Probing Carbon Utilization of Cordyceps militaris by Sugar Transportome and Protein Structural Analysis

• Published in: Cells (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 9; no. 2; p. 401
• Main Authors: Sirithep, Kanokwadee, Xiao, Fei, Raethong, Nachon, Zhang, Yuhan, Laoteng, Kobkul, Hu, Guang, Vongsangnak, Wanwipa
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI 10.02.2020; MDPI AG
• Subjects: Amino Acid Motifs; Amino Acid Sequence; Biological Transport; Carbon - metabolism; comparative genomics; Cordyceps - genetics; Cordyceps - metabolism; cordyceps militaris; Fungal Proteins - chemistry; Fungal Proteins - metabolism; Gene Regulatory Networks; Membrane Transport Proteins - metabolism; Metabolome; network analysis; Phylogeny; protein structure; sugar transporter; Sugars - metabolism; Thermodynamics; Transcriptome - genetics; Xylose - metabolism; protein structure; cordyceps militaris; network analysis; sugar transporter; carbon metabolism; comparative genomics
• DOI: 10.3390/cells9020401
• ISSN: 2073-4409

Beyond comparative genomics, we identified 85 sugar transporter genes in , clustering into nine subfamilies as sequence- and phylogenetic-based functional classification, presuming the versatile capability of the fungal growths on a range of sugars. Further analysis of the global gene expression patterns of showed 123 genes were significantly expressed across the sucrose, glucose, and xylose cultures. The sugar transporters specific for pentose were then identified by gene-set enrichment analysis. Of them, the putative pentose transporter, CCM_06358 gene, was highest expressed in the xylose culture, and its functional role in xylose transport was discovered by the analysis of conserved structural motifs. In addition, a battery of molecular modeling methods, including homology modeling, transport pathway analysis, residue interaction network combined with molecular mechanics Poisson-Boltzmann surface area simulation (MM-PBSA), was implemented for probing the structure and function of the selected pentose transporter (CCM_06358) as a representative of sugar transportome in . Considering the network bottlenecks and structural organizations, we further identified key amino acids (Phe38 and Trp441) and their interactions with other residues, contributing the xylose transport function, as verified by binding free energy calculation. The strategy used herein generated remarkably valuable biological information, which is applicable for the study of sugar transportome and the structure engineering of targeted transporter proteins that might link to the production of bioactive compounds derived from xylose metabolism, such as cordycepin.