TIGP (BIO)—Utilize Comparative Genomics to Unravel the Evolution of Bioluminescence in Fungi

Abstract

Bioluminescence is ubiquitously present in many species ranging from marine bacteria to terrestrial fungi, earthworm, and firefly. Currently more than 105 fungal species are known to display bioluminescence. They can be classified into three major lineages: the mycenoid lineage, the Armillaria lineage and the Omphalotus lineage. All of them belong to the Agaricales of Basidiomycetes, a major order comprising around 13,000 gilled mushrooms. Fugal bioluminescence is the emission of light by a living organism, generated by a chemical reaction that involves proteins called luciferases that catalyze the oxidation of substrates called luciferins. The ecological role of fungal bioluminescence and their evolution has long been a puzzle. By comparing fifteen genomes of bioluminescent fungi, we proposed an evolutionary scenario: the luciferase cluster was originally located at the dispensable region of the last common ancestor and the cluster was translocated to different genomic locations through rearrangement. The luciferase cluster was translocated to the core region in the Armillaria lineage and became more conserved. In contrast, in mycenoid lineage, the luciferase cluster was located in different low synteny regions which may suggest that they were dispensable and could be lost in most species. Those results let us further understand the fascinating trait including its ecological function and gene regulation.

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