Comparative Genomics and Evolutionary Analysis of Cytochrome P450 Monooxygenases in Fungal Subphylum Saccharomycotina

Abstract

Cytochrome P450 monooxygenases (P450s) are heme-thiolate enzymes and play an important role in the primary and secondary metabolism of living organisms. Genome sequencing analysis of fungal organisms revealed the presence of numerous P450s in their genomes, with few exceptions. P450s in the fungal subphylum Saccharomycotina, which contains biotechnologically important and opportunistic human pathogen yeasts, have been underexplored because there are few P450s in their genomes. In the present study we performed comparative analysis of P450s in 25 yeast species. A hundred and seventy-two P450s were found in 25 yeast species and these are grouped into 13 P450 families and 27 subfamilies. P450s ranged from a minimum of three (Saccharomyces species) to a maximum of 21 (Candida species) in the yeast genomes. Among the P450 families, the CYP52 family showed the highest number of member P450s (71) followed by CYP51 (27), CYP61 (25), CYP56 (20) and CYP501 (11). Pichia pastoris and Dekkera bruxellensis showed a novel P450 family, CYP5489, in their genome. Based on the functional properties of characterized P450s, we conclude that P450s in Saccharomycotina species possibly play a role in organisms’ physiology either in the synthesis of cellular components or in the utilization of simpler organic molecules. The ecological niches of yeast species are highly enriched with simpler organic nutrients and it is well known that yeast species utilize simpler organic nutrients as carbon source efficiently. This might have played a role in compacting yeast genomes and possibly losing a considerable number of P450s during evolution.