RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Comparative genomics and divergence time estimation of the anaerobic fungi in herbivorous mammals
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 401869
DO 10.1101/401869
A1 Yan Wang
A1 Noha Youssef
A1 M.B. Couger
A1 Radwa Hanafy
A1 Mostafa Elshahed
A1 Jason E. Stajich
YR 2018
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/08/31/401869.abstract
AB The anaerobic gut fungi (AGF) or Neocallimastigomycota inhabit the rumen of herbivorous mammals where they support plant fiber degradation. These obligate anaerobes have large and AT-biased genomes, which have limited genome-wide studies and the phylogenomic analyses of these fungi. Using newly generated genomes and transcriptomes of 27 Neocallimastigomycota taxa, we have explored their evolutionary relationships, divergence time, and gene content. The most recent common ancestor of the AGF is estimated to have diverged 73.5±5 million years ago (Mya), which coincides with the estimated ages of grasses (Poaceae) and evolution of mammalian herbivory. Comparative genomics identified lineage-specific genes and protein family domains including three that may have been acquired through horizontal gene transfer from animal hosts, plants, and rumen gut bacteria. The concordance of independently estimated divergence times of Neocallimastigomycota fungi, grasses, and ruminate lineages suggest AGF were important in shaping the success of modern ruminants and enabling their efficient acquisition of energy from recalcitrant plant material.