The anaerobic fungus Neocallimastix californiae shifts metabolism and produces melanin in response to lignin-derived aromatic compounds
This study demonstrates that anaerobic fungi have a complex relationship with aromatic chemicals derived from lignin and hemicellulose and shift their metabolism in response to the addition of lignocellulose-derived aromatics to their growth medium. Further, as no known pathways for the biochemical transformation of aromatics were detected in these organisms despite observed transcriptome remodeling in the presence of aromatics, we suggest they might encode novel biochemical routes for scavenging amino acid building blocks from aromatic monomers derived from hemicellulose side chains and lignin.
Authors
- Patrick A. Leggieri (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7156-1364)
- Bashar Amer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3525-0945)
- Michelle O’Malley (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6065-8491)
- Edward E. K. Baidoo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5787-1219)
- Thomas S. Lankiewicz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9209-5067)
Institutions
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (US)
- University of California, Santa Barbara (US)
- Joint BioEnergy Institute (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Biotechnology for Biofuels and Bioproducts
- Published
- 2025-08-29
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1186/s13068-025-02696-5
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Biochemical and biochemical processes
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.23
Funders
- U.S. Department of Energy
- Office of Science
- University of California, Santa Barbara
- California NanoSystems Institute
- Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies