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Culture performance, gene marker, and transcriptome data for fungal isolates (Chalara longipes, Laccaria bicolor, Serpula lacrymans, and Trichoderma harzianum)

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Mar 21, 2021 version files 417.77 KB

Abstract

Metatranscriptomics holds the prospect of predicting fungal phenotypes based on patterns of gene expressions, providing new opportunities to obtain information about metabolic processes without disturbance of natural systems, and with taxonomic resolution. Acquisition of fungal metabolic carbon and its subsequent partitioning between biomass production and respiration, i.e. the carbon-use efficiency, are central parameters in biogeochemical modelling. However, current available techniques for estimating these parameters in natural systems are all associated with practical and theoretical shortcomings, making assessments unreliable. We cultured four different fungal isolates (Chalara longipes, Laccaria bicolor, Serpula lacrymans, and Trichoderma harzianum) in liquid media with contrasting nitrogen availability and measured growth rates and respiration to calculate carbon-use efficiency. By relating expression of gene markers to measured carbon fluxes, we identified genes coding for 1,3-β-glucan synthase and 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase as good markers for growth and respiration, respectively, capturing both intraspecific variation as well as within-strain variation dependent on growth medium. A gene expression index based on these markers correlated significantly with differences in carbon-use efficiency between the fungal isolates. Our study paves the way for use of these markers to assess differences in growth, respiration, and carbon-use efficiency in natural fungal communities, using metatranscriptomic or RT-qPCR approach.