Mechanisms of cytokinesis in basidiomycetous yeasts
Publication date: Available online 12 January 2017 Source:Fungal Biology Reviews Author(s): Sophie Altamirano, Srikripa Chandrasekaran, Lukasz Kozubowski While mechanisms of cytokinesis exhibit considerable plasticity, it is difficult to precisely define the level of conservation of this essential part of cell division in fungi, as majority of our knowledge is based on ascomycetous yeasts. However, in the last decade more details have been uncovered regarding cytokinesis in the second largest fungal phylum, basidiomycetes, specifically in two yeasts, Cryptococcus neoformans and Ustilago maydis. Based on these findings...
Source: Fungal Biology Reviews - January 11, 2017 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Aspergillus as a versatile cell factory for organic acid production
Publication date: Available online 1 December 2016 Source:Fungal Biology Reviews Author(s): Lei Yang, Mette Lübeck, Peter S. Lübeck Filamentous fungi from the genus Aspergillus are of high importance for biobased organic acid production. So far, a number of Aspergillus strains belonging to phylogenetically distantly related species have been successfully applied in industrial production of organic acids due to their excellent capabilities of secreting high amounts of desired organic acids. For the past decades, numerous efforts have been made to reveal the mechanisms of organic acid biosynthesis in several Aspergill...
Source: Fungal Biology Reviews - December 1, 2016 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Melanin biosynthesis in pathogenic species of Sporothrix
Publication date: Available online 18 October 2016 Source:Fungal Biology Reviews Author(s): Rodrigo Almeida-Paes, Luana Pereira Borba-Santos, Sonia Rozental, Sergio Marco, Rosely Maria Zancopé-Oliveira, Marcel Menezes Lyra da Cunha Melanins are dark polymers found in the cell wall of pathogenic fungi, including species from the genus Sporothrix that are causative agents of sporotrichosis. In vitro experiments strongly suggest that these pigments are important for fungal virulence and survival in the host. In S. schenckii, melanin biosynthesis occurs via three different common pathways, which generate dihydroxynap...
Source: Fungal Biology Reviews - October 25, 2016 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Phenotypic heterogeneity in fungi: Importance and methodology
Publication date: Available online 10 October 2016 Source:Fungal Biology Reviews Author(s): Sarah K. Hewitt, David S. Foster, Paul S. Dyer, Simon V. Avery Phenotypic heterogeneity describes the variation that exists between individual cells, spores or other biological entities within genetically-uniform populations of fungi or other organisms. Studies over the last 10–15 years have successfully used laboratory- and modelling-based approaches to demonstrate the prevalence of phenotypic heterogeneity and characterise the molecular bases of the phenomenon (primarily centred around heterogeneous gene expression). In co...
Source: Fungal Biology Reviews - October 10, 2016 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Vegetative incompatibility in fungi: From recognition to cell death, whatever does the trick
Publication date: Available online 16 September 2016 Source:Fungal Biology Reviews Author(s): Mathieu Paoletti Allorecognition in fungi takes the form of vegetative incompatibility (VI), a process leading to the programmed cell death of heterokaryotic cells formed after anastomosis between hyphae of genetically incompatible isolates, thereby keeping different genotypes separated. VI is ubiquitous amongst ascomