Haitjema Charles H, Solomon Kevin V, Henske John K, Theodorou Michael K, O'Malley Michelle A
Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, California, 93106.
Biotechnol Bioeng. 2014 Aug;111(8):1471-82. doi: 10.1002/bit.25264. Epub 2014 May 23.
Anaerobic gut fungi are an early branching family of fungi that are commonly found in the digestive tract of ruminants and monogastric herbivores. It is becoming increasingly clear that they are the primary colonizers of ingested plant biomass, and that they significantly contribute to the decomposition of plant biomass into fermentable sugars. As such, anaerobic fungi harbor a rich reservoir of undiscovered cellulolytic enzymes and enzyme complexes that can potentially transform the conversion of lignocellulose into bioenergy products. Despite their unique evolutionary history and cellulolytic activity, few species have been isolated and studied in great detail. As a result, their life cycle, cellular physiology, genetics, and cellulolytic metabolism remain poorly understood compared to aerobic fungi. To help address this limitation, this review briefly summarizes the current body of knowledge pertaining to anaerobic fungal biology, and describes progress made in the isolation, cultivation, molecular characterization, and long-term preservation of these microbes. We also discuss recent cellulase- and cellulosome-discovery efforts from gut fungi, and how these interesting, non-model microbes could be further adapted for biotechnology applications.
厌氧肠道真菌是真菌中的一个早期分支家族，常见于反刍动物和单胃食草动物的消化道中。越来越明显的是，它们是摄入植物生物质的主要定植者，并且对将植物生物质分解为可发酵糖有显著贡献。因此，厌氧真菌蕴藏着丰富的未被发现的纤维素分解酶和酶复合物，这些酶和复合物有可能改变木质纤维素向生物能源产品的转化。尽管它们具有独特的进化历史和纤维素分解活性，但很少有物种被分离并进行详细研究。因此，与需氧真菌相比，它们的生命周期、细胞生理学、遗传学和纤维素分解代谢仍知之甚少。为了帮助克服这一限制，本综述简要总结了目前关于厌氧真菌生物学的知识体系，并描述了在这些微生物的分离、培养、分子表征和长期保存方面所取得的进展。我们还讨论了最近从肠道真菌中发现纤维素酶和纤维小体的工作，以及这些有趣的非模式微生物如何能够进一步适应生物技术应用。
