Humicolopsis cephalosporioides synthesizes DHN-melanin in its chlamydospores

• Published in: Mycological progress Vol. 22; no. 1
• Main Authors: Bárcena, Alejandra, Medina, Rocío, Franco, Mario Emilio Ernesto, Elíades, Lorena Alejandra, Cabello, Marta Noemí, Taborda, Carlos Pelleschi, Balatti, Pedro Alberto, Saparrat, Mario Carlos Nazareno
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 2023; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biosynthesis; Chlamydospores; Culture media; Differentiation; Ecology; Environmental effects; Environmental factors; Fungi; Genomes; Humicolopsis cephalosporioides; Life Sciences; Melanin; Microbiology; Nothofagus; Nucleotide sequence; Original Article; Phylogeny; Pigmentation; Plant Sciences; Soil microorganisms; Polyketide synthase; Pigments; Environmental factors; Chlamydospores; Stress
• ISSN: 1617-416X; 1861-8952
• DOI: 10.1007/s11557-022-01853-6

Humicolopsis cephalosporioides
is a soil fungus that is associated with
Nothofagus
forests in South America. The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of environmental factors such as temperature, light, and nutrition on chlamydospore differentiation as well as pigment biosynthesis. Temperature did not affect chlamydospore production; it rather altered pigmentation development that also was affected by light. The composition of culture media as well as light modulated chlamydospore differentiation. Microscope observations, spectroscopic analysis as well as culture assays, using melanin inhibitors, suggest that the main pigment of chlamydospores of
H. cephalosporioides
is 1,8 dihydroxynaphthalene (DHN)-melanin–type compound. Furthermore, we found that the genome of
H. cephalosporioides
contains a sequence highly homologous to the
pks
sequences of other fungi that have been associated with the biosynthesis of 1,8 DHN-melanin. All this together suggests that melanization is among the most important features linked to survival of this fungus in the soils of
Nothofagus
forests in sub-Antarctica region and that the ITS, 18S, and 28S rDNA sequences did not provide enough information to delineate the phylogenetic relationships of the fungus within the class
Leotiomycetes
.