Preliminary studies on the evolution of carbon assimilation abilities within Mucorales.
Representatives of Mucorales belong to one of the oldest lineages of terrestrial fungi. Although carbon is of fundamental importance for fungal growth and functioning, relatively little is known about enzymatic capacities of Mucorales. The evolutionary history and the variability of the capacity to metabolize different carbon sources among representatives of the order Mucorales was studied using Phenotypic Microarray Plates. The ability of 26 strains belonging to 23 nonpathogenic species of Mucorales to use 95 different carbon sources was tested. Intraspecies variability of carbon assimilation profiles was lower than interspecies variation for some selected strains. Although similarities between the phylogenetic tree and the dendrogram created from carbon source utilization data were observed, the ability of the various strains to use the analyzed substrates did not show a clear correlation with the evolutionary history of the group. Instead, carbon assimilation profiles are probably shaped by environmental conditions.
Department of Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, Institute of Botany, Faculty of Biology, University of Warsaw, Al. Ujazdowskie 4, 00-478 Warsaw, Poland. Electronic address: julia.pawlowska@biol.uw.edu.pl.
Julia
J
Pawłowska
Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences (IBB PAS), Pawińskiego 5a, 02-106 Warsaw, Poland.
Tamara
T
Aleksandrzak-Piekarczyk
Department of Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, Institute of Botany, Faculty of Biology, University of Warsaw, Al. Ujazdowskie 4, 00-478 Warsaw, Poland.
Agnieszka
A
Banach
Department of Microbial Ecology, Institute of Botany, Faculty of Biology, University of Warsaw, ul. Miecznikowa 1, 02-096 Warsaw, Poland.
Bartosz
B
Kiersztyn
Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences (IBB PAS), Pawińskiego 5a, 02-106 Warsaw, Poland.
Anna
A
Muszewska
Department of Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, Institute of Botany, Faculty of Biology, University of Warsaw, Al. Ujazdowskie 4, 00-478 Warsaw, Poland.
Lidia
L
Serewa
Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences (IBB PAS), Pawińskiego 5a, 02-106 Warsaw, Poland.
Katarzyna
K
Szatraj
Department of Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, Institute of Botany, Faculty of Biology, University of Warsaw, Al. Ujazdowskie 4, 00-478 Warsaw, Poland.
Marta
M
Wrzosek
D005075:Biological Evolution; D002244:Carbon / Q000378:metabolism*; D004777:Environment; D004798:Enzymes / Q000378:metabolism*; D053858:Metabolic Networks and Pathways; D046228:Microarray Analysis; D009090:Mucorales / Q000378:metabolism*
D004798:Enzymes; D002244:Carbon
Mucoromycotina; Physiology; Species identification