Evolution of Fungal Carbohydrate-Active Enzyme Portfolios and Adaptation to Plant Cell-Wall Polymers

The postindustrial era is currently facing two ecological challenges. First, the rise in global temperature, mostly caused by the accumulation of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere, and second, the inability of the environment to absorb the waste of human activities. Fungi are valuable levers for both a reduction in CO2 emissions, and the improvement of a circular economy with the optimized valorization of plant waste and biomass. Soil fungi may promote plant growth and thereby increase CO2 assimilation via photosynthesis or, conversely, they may prompt the decomposition of dead organic matter, and thereby contribute to CO2 emissions. The strategies that fungi use to cope with plant-cell-wall polymers and access the saccharides that they use as a carbon source largely rely on the secretion of carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes). In the past few years, comparative genomics and phylogenomics coupled with the functional characterization of CAZymes significantly improved the understanding of their evolution in fungal genomes, providing a framework for the design of nature-inspired enzymatic catalysts. Here, we provide an overview of the diversity of CAZyme enzymatic systems employed by fungi that exhibit different substrate preferences, different ecologies, or belong to different taxonomical groups for lignocellulose degradation.