Exploring Fungi-Associated Lignocellulose Degradation: Secretomic and Proteomic Approaches

Filamentous fungi of phyla Basidiomycota and Ascomycota are the group of microorganisms that are capable of secreting a variety of proteins and other secondary metabolites depending on the environment and culture conditions. The protein constitutes the hydrolytic enzymes which cause the deconstruction of the plant cell wall and has applicability in several biotechnological processes including second-generation ethanol production. Secretomic and proteomic analysis of the fungi is an excellent tool to find out the biological mechanisms of lignocellulose degradation. Furthermore, it is also an important tool to search for novel enzymes or metabolites of the biotechnology field. Extracellular secretion of the protein from different fungal species has been studied using different high-throughput techniques such as 2-D PAGE, MALDI-ToF/ToF, LC-MS/MS, iTRAQ technique using LC-MS/MS, and Nano-LC-MS/MS protein mass spectrometry. Bioinformatics tools have equal importance in the prediction and profiling of the expressed proteins, according to the current database. For this reason, publications documenting the fungal secretome and proteome have increased significantly in the past few years. Herein, we have updated the development and evolution of the proteome/secretome technology and its application in the protein profiling and functional genomics of the economically important filamentous fungi.