DAPI staining showing monocentric type of the strain. Image by Yanfen Cheng.

The morphology of F1 showing the sporangium and rhizoids. Image by Yanfen Cheng.

The genome sequence and gene models provided here were not determined by the Joint Genome Institute (JGI), but were provided by Yanfen Cheng (Li et al., 2019) on April 19, 2021. In order to allow comparative analyses with other fungal genomes sequenced by the JGI, a copy of this genome is incorporated into Mycocosm.

Pecoramyces sp. F1 is an anaerobic fungal strain belonging to the class Neocallimastigomycetes, which is famous for its high fiber-degrading ability and its key role in the decomposition of lignocellulosic materials in the rumen. More and more attention has been paid to anaerobic fungi due to their potential for degradation of lignocellulosic materials and biofuel production (Li et al., 2021).

Pecoramyces sp. F1 was isolated from the rumen of a local goat in Nanjing, China. It is a monocentric fungus with spherical or oval sporangia. It was originally identified as Piromyces sp. F1 according to its morphology (Jin et al., 2011) and was renamed as Pecoramyces sp. F1 according to its ITS and 28S sequences (Li et al., 2019). It was isolated as a co-culture with a methanogen bacterium, Methanobrevibacter thauer. However, it can grow well when M. thauer is inhibited. Thus, it is a very good model for further study on microbial interactions in the rumen. Genomic, transcriptomic and proteomic analysis of this strain will help us to answer the question of why anaerobic fungi have such a high fiber-degrading ability (the ecological function of anaerobic fungi in the rumen). It will also help us to further investigate the microbial interaction between anaerobic fungi (H2-producing microbes) and methanogens (H2-utilizing microbes) in the rumen (H2/H+ transfer in the rumen).

References:
Li Y, Meng Z, Xu Y, Shi Q, Ma Y, Aung M, Cheng Y, Zhu W. Interactions between anaerobic fungi and methanogens in the rumen and their biotechnological potential in biogas production from lignocellulosic materials. Microorganisms, 2021, 9: 190.
Jin W, Cheng Y, Mao S, Zhu W. Isolation of natural cultures of anaerobic fungi and indigenously associated methanogens from herbivores and their bioconversion of lignocellulosic materials to methane. Bioresource Technology. 2011, 102(17): 7925-7931.