Complex fungi

Species evolution: cryptic species and phenotypic noise with a particular focus on fungal systematics

The evolution of a species can be understood in the context of two major concepts-the cryptic species concept and the phenotypic noise concept. The former represents morphologically indistinguishable but genetically distinct evolutionary lineages, while the latter represents the phenotypic variations of an isogenic population. Although the concept of cryptic species currently represents a general topic, its effect on other aspects of biology, such as biodiversity, ecology, evolutionary biology, and taxonomy, is still unclear. In particular, cryptic species cause complications and prevent the development of a clear taxonomy. The phenotypic noise concept or phenotypic plasticity generally refers to the various expressions of phenotypes in different environments. Hence, the cryptic species concept refers to genetic variations, while the phenotypic noises concept is about non-genetic variations. Although both concepts are opposites, they each contribute significantly to the evolutionary process of an organism. Despite the extensive research studies and publications discussing those two concepts in separate accounts, a concise account that combines and compares both concepts are generally lacking. Nevertheless, these are essential to understand the evolutionary process clearly. This review addresses the available literature on this topic, intending to provide a general and overall discussion on both the cryptic species concept and the phenotypic noise concept and their effect on evolution, ecology, biodiversity, and taxonomy with a special focus on fungal systematics. hence, several fungal case studies representing the two concepts are presented, compared, and discussed for a better understanding.

Fish Responses to Alternative Feeding Ingredients under Abiotic Chronic Stress

Aquaculture has become one of the most attractive food production activities as it provides high-quality protein for the growing human population. However, the abiotic chronic stress of fish in intensive fish farming leads to a detrimental condition that affects their health and somatic growth, comprising productive performance. This work aims to comprehensively review the impact of alternative and novel dietary protein sources on fish somatic growth, metabolism, and antioxidative capacity under environmental/abiotic stressors. The documental research indicates that ingredients from rendered animal by-products, insects, bacteria as single-cell proteins, and fungal organisms (e.g., yeast, filamentous fungus, and mushrooms) benefit fish health and performance. A set of responses allows fish growth, health, and survival to remain unaffected by feeding with alternative ingredients during chronic environmental stress. Those ingredients stimulate the production of enzymes such as catalase, glutathione peroxidase, and selenoproteins that counteract ROS effects. In addition, the humoral immune system promotes immunoglobulin production (IgM) and cortisol plasmatic reduction. Further investigation must be carried out to establish the specific effect by species. Additionally, the mixture and the pre-treatment of ingredients such as hydrolysates, solid fermentations, and metabolite extraction potentialize the beneficial effects of diets in chronically stressed fish.

Evolution of fungal phenotypic disparity

Organismal-grade multicellularity has been achieved only in animals, plants and fungi. All three kingdoms manifest phenotypically disparate body plans but their evolution has only been considered in detail for animals. Here we tested the general relevance of hypotheses on the evolutionary assembly of animal body plans by characterizing the evolution of fungal phenotypic variety (disparity). The distribution of living fungal form is defined by four distinct morphotypes: flagellated; zygomycetous; sac-bearing; and club-bearing. The discontinuity between morphotypes is a consequence of extinction, indicating that a complete record of fungal disparity would present a more homogeneous distribution of form. Fungal disparity expands episodically through time, punctuated by a sharp increase associated with the emergence of multicellular body plans. Simulations show these temporal trends to be non-random and at least partially shaped by hierarchical contingency. These trends are decoupled from changes in gene number, genome size and taxonomic diversity. Only differences in organismal complexity, characterized as the number of traits that constitute an organism, exhibit a meaningful relationship with fungal disparity. Both animals and fungi exhibit episodic increases in disparity through time, resulting in distributions of form made discontinuous by extinction. These congruences suggest a common mode of multicellular body plan evolution.

Occurrence and possible roles of polysaccharides in fungi and their influence on the development of new technologies

The article summarizes the roles of polysaccharides in the biology of fungi and their relationship in the development of new technologies. The comparative approach between the evolution of fungi and the chemistry of glycobiology elucidated relevant aspects about the role of polysaccharides in fungi. Also, based on the knowledge of fungal glycobiology, it was possible to address the development of new technologies, such as the production of new anti-tumor drugs, vaccines, biomaterials, and applications in the field of robotics. We conclude that polysaccharides activate pathways of apoptosis, secretion of pro-inflammatory substances, and macrophage, inducing anticancer activity. Also, the activation of the immune system, which opens the way for the production of vaccines. The development of biomaterials and parts for robotics is a promising and little-explored field. Finally, the article is multidisciplinary, with a different and integrated approach to the role of nature in the sustainable development of new technologies.

Fungal evolution: cellular, genomic and metabolic complexity

The question of how phenotypic and genomic complexity are inter-related and how they are shaped through evolution is a central question in biology that historically has been approached from the perspective of animals and plants. In recent years, however, fungi have emerged as a promising alternative system to address such questions. Key to their ecological success, fungi present a broad and diverse range of phenotypic traits. Fungal cells can adopt many different shapes, often within a single species, providing them with great adaptive potential. Fungal cellular organizations span from unicellular forms to complex, macroscopic multicellularity, with multiple transitions to higher or lower levels of cellular complexity occurring throughout the evolutionary history of fungi. Similarly, fungal genomes are very diverse in their architecture. Deep changes in genome organization can occur very quickly, and these phenomena are known to mediate rapid adaptations to environmental changes. Finally, the biochemical complexity of fungi is huge, particularly with regard to their secondary metabolites, chemical products that mediate many aspects of fungal biology, including ecological interactions. Herein, we explore how the interplay of these cellular, genomic and metabolic traits mediates the emergence of complex phenotypes, and how this complexity is shaped throughout the evolutionary history of Fungi.

Comparative genomics reveals the origin of fungal hyphae and multicellularity

Hyphae represent a hallmark structure of multicellular fungi. The evolutionary origins of hyphae and of the underlying genes are, however, hardly known. By systematically analyzing 72 complete genomes, we here show that hyphae evolved early in fungal evolution probably via diverse genetic changes, including co-option and exaptation of ancient eukaryotic (e.g. phagocytosis-related) genes, the origin of new gene families, gene duplications and alterations of gene structure, among others. Contrary to most multicellular lineages, the origin of filamentous fungi did not correlate with expansions of kinases, receptors or adhesive proteins. Co-option was probably the dominant mechanism for recruiting genes for hypha morphogenesis, while gene duplication was apparently less prevalent, except in transcriptional regulators and cell wall - related genes. We identified 414 novel gene families that show correlated evolution with hyphae and that may have contributed to its evolution. Our results suggest that hyphae represent a unique multicellular organization that evolved by limited fungal-specific innovations and gene duplication but pervasive co-option and modification of ancient eukaryotic functions.