{"title":"<i>Hortaea werneckii</i> isolates exhibit different pathogenic potential in the invertebrate infection model <i>Galleria mellonella</i>.","authors":"Stephanie Anthonies, José M Vargas-Muñiz","doi":"10.3389/ffunb.2022.941691","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/ffunb.2022.941691","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p><i>Hortaea werneckii</i> is a black yeast with a remarkable tolerance to salt. Most studies have been dedicated to understanding how <i>H. werneckii</i> adapts to hypersaline environments. <i>H. werneckii</i> has an unconventional cell cycle in which it alternates between fission and budding, which is modulated by cell density. Additionally, <i>H. werneckii</i> can cause superficial mycosis of the palm and sole of humans. Here, we determine the impact of salt concentration on the EXF-2000 strain's cell division pattern and morphology by performing timelapse microscopy at different salt concentrations. At low density and no salt, EXF-2000 primarily grows as pseudohyphae dividing mainly by septation. When grown in the presence of salt at a similar concentration to saltwater or hypersaline environments, we observe it grows first by undergoing fission followed by budding at the poles. Then, we examined a collection of 16 isolates in the presence of 0.6M NaCl, including isolates from marine and hypersaline environments and isolates from patients. These isolates exhibit a wide diversity in colony shape and cellular morphology. The isolates grew as yeast, pseudohyphae, and true hyphae, indicating that isolates can exhibit various cell morphologies under similar environmental conditions. We used the insect larvae <i>Galleria mellonella</i> to determine the pathogenic potential of our isolates. We observe that only a subset of isolates can cause death in our model, and there was no correlation between <i>H. werneckii</i> morphology and capacity to cause disease. Taken together, <i>H. werneckii</i> genomic and phenotypic diversity can serve as a model to better understand how phenotypes and pathogenic potential evolve in environmental fungi.</p>","PeriodicalId":73084,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in fungal biology","volume":"3 ","pages":"941691"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10512279/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41142036","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Duration of the susceptibility of pruning wounds of different ages to infections by <i>Phaeomoniella chlamydospora</i> on grapevine cv. Cabernet Sauvignon in Central Chile.","authors":"Gonzalo A Díaz, Bernardo A Latorre","doi":"10.3389/ffunb.2022.1026516","DOIUrl":"10.3389/ffunb.2022.1026516","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Grapevine trunk diseases (GTDs) are one of the most important phytosanitary problems that affect grapevines (<i>Vitis vinifera</i>) worldwide. In Chile, <i>Phaeomoniella chlamydospora</i> is the major fungal trunk pathogen associated with GTDs. In the vineyards, the natural infections by <i>P. chlamydospora</i> are associated with air-borne conidia dispersed onto fresh pruning wounds from pycnidia. These pruning wounds are considered an important entrance for fungal trunk pathogens such as <i>P. chlamydospora</i> in the host in the field. However, the duration of the susceptibility of grapevine annual pruning wounds to <i>P. chlamydospora</i> is still unknown in Chile. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the period of susceptibility of pruning wounds of different ages to artificial infection of <i>P. chlamydospora</i> on grapevine cv. Cabernet Sauvignon, Central Chile. Artificial inoculations of a conidial suspension (10<sup>5</sup> conidia/mL) of <i>P. chlamydospora</i> were used to determine the susceptibility of pruning wounds of different ages, from 1, 15, 30, and 45 days after pruning. The experiments were conducted on lignified cuttings in a greenhouse, and on vine spurs in two vineyards (Buin and Nancagua, Central Chile) during two consecutive seasons. The results indicated that the pruning wounds of grapevine cv. Cabernet Sauvignon were very susceptible to infections by <i>P. chlamydospora</i>, with a percentage of pruning wounds infected from 97 to 71% for cuttings, and 96% to 60% for spurs, during the first 15 days after pruning. However, the susceptibility of pruning wounds of different ages in cuttings and spurs of grapevine, generally decreased as the time from pruning to inoculation increased. Moreover, the pruning wounds the pruning wounds remained susceptible to artificial inoculation by <i>P. chlamydospora</i> for up 45 days after pruning with percent of wounds infected from 8.0 to 12.2, and 8.3 to 18.8% on cuttings and spurs of grapevine, respectively. Finally, this study constitutes study constitutes the first research focalized on the susceptibility of pruning wounds of various ages of grapevine cv. Cabernet Sauvignon to artificial inoculations by <i>P. chlamydospora</i> in Central Chile.</p>","PeriodicalId":73084,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in fungal biology","volume":"3 ","pages":"1026516"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10512291/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41157253","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ognenka Avramovska, Amanda C Smith, Emily Rego, Meleah A Hickman
{"title":"Tetraploidy accelerates adaptation under drug selection in a fungal pathogen.","authors":"Ognenka Avramovska, Amanda C Smith, Emily Rego, Meleah A Hickman","doi":"10.3389/ffunb.2022.984377","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/ffunb.2022.984377","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Baseline ploidy significantly impacts evolutionary trajectories and, specifically, tetraploidy is associated with higher rates of adaptation relative to haploidy and diploidy. While the majority of experimental evolution studies investigating ploidy use the budding yeast <i>Saccharomyces cerivisiae</i>, the fungal pathogen <i>Candida albicans</i> is a powerful system to investigate ploidy dynamics, particularly in the context of acquiring antifungal drug resistance. <i>C. albicans</i> laboratory and clinical strains are predominantly diploid, but have been isolated as haploid and polyploid. Here, we evolved diploid and tetraploid <i>C. albicans</i> for ~60 days in the antifungal drug caspofungin. Tetraploid-evolved lines adapted faster than diploid-evolved lines and reached higher levels of caspofungin resistance. While diploid-evolved lines generally maintained their initial genome size, tetraploid-evolved lines rapidly underwent genome-size reductions and did so prior to caspofungin adaptation. While clinical resistance was largely due to mutations in <i>FKS1</i>, these mutations were caused by substitutions in diploid, and indels in tetraploid isolates. Furthermore, fitness costs in the absence of drug selection were significantly less in tetraploid-evolved lines compared to the diploid-evolved lines. Taken together, this work supports a model of adaptation in which the tetraploid state is transient but its ability to rapidly transition ploidy states improves adaptive outcomes and may drive drug resistance in fungal pathogens.</p>","PeriodicalId":73084,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in fungal biology","volume":"3 ","pages":"984377"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10512305/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41175204","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mark Arentshorst, Jos Reijngoud, Daan J C van Tol, Ian D Reid, Yvonne Arendsen, Herman J Pel, Noël N M E van Peij, Jaap Visser, Peter J Punt, Adrian Tsang, Arthur F J Ram
{"title":"Utilization of ferulic acid in <i>Aspergillus niger</i> requires the transcription factor FarA and a newly identified Far-like protein (FarD) that lacks the canonical Zn(II)<sub>2</sub>Cys<sub>6</sub> domain.","authors":"Mark Arentshorst, Jos Reijngoud, Daan J C van Tol, Ian D Reid, Yvonne Arendsen, Herman J Pel, Noël N M E van Peij, Jaap Visser, Peter J Punt, Adrian Tsang, Arthur F J Ram","doi":"10.3389/ffunb.2022.978845","DOIUrl":"10.3389/ffunb.2022.978845","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The feruloyl esterase B gene (<i>faeB</i>) is specifically induced by hydroxycinnamic acids (e.g. ferulic acid, caffeic acid and coumaric acid) but the transcriptional regulation network involved in <i>faeB</i> induction and ferulic acid metabolism has only been partially addressed. To identify transcription factors involved in ferulic acid metabolism we constructed and screened a transcription factor knockout library of 239 <i>Aspergillus niger</i> strains for mutants unable to utilize ferulic acid as a carbon source. The <i>ΔfarA</i> transcription factor mutant, already known to be involved in fatty acid metabolism, could not utilize ferulic acid and other hydroxycinnamic acids. In addition to screening the transcription factor mutant collection, a forward genetic screen was performed to isolate mutants unable to express <i>faeB.</i> For this screen a <i>PfaeB-amdS</i> and <i>PfaeB-lux<sub>613</sub></i> dual reporter strain was engineered. The rationale of the screen is that in this reporter strain ferulic acid induces <i>amdS</i> (acetamidase) expression <i>via</i> the <i>faeB</i> promoter resulting in lethality on fluoro-acetamide. Conidia of this reporter strain were UV-mutagenized and plated on fluoro-acetamide medium in the presence of ferulic acid. Mutants unable to induce <i>faeB</i> are expected to be fluoro-acetamide resistant and can be positively selected for. Using this screen, six fluoro-acetamide resistant mutants were obtained and phenotypically characterized. Three mutants had a phenotype identical to the <i>farA</i> mutant and sequencing the <i>farA</i> gene in these mutants indeed showed mutations in FarA which resulted in inability to growth on ferulic acid as well as on short and long chain fatty acids. The growth phenotype of the other three mutants was similar to the <i>farA</i> mutants in terms of the inability to grow on ferulic acid, but these mutants grew normally on short and long chain fatty acids. The genomes of these three mutants were sequenced and allelic mutations in one particular gene (NRRL3_09145) were found. The protein encoded by NRRL3_09145 shows similarity to the FarA and FarB transcription factors. However, whereas FarA and FarB contain both the Zn(II)<sub>2</sub>Cys<sub>6</sub> domain and a fungal-specific transcription factor domain, the protein encoded by NRRL3_09145 (FarD) lacks the canonical Zn(II)<sub>2</sub>Cys<sub>6</sub> domain and possesses only the fungal specific transcription factor domain.</p>","PeriodicalId":73084,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in fungal biology","volume":"3 ","pages":"978845"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2022-11-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10512302/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41169025","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Matthew D Lebar, Brian M Mack, Carol H Carter-Wientjes, Qijian Wei, Christopher P Mattison, Jeffrey W Cary
{"title":"Small NRPS-like enzymes in <i>Aspergillus</i> sections <i>Flavi</i> and <i>Circumdati</i> selectively form substituted pyrazinone metabolites.","authors":"Matthew D Lebar, Brian M Mack, Carol H Carter-Wientjes, Qijian Wei, Christopher P Mattison, Jeffrey W Cary","doi":"10.3389/ffunb.2022.1029195","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/ffunb.2022.1029195","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p><i>Aspergillus</i> fungi produce mycotoxins that are detrimental to human and animal health. Two sections of aspergilli are of particular importance to cereal food crops such as corn and barley. <i>Aspergillus</i> section <i>Flavi</i> species like <i>A. flavus</i> and <i>A. parasiticus</i> produce aflatoxins, while section <i>Circumdati</i> species like <i>A. ochraceus</i> and <i>A. sclerotiorum</i> produce ochratoxin A. Mitigating these toxins in food and feed is a critical and ongoing worldwide effort. We have previously investigated biosynthetic gene clusters in <i>Aspergillus flavus</i> that are linked to fungal virulence in corn. We found that one such cluster, <i>asa</i>, is responsible for the production of aspergillic acid, an iron-binding, hydroxamic acid-containing pyrazinone metabolite. Furthermore, we found that the <i>asa</i> gene cluster is present in many other aflatoxin- and ochratoxin-producing aspergilli. The core gene in the <i>asa</i> cluster encodes the small nonribosomal peptide synthetase-like (NRPS-like) protein AsaC. We have swapped the <i>asaC</i> ortholog from <i>A. sclerotiorum</i> into <i>A. flavus</i>, replacing its native copy, and have also cloned both <i>asaC</i> orthologs into <i>Saccharomyces cerevisiae</i>. We show that AsaC orthologs in section <i>Flavi</i> and section <i>Circumdati</i>, while only containing adenylation-thiolation-reductase (ATR) domains, can selectively biosynthesize distinct pyrazinone natural products: deoxyaspergillic acid and flavacol, respectively. Because pyrazinone natural products and the gene clusters responsible for their production are implicated in a variety of important microbe-host interactions, uncovering the function and selectivity of the enzymes involved could lead to strategies that ultimately benefit human health.</p>","PeriodicalId":73084,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in fungal biology","volume":"3 ","pages":"1029195"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10512218/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41159171","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Margarita Juárez-Montiel, Daniel Clark-Flores, Pedro Tesillo-Moreno, Esaú de la Vega-Camarillo, Dulce Andrade-Pavón, Juan Alfredo Hernández-García, César Hernández-Rodríguez, Lourdes Villa-Tanaca
