Carbohydrate-active enzymes from the zygomycete fungus Rhizopus oryzae: a highly specialized approach to carbohydrate degradation depicted at genome level

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Rhizopus oryzae </it>is a zygomycete filamentous fungus, well-known as a saprobe ubiquitous in soil and as a pathogenic/spoilage fungus, causing Rhizopus rot and mucomycoses.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Carbohydrate Active enzyme (CAZy) annotation of the <it>R. oryzae </it>identified, in contrast to other filamentous fungi, a low number of glycoside hydrolases (GHs) and a high number of glycosyl transferases (GTs) and carbohydrate esterases (CEs). A detailed analysis of CAZy families, supported by growth data, demonstrates highly specialized plant and fungal cell wall degrading abilities distinct from ascomycetes and basidiomycetes. The specific genomic and growth features for degradation of easily digestible plant cell wall mono- and polysaccharides (starch, galactomannan, unbranched pectin, hexose sugars), chitin, chitosan, β-1,3-glucan and fungal cell wall fractions suggest specific adaptations of <it>R. oryzae </it>to its environment.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>CAZy analyses of the genome of the zygomycete fungus <it>R. oryzae </it>and comparison to ascomycetes and basidiomycete species revealed how evolution has shaped its genetic content with respect to carbohydrate degradation, after divergence from the Ascomycota and Basidiomycota.</p

In vitro propagation of bamboo species through axillary shoot proliferation: a review

Bamboos, very relevant plants in many countries around the world, are propagated at large scale with extreme difficulties. Use of seeds is challenging because of plant’s sporadic flowering and long flowering cycles, together with seed recalcitrance and consumption by wild animals. Vegetative propagation of bamboo is mainly conducted by cuttings and by air layering. However, these methods are only useful at small-scale because they damage the mother plants, propagation material is bulky and difficult to be transported and is only available during few months of the year. Therefore, in vitro propagation offers the opportunity to obtain large progenies from elite genotypes. In most cases, when developing protocols for in vitro propagation of plants, specific conditions for individual species, genotypes and even development stages of the donor plants must be identified by trial-and-error experiments. Because of the size of and the large diversity observed in this plant family, it usually takes several months to define most adequate culture medium, combination of plant growth regulators and of other compounds for fostering the desired development in the explants. Therefore, in this detailed review, that also puts together results from hard-to-find literature, we list all identified cases, in which development of axillary shoots was used to propagate bamboo plants, by presenting successful ways for disinfection, in vitro bud sprouting, multiplication, rooting and acclimatization.UCR::Vicerrectoría de Investigación::Unidades de Investigación::Ciencias Agroalimentarias::Centro para Investigaciones en Granos y Semillas (CIGRAS)UCR::Vicerrectoría de Investigación::Unidades de Investigación::Ciencias Agroalimentarias::Instituto de Investigaciones Agrícolas (IIA