The obligate alkalophilic soda-lake fungus Sodiomyces alkalinus has shifted to a protein diet

Sodiomyces alkalinus is one of the very few alkalophilic fungi, adapted to grow optimally at high pH. It is widely distributed at the plant-deprived edges of extremely alkaline lakes and locally abundant. We sequenced the genome of S. alkalinus and reconstructed evolution of catabolic enzymes, using a phylogenomic comparison. We found that the genome of S. alkalinus is larger, but its predicted proteome is smaller and heavily depleted of both plant-degrading enzymes and proteinases, when compared to its closest plant-pathogenic relatives. Interestingly, despite overall losses, S. alkalinus has retained many proteinases families and acquired bacterial-cell-wall-degrading enzymes, some of them via horizontal gene transfer from bacteria. This fungus has very potent proteolytic activity at high pH values, but slowly-induced low activity of cellulases and hemicellulases. Our experimental and in silico data suggest that plant biomass, a common food source for most fungi, is not a preferred substrate for S. alkalinus in its natural environment. We conclude the fungus has abandoned the ancestral plant-based diet, and has become specialized in a more protein-rich food, abundantly available in soda lakes in the form of prokaryotes and crustaceans. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

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