The recent release of several fungal genome sequences allows the report of an overview of fungal glutathione transferases (GSTs) focused on their function in the wood-degrading basidiomycete Phanerochaete chrysosporium. A genomic and phylogenetic analysis of GST classes in various sequenced fungi –zygomycetes, ascomycetes and basidiomycetes- revealed some specificity in GSTs distribution, in comparison with previous analysis on ascomycetes. In addition to the classical identified families, this analysis highlighted new GSTs classes of Omega- and Etherase-types. Some of these new GST-types have been produced and purified as recombinant proteins in Escherichia coli and their enzymatic activities have been determined using various substrates. In addition, the expression of their corresponding genes was analyzed in P. chrysosporium grown in conditions of oxidative stress and on wood. Of interest, a member of the etherase family displays a high peroxidase activity against cumene peroxides. Furthermore, while the different genes coding for etherases are highly expressed in P. chrysosporium in liquid cultures, one is strongly induced when the fungus was grown on wood compared to malt agar medium. From these results, it appears that some of these encoding-GSTs genes could be potentially used as functional markers.

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