Rumen Microbiology: From Evolution to Revolution

0454513 - ÚŽFG 2016 RIV IN eng M - Monography Chapter
Fliegerová, Kateřina - Kaerger, K. - Kirk, P. - Voigt, K.
Rumen Fungi.
Rumen Microbiology: From Evolution to Revolution. India: Springer India, 2015 - (Puniya, A.; Singh, R.; Kamra, D.), s. 97-112. ISBN 978-81-322-2400-6
Institutional support: RVO:67985904
Keywords : rumen fungi
Subject RIV: EE - Microbiology, Virology

Rumen fungi inhabiting the gastrointestinal tract of ruminants have been stepwise renamed into “gut fungi” after the discovery of their occurrence in intestines/hindgut of large herbivores. These only anaerobic fungi are phylogenetically unique and comprise a separate clade, the Neocallimastigomycetes, among the basal fungi. Six genera have been described, namely, the monocentric Neocallimastix, Caecomyces and Piromyces and the polycentric Anaeromyces, Orpinomyces and Cyllamyces. Recent research indicates, however, the existence of several new taxa in ruminant and nonruminant animals. The major traits of the gut fungi are both singular and exceptional. Physiologically, the gut fungi are the only representatives of Fungi obligately anaerobic and possess, therefore, hydrogenosomes instead of mitochondria. Genetically, gut fungi represent organisms with the lowest genome G+C content in the entirety of life. Enzymologically, gut fungi produce a broad range of excellent hydrolases, some of which are organized in cellulosomes, the enzyme factories otherwise known only in some bacteria, and include the most active (hemi) cellulases. This chapter brings the insight into the recent state of knowledge on anaerobic fungi with special attention to their diversity, new taxa proposition, the effect of diet and host phylogeny on anaerobic fungal community and the composition of their lignocellulolytic machinery.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0255279