Elucidation of genetic mechanisms involved in the hydrolysis of plant biomass through functional genomics

Abstract

The genus Trichoderma is of great biotechnological importance due to the capacity that the fungi of this group present in the degradation of cellulosic substrates and the generation of free sugars, which in turn can be exploited for the production of biofuel, with special attention to bioethanol. In this context, the main objective of this project is to carry out a systematic study focusing on the functional genome of different species belonging to the genus Trichoderma, including: T. harzianum IOC-3844, T. harzianum CBMAI-0179, T. reesei CBMAI-0711 and T. atroviride CBMAI-0020, aiming to establish the genetic bases related to the efficacy of carbohydrate metabolism. For this, structural genomic data generated through the construction of BAC libraries specific to each lineage will be correlated with RNA-Seq data of fungi grown under conditions of biomass degradation in order to analyze the level of expression / regulation of the target genes . With the results of gene expression, gene co-regulatory networks will be constructed, since these evidence the regulatory relations between the different genes. Once these networks are obtained, the search for target genes will be performed in order to identify candidate genes for action of transcription factors related to carbohydrate catabolism pathways, in order to search for common mechanisms / genes shared among the species. In addition, it is intended to biochemically characterize these gene-targets with studies of protein hieroglyph expression. Thus, the present study proposes to add new information regarding the genetic mechanism related to the biomass degradation process in Trichoderma spp., Allowing the identification of key genes for the development / improvement of enzymatic cocktails for the production of bioethanol. (AU)