Oxalate Efflux Transporter from the Brown Rot Fungus Fomitopsis palustris.

An oxalate-fermenting brown rot fungus, Fomilopsis palustris, secretes large amounts of oxalic acid during wood decay. Secretion of oxalic acid is indispensable for the degradation of wood cell walls, but almost nothing is known about the transport mechanism by which oxalic acid is secreted from F. palustris hyphal cells. We characterized the mechanism for oxalate transport using membrane vesicles off", palustris. Oxalate transport in F. palustris was ATP dependent and was strongly inhibited by several inhibitors, such as valinomycin and NH4+, suggesting the presence of a secondary oxalate transporter in this fungus. We then isolated a cDNA, FpOAR (Fomitopsis palustris oxalic acid resistance), from F. palustris by functional screening of yeast transformants with cDNAs grown on oxalic acid-containing plates. FpOAK is predicted to be a membrane protein that possesses six transmembrane domains but shows no similarity with known oxalate transporters. The yeast transformant possessing FpOAR (fpO/lif-transformant) acquired resistance to oxalic acid and contained less oxalate than the control transformant. Biochemical analyses using membrane vesicles of the FpOAR-trans-formant showed that the oxalate transport property of FpOAR was consistent with that observed in membrane vesicles off. palustris. The quantity of FpOAR transcripts was correlated with increasing oxalic acid accumulation in the culture medium and was induced when exogenous oxalate was added to the medium. These results strongly suggest that FpOAR plays an important role in wood decay by acting as a secondary transporter responsible for secretion of oxalate by F. palustris. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]