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Litter-inhabiting fungi show high level of specialization towards biopolymers composing plant and fungal biomass

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Abstract

Fungi are recognized as efficient decomposers of biopolymers contained in soil or litter, but not all saprotrophic taxa are equally efficient in accessing various C sources. While many fungi may be considered generalists that are able to utilize complex biomass of plant, bacterial, and fungal origin, it is less clear which of the individual biopolymers that compose these substrates they utilize. Here we analysed fungal communities in forest topsoil enriched in bags with polymers composing plant (cellulose, xylan, glucomannan, pectin, lignin) and fungal (chitin, β-1,3-glucan, and β-1,3-1,6-glucan) biomass along with fungal abundance and the activity of enzymes. There was a high degree of specialization among saprotrophs, each biopolymer being preferred by distinct taxa. White-rot fungi and general saprotrophs were most common on cellulose and xylan, while pectin and lignin-associated communities were dominated by moulds, and animal pathogens were found almost exclusively on chitin. Although several enzymes were produced on all biopolymers, the composition of enzyme pools was significantly different among substrates and different from litter. Activity of endocellulase, β-galactosidase, β-mannosidase, and β-glucosidase significantly correlated with the fungal to bacterial biomass ratio indicating the important role of fungi in their production. The results indicate the high level of specialization among litter-inhabiting fungi and differences in the substrate preference across nutritional guilds of saprotrophic fungi. While most of the litter-inhabiting fungi utilize plant biopolymers, fungal biopolymers are also frequently targeted.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge Martina Karásková and Tereza Vlková for their help with the DNA extraction and the enzymatic activities.

Funding

This work was supported by the Czech Science Foundation (18-26221Y) and by the project “BIOCEV—Biotechnology and Biomedicine Centre of the Academy of Sciences and Charles University” CZ.1.05/1.1.00/02.0109 provided by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic and ERDF.

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Correspondence to Rubén López-Mondéjar.

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Supplementary Figure S1

Person’s correlations measuring the strength of relationship between 18S copy abundance or F/B ratio and the enzymatic activities. Only values of P < 0.05 were considered statistically significant and coloured. The activity of cellobiohydrolase, β-galactosidase, β-mannosidase and β-glucosidase were significantly correlated with the F/B ratio. No correlation was found between bacterial abundance and enzymatic activities. (PDF 111 kb)

Supplementary Table S1

Activity of enzymes in the mesh bags containing different substrates. Activities expressed in mU per gram of dry mass (n = 16). The data represent means and standard errors (n = 16). Activities in bold were significantly different among the substrates. Statistically significant differences among enzyme activities across substrates are indicated by different letters. (DOCX 16 kb)

Supplementary Table S2

List of the OTUs assigned to nutritional guilds. Only OTUs showing maximal relative abundance in a meshbag with the respective substrate higher than 2%, or, presenting higher relative abundance in at least five meshbags than its maximal relative abundance in litter controls are included. (XLSX 156 kb)

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Algora Gallardo, C., Baldrian, P. & López-Mondéjar, R. Litter-inhabiting fungi show high level of specialization towards biopolymers composing plant and fungal biomass. Biol Fertil Soils 57, 77–88 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-020-01507-3

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