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Published January 2022 | Published
Journal Article Open

Genomic Characterization of Parengyodontium torokii sp. nov., a Biofilm-Forming Fungus Isolated from Mars 2020 Assembly Facility

Abstract

A fungal strain (FJII-L10-SW-P1) was isolated from the Mars 2020 spacecraft assembly facility and exhibited biofilm formation on spacecraft-qualified Teflon surfaces. The reconstruction of a six-loci gene tree (ITS, LSU, SSU, RPB1 and RPB2, and TEF1) using multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) analyses of the strain FJII-L10-SW-P1 supported a close relationship to other known Parengyodontium album subclade 3 isolates while being phylogenetically distinct from subclade 1 strains. The zig-zag rachides morphology of the conidiogenous cells and spindle-shaped conidia were the distinct morphological characteristics of the P. album subclade 3 strains. The MLST data and morphological analysis supported the conclusion that the P. album subclade 3 strains could be classified as a new species of the genus Parengyodontium and placed in the family Cordycipitaceae. The name Parengyodontium torokii sp. nov. is proposed to accommodate the strain, with FJII-L10-SW-P1 as the holotype. The genome of the FJII-L10-SW-P1 strain was sequenced, annotated, and the secondary metabolite clusters were identified. Genes predicted to be responsible for biofilm formation and adhesion to surfaces were identified. Homology-based assignment of gene ontologies to the predicted proteome of P. torokii revealed the presence of gene clusters responsible for synthesizing several metabolic compounds, including a cytochalasin that was also verified using traditional metabolomic analysis.

Additional Information

© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Received: 19 November 2021 / Revised: 20 December 2021 / Accepted: 20 December 2021 / Published: 9 January 2022. (This article belongs to the Special Issue Diversity and Classification of Environmental Fungi) The research described in this manuscript was performed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology under a contract with NASA and University of Southern California. We would like to thank Snehit Mhatre for isolating the strain and Arman Seuylemezian for the draft assembly of the genome. We thank the Biotechnology and Planetary Protection Group members, especially Cynthia Ly, for collecting samples from the JPL-SAF. Confocal imaging was performed in the Biological Imagining Facility, with the support of the Caltech Beckman Institute and the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation at the California Institute of Technology. Scanning electron microscopy was performed at the California Institute of Technology's Kavli Nanoscience Institute. We thank Ryan Kemp (Zymo Corp.) for extracting DNA and Dan Butler (Cornell Medicine) for performing shotgun sequencing using the NovaSeq platform. We also acknowledge the Jet Propulsion Laboratory supercomputing facility staff, notably Narendra J. Patel (Jimmy) and Edward Villanueva, for their continuous support in providing the best possible infrastructure for BIG-DATA analysis. ©2021 California Institute of Technology. Government sponsorship acknowledged. The research described in this manuscript was funded by the NNH18ZDA001N-PPR award 18-PPR18-0011 to K.V. Data Availability Statement. The draft genome (JADQAY000000000) and raw data (SRR12385174) have been deposited in GenBank under the BioProject accession number PRJNA644637. Institutional Review Board Statement: Not applicable. Informed Consent Statement: Not applicable. The authors declare that there are no conflict of interest. This manuscript was prepared as an account of work sponsored by NASA, an agency of the US Government. The US Government, NASA, California Institute of Technology, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and their employees make no warranty, expressed or implied, or assume any liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed in this manuscript, or represents that its use would not infringe upon privately held rights. The use of, and references to any commercial product, process, or service does not necessarily constitute or imply endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the US Government, NASA, California Institute of Technology, or Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Views and opinions presented herein by the authors of this manuscript do not necessarily reflect those of the US Government, NASA, California Institute of Technology, or Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and shall not be used for advertisements or product endorsements.

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Additional details

Created:
August 22, 2023
Modified:
October 23, 2023