{"title":"Vacuolar proteases and autophagy in phytopathogenic fungi: A review.","authors":"Margarita Juárez-Montiel, Daniel Clark-Flores, Pedro Tesillo-Moreno, Esaú de la Vega-Camarillo, Dulce Andrade-Pavón, Juan Alfredo Hernández-García, César Hernández-Rodríguez, Lourdes Villa-Tanaca","doi":"10.3389/ffunb.2022.948477","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/ffunb.2022.948477","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Autophagy (macroautophagy) is a survival and virulence mechanism of different eukaryotic pathogens. Autophagosomes sequester cytosolic material and organelles, then fuse with or enter into the vacuole or lysosome (the lytic compartment of most fungal/plant cells and many animal cells, respectively). Subsequent degradation of cargoes delivered to the vacuole <i>via</i> autophagy and endocytosis maintains cellular homeostasis and survival in conditions of stress, cellular differentiation, and development. PrA and PrB are vacuolar aspartyl and serine endoproteases, respectively, that participate in the autophagy of fungi and contribute to the pathogenicity of phytopathogens. Whereas the levels of vacuolar proteases are regulated by the expression of the genes encoding them (e.g., <i>PEP4</i> for PrA and <i>PRB1</i> for PrB), their activity is governed by endogenous inhibitors. The aim of the current contribution is to review the main characteristics, regulation, and role of vacuolar soluble endoproteases and Atg proteins in the process of autophagy and the pathogenesis of three fungal phytopathogens: <i>Ustilago maydis</i>, <i>Magnaporthe oryzae</i>, and <i>Alternaria alternata</i>. Aspartyl and serine proteases are known to participate in autophagy in these fungi by degrading autophagic bodies. However, the gene responsible for encoding the vacuolar serine protease of <i>U. maydis</i> has yet to be identified. Based on <i>in silico</i> analysis, this <i>U. maydis</i> gene is proposed to be orthologous to the <i>Saccharomyces cerevisiae</i> genes <i>PRB1</i> and <i>PBI2</i>, known to encode the principal protease involved in the degradation of autophagic bodies and its inhibitor, respectively. In fungi that interact with plants, whether phytopathogenic or mycorrhizal, autophagy is a conserved cellular degradation process regulated through the TOR, PKA, and SNF1 pathways by ATG proteins and vacuolar proteases. Autophagy plays a preponderant role in the recycling of cell components as well as in the fungus-plant interaction.</p>","PeriodicalId":73084,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in fungal biology","volume":"3 ","pages":"948477"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10512327/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41175947","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Gabriel A Vignolle, Robert L Mach, Astrid R Mach-Aigner, Christian Zimmermann
{"title":"FunOrder 2.0 - a method for the fully automated curation of co-evolved genes in fungal biosynthetic gene clusters.","authors":"Gabriel A Vignolle, Robert L Mach, Astrid R Mach-Aigner, Christian Zimmermann","doi":"10.3389/ffunb.2022.1020623","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/ffunb.2022.1020623","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Coevolution is an important biological process that shapes interacting proteins - may it be physically interacting proteins or consecutive enzymes in a metabolic pathway, such as the biosynthetic pathways for secondary metabolites. Previously, we developed FunOrder, a semi-automated method for the detection of co-evolved genes, and demonstrated that FunOrder can be used to identify essential genes in biosynthetic gene clusters from different ascomycetes. A major drawback of this original method was the need for a manual assessment, which may create a user bias and prevents a high-throughput application. Here we present a fully automated version of this method termed FunOrder 2.0. In the improved version, we use several mathematical indices to determine the optimal number of clusters in the FunOrder output, and a subsequent k-means clustering based on the first three principal components of a principal component analysis of the FunOrder output to automatically detect co-evolved genes. Further, we replaced the BLAST tool with the DIAMOND tool as a prerequisite for using larger proteome databases. Potentially, FunOrder 2.0 may be used for the assessment of complete genomes, which has not been attempted yet. However, the introduced changes slightly decreased the sensitivity of this method, which is outweighed by enhanced overall speed and specificity.</p>","PeriodicalId":73084,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in fungal biology","volume":"3 ","pages":"1020623"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10512238/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41142037","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Fluconazole-resistant <i>Candida parapsilosis</i>: A new emerging threat in the fungi arena.","authors":"Pilar Escribano, Jesús Guinea","doi":"10.3389/ffunb.2022.1010782","DOIUrl":"10.3389/ffunb.2022.1010782","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p><i>Candida parapsilosis</i> is a leading cause of invasive candidiasis in southern Europe, Latin America and Asia. <i>C. parapsilosis</i> has been mostly considered susceptible to triazoles, but fluconazole resistance is on the rise in some countries. The main mechanism related to fluconazole resistance is the presence of ERG11p substitutions, dominated by the Y132F amino acid substitution. Isolates harbouring this substitution mimic <i>C. auris</i> given that they may cause hospital outbreaks, become endemic, and emerge simultaneously in distant areas around the world. At the moment, Spain is experiencing a brusque emergence of fluconazole resistance in <i>C. parapsilosis</i>; isolates harbouring the Y132F substitution were detected for the first time in 2019. A recent study on <i>Candida</i> spp isolates from blood cultures collected in 16 hospitals located in the Madrid metropolitan area (2019 to 2021) reported that fluconazole resistance in <i>C. parapsilosis</i> reached as high as 13.6%. Resistance rates rose significantly during those three years: 3.8% in 2019, 5.7% in 2020, and 29.1% in 2021; resistant isolates harboured either the dominant Y132F substitution (a single clone found in four hospitals) or G458S (another clone found in a fifth hospital). The COVID-19 pandemic may have increased the number of candidaemia cases. The reason for such an increase might be a consequence of uncontrolled intra-hospital patient-to-patient transmission in some hospitals, as an increase not only in <i>C. parapsilosis</i> candidaemia episodes but also in the spread of clonal fluconazole-resistant isolates might have occurred in other hospitals during the pandemic period. Patients affected with fluconazole-resistant <i>C. parapsilosis</i> harbouring the Y132F substitution presented a mortality rate ranging from 9% to 78%, were mainly admitted to intensive care wards but did not have differential risk factors compared to those infected by susceptible isolates. With scarce exceptions, few patients (≤20%) infected with fluconazole-resistant isolates had previously received fluconazole, thus supporting the fact that, although fluconazole might have been a key factor to promote resistance, the main driver promoting the spread of fluconazole-resistant isolates was patient-to-patient transmission.</p>","PeriodicalId":73084,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in fungal biology","volume":"3 ","pages":"1010782"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10512360/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41166982","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Raquel Lopez-Nuñez, Marta Suarez-Fernandez, Federico Lopez-Moya, Luis Vicente Lopez-Llorca
{"title":"Chitosan and nematophagous fungi for sustainable management of nematode pests.","authors":"Raquel Lopez-Nuñez, Marta Suarez-Fernandez, Federico Lopez-Moya, Luis Vicente Lopez-Llorca","doi":"10.3389/ffunb.2022.980341","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/ffunb.2022.980341","url":null,"abstract":"Plants are exposed to large number of threats caused by herbivores and pathogens which cause important losses on crops. Plant pathogens such as nematodes can cause severe damage and losses in food security crops worldwide. Chemical pesticides were extendedly used for nematode management. However, due to their adverse effects on human health and the environment, they are now facing strong limitations by regulatory organisations such as EFSA (European Food Safety Authority). Therefore, there is an urgent need for alternative and efficient control measures, such as biological control agents or bio-based plant protection compounds. In this scenario, chitosan, a non-toxic polymer obtained from seafood waste mainly, is becoming increasingly important. Chitosan is the N-deacetylated form of chitin. Chitosan is effective in the control of plant pests and diseases. It also induces plants defence mechanisms. Chitosan is also compatible with some biocontrol microorganisms mainly entomopathogenic and nematophagous fungi. Some of them are antagonists of nematode pests of plants and animals. The nematophagous biocontrol fungus Pochonia chlamydosporia has been widely studied for sustainable management of nematodes affecting economically important crops and for its capability to grow with chitosan as only nutrient source. This fungus infects nematode eggs using hyphal tips and appressoria. Pochonia chlamydosporia also colonizes plant roots endophytically, stimulating plant defences by induction of salicylic and jasmonic acid biosynthesis and favours plant growth and development. Therefore, the combined use of chitosan and nematophagous fungi could be a novel strategy for the biological control of nematodes and other root pathogens of food security crops.","PeriodicalId":73084,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in fungal biology","volume":"3 ","pages":"980341"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10512356/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41164598","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}