Expansion of maltose/sucrose related transporters in Ascomycetes and their association with corresponding disaccharide utilization

Sugar transporters (STs) play a crucial role in mediating sugar uptake in fungi and have been increasingly studied due to their important biological roles and industrial potential. In this study, we performed a comprehensive phylogenetic analysis of STs across the fungal kingdom, including species from Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, Mucoromycota and Zoopagomycota. The results revealed a striking diversity of STs among these fungal phyla with respect to their genomic content and predicted sugar specificity. Particularly, we identified a remarkable expansion of maltose/sucrose STs and a strong co-expansion of intracellular α-1,4-glucosidases and invertases in Ascomycota compared to other fungal phyla. In addition, growth profiles support that the utilization of maltose and sucrose across a diverse set of fungi is roughly determined by the presence of both corresponding STs and functionally related hydrolases. This study enhances our understanding of evolutional diversity of fungal STs and provides new insights into metabolic engineering of fungi towards more efficient conversion of plant-derived sugars for relevant industrial applications.