxygen in a given place or environment. (From Singleton & Sainsbury, Dictionary of Microbiology and Molecular Biology, 2d ed) Anaerobic Metabolism,Anaerobic Metabolisms,Anaerobioses,Metabolism, Anaerobic,Metabolisms, Anaerobic
D000818 Animals Unicellular or multicellular, heterotrophic organisms, that have sensation and the power of voluntary movement. Under the older five kingdom paradigm, Animalia was one of the kingdoms. Under the modern three domain model, Animalia represents one of the many groups in the domain EUKARYOTA. Animal,Metazoa,Animalia
D000898 Antibiosis A natural association between organisms that is detrimental to at least one of them. This often refers to the production of chemicals by one microorganism that is harmful to another. Bacterial Interference,Microbial Antagonism,Interference, Bacterial,Antagonism, Microbial,Antagonisms, Microbial,Antibioses,Bacterial Interferences,Interferences, Bacterial,Microbial Antagonisms
D001419 Bacteria One of the three domains of life (the others being Eukarya and ARCHAEA), also called Eubacteria. They are unicellular prokaryotic microorganisms which generally possess rigid cell walls, multiply by cell division, and exhibit three principal forms: round or coccal, rodlike or bacillary, and spiral or spirochetal. Bacteria can be classified by their response to OXYGEN: aerobic, anaerobic, or facultatively anaerobic; by the mode by which they obtain their energy: chemotrophy (via chemical reaction) or PHOTOTROPHY (via light reaction); for chemotrophs by their source of chemical energy: CHEMOLITHOTROPHY (from inorganic compounds) or chemoorganotrophy (from organic compounds); and by their source for CARBON; NITROGEN; etc.; HETEROTROPHY (from organic sources) or AUTOTROPHY (from CARBON DIOXIDE). They can also be classified by whether or not they stain (based on the structure of their CELL WALLS) with CRYSTAL VIOLET dye: gram-negative or gram-positive. Eubacteria
D012417 Rumen The first stomach of ruminants. It lies on the left side of the body, occupying the whole of the left side of the abdomen and even stretching across the median plane of the body to the right side. It is capacious, divided into an upper and a lower sac, each of which has a blind sac at its posterior extremity. The rumen is lined by mucous membrane containing no digestive glands, but mucus-secreting glands are present in large numbers. Coarse, partially chewed food is stored and churned in the rumen until the animal finds circumstances convenient for rumination. When this occurs, little balls of food are regurgitated through the esophagus into the mouth, and are subjected to a second more thorough mastication, swallowed, and passed on into other parts of the compound stomach. (From Black's Veterinary Dictionary, 17th ed) Rumens
D012756 Sheep Any of the ruminant mammals with curved horns in the genus Ovis, family Bovidae. They possess lachrymal grooves and interdigital glands, which are absent in GOATS. Ovis,Sheep, Dall,Dall Sheep,Ovis dalli
D016680 Genome, Bacterial The genetic complement of a BACTERIA as represented in its DNA. Bacterial Genome,Bacterial Genomes,Genomes, Bacterial
D016681 Genome, Fungal The complete gene complement contained in a set of chromosomes in a fungus. Fungal Genome,Fungal Genomes,Genomes, Fungal

Related Publications

Candice L Swift, and Katherine B Louie, and Benjamin P Bowen, and Casey A Hooker, and Kevin V Solomon, and Vasanth Singan, and Chris Daum, and Christa P Pennacchio, and Kerrie Barry, and Vaithiyalingam Shutthanandan, and James E Evans, and Igor V Grigoriev, and Trent R Northen, and Michelle A O'Malley
September 1996, Letters in applied microbiology,
Candice L Swift, and Katherine B Louie, and Benjamin P Bowen, and Casey A Hooker, and Kevin V Solomon, and Vasanth Singan, and Chris Daum, and Christa P Pennacchio, and Kerrie Barry, and Vaithiyalingam Shutthanandan, and James E Evans, and Igor V Grigoriev, and Trent R Northen, and Michelle A O'Malley
January 1990, Mikrobiologiia,
Candice L Swift, and Katherine B Louie, and Benjamin P Bowen, and Casey A Hooker, and Kevin V Solomon, and Vasanth Singan, and Chris Daum, and Christa P Pennacchio, and Kerrie Barry, and Vaithiyalingam Shutthanandan, and James E Evans, and Igor V Grigoriev, and Trent R Northen, and Michelle A O'Malley
June 1994, Microbiology (Reading, England),
Candice L Swift, and Katherine B Louie, and Benjamin P Bowen, and Casey A Hooker, and Kevin V Solomon, and Vasanth Singan, and Chris Daum, and Christa P Pennacchio, and Kerrie Barry, and Vaithiyalingam Shutthanandan, and James E Evans, and Igor V Grigoriev, and Trent R Northen, and Michelle A O'Malley
September 2007, Journal of applied microbiology,
Candice L Swift, and Katherine B Louie, and Benjamin P Bowen, and Casey A Hooker, and Kevin V Solomon, and Vasanth Singan, and Chris Daum, and Christa P Pennacchio, and Kerrie Barry, and Vaithiyalingam Shutthanandan, and James E Evans, and Igor V Grigoriev, and Trent R Northen, and Michelle A O'Malley
July 1979, Applied and environmental microbiology,
Candice L Swift, and Katherine B Louie, and Benjamin P Bowen, and Casey A Hooker, and Kevin V Solomon, and Vasanth Singan, and Chris Daum, and Christa P Pennacchio, and Kerrie Barry, and Vaithiyalingam Shutthanandan, and James E Evans, and Igor V Grigoriev, and Trent R Northen, and Michelle A O'Malley
January 1988, Bio Systems,
Candice L Swift, and Katherine B Louie, and Benjamin P Bowen, and Casey A Hooker, and Kevin V Solomon, and Vasanth Singan, and Chris Daum, and Christa P Pennacchio, and Kerrie Barry, and Vaithiyalingam Shutthanandan, and James E Evans, and Igor V Grigoriev, and Trent R Northen, and Michelle A O'Malley
January 1995, SAAS bulletin, biochemistry and biotechnology,
Candice L Swift, and Katherine B Louie, and Benjamin P Bowen, and Casey A Hooker, and Kevin V Solomon, and Vasanth Singan, and Chris Daum, and Christa P Pennacchio, and Kerrie Barry, and Vaithiyalingam Shutthanandan, and James E Evans, and Igor V Grigoriev, and Trent R Northen, and Michelle A O'Malley
December 2008, Letters in applied microbiology,
Candice L Swift, and Katherine B Louie, and Benjamin P Bowen, and Casey A Hooker, and Kevin V Solomon, and Vasanth Singan, and Chris Daum, and Christa P Pennacchio, and Kerrie Barry, and Vaithiyalingam Shutthanandan, and James E Evans, and Igor V Grigoriev, and Trent R Northen, and Michelle A O'Malley
February 2024, ACS omega,
Candice L Swift, and Katherine B Louie, and Benjamin P Bowen, and Casey A Hooker, and Kevin V Solomon, and Vasanth Singan, and Chris Daum, and Christa P Pennacchio, and Kerrie Barry, and Vaithiyalingam Shutthanandan, and James E Evans, and Igor V Grigoriev, and Trent R Northen, and Michelle A O'Malley
January 2008, Folia microbiologica,
Copied contents to your clipboard!