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Abstract Anaerobic fungi reside in the gut of herbivore and synergize with associated methanogenic archaea to decompose ingested plant biomass. Despite their potential for use in bioconversion industry, only a few natural fungus–methanogen co-cultures have been isolated and characterized. In this study we identified three co-cultures of Piromyces with Methanobrevibacter ruminantium from the rumen of yaks grazing on the Qinghai Tibetan Plateau. The representative co-culture, namely (Piromyces + M. ruminantium) Yak-G18, showed remarkable polysaccharide hydrolase production, especially xylanase. Consequently, it was able to degrade various lignocellulose substrates with a biodegrading capability superior to most previously identified fungus or fungus–methanogen co-culture isolates. End-product profiling analysis validated the beneficial metabolic impact of associated methanogen on fungus as revealed by high-yield production of methane and acetate and sustained growth on lignocellulose. Together, our data demonstrated a great potential of (Piromyces + M. ruminantium) Yak-G18 co-culture for use in industrial bioconversion of lignocellulosic biomass.

Cordycepin (3′-deoxyadenosine), a cytotoxic nucleoside analogue found in Cordyceps militaris, has attracted much attention due to its therapeutic potential and biological value. Cordycepin interacts with multiple medicinal targets associated with cancer, tumor, inflammation, oxidant, polyadenylation of mRNA, etc. The investigation of the medicinal drug actions supports the discovery of novel targets and the development of new drugs to enhance the therapeutic potency and reduce toxicity. Cordycepin may be of great value owing to its medicinal potential as an external drug, such as in cosmeceutical, traumatic, antalgic and muscle strain applications. In addition, the biological application of cordycepin, for example, as a ligand, has been used to uncover molecular structures. Notably, studies that investigated the metabolic mechanisms of cordycepin-producing fungi have yielded significant information related to the biosynthesis of high levels of cordycepin. Here, we summarized the medicinal targets, biological applications, cytotoxicity, delivery carriers, stability, and pros/cons of cordycepin in clinical applications, as well as described the metabolic mechanisms of cordycepin in cordycepin-producing fungi. We posit that new approaches, including single-cell analysis, have the potential to enhance medicinal potency and unravel all facets of metabolic mechanisms of cordycepin in Cordyceps militaris.

The emission of nitric oxide (NO) to the atmosphere is a major environmental problem. To abate NO emission from the industrial flue gas, a rotating drum biofilter (RDB) was developed for the denitrifying removal of NO. After the start-up period, the RDB could effectively remove NO from the waste gas and the denitrifying removal efficiency could reach 85%. After the addition of CuII(EDTA) to the nutrients, the removal efficiency could increase to 99.1%. To improve the understanding of the relationship between the composition of bacterial population and the performance of the RDB, a denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) of polymerase chain reaction-amplified genes coding for 16S rRNA was used to analyze and determine the changes in bacterial communities in the RDB. Results showed that there was a slight change in microbial diversity after the addition of CuII(EDTA) to the nutrient solution, which led to an increase in NO removal efficiency. Eight major bands of 16S rRNA gene fragments obtained from the DGGE gels of biofilm samples were further purified, reamplified, cloned, and sequenced. Phylogenetic analysis identified sixteen types of micro-organisms in the RDB. Sequences of these fragments were compared with those listed in the database of the GeneBank (National Center for Biotechnology Information). Gene analysis of 16S rRNA showed that the major populations were Clostridium sp., β-proteobacterium, γ-proteobacterium, and Cytophaga-Flexibacteria-Bacteroides (CFB) groups. In addition, it was concluded that denitrification was caused by the organism with DNA represented by bands labelled G-5, G-6, and G-8. G-5 was related to a γ-proteobacterium, whereas those labeled G-6 and G-8 were related to a β-proteobacterium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]