Proteomic analysis of the knob-producing nematode-trapping fungus Monacrosporium lysipagum

The soil-inhabiting, nematode-trapping fungus, Monacrosporium lysipagum, captures mobile stages of nematodes using specialized morphological structures, sticky knobs, that arise from mycelia. A study was conducted to separate the proteome of M. lysipagum mycelia containing knobs on two-dimensional (2D) gels resulting in a partial map of the proteome. The fungus was grown in a liquid soy peptone medium supplemented with the amino acids phenylalanine and valine to produce mycelia with knobs. Proteins extracted from the mycelia were separated by 2D gel electrophoresis and relatively high abundant proteins were identified by peptide mass fingerprinting (PMF). Out of the 250 proteins analysed by PMF, 51 (20 %) were identified by cross-species matching due to unavailability of genomic information from M. lysipagum. This is the first published report on a proteomic analysis of a nematode-trapping fungus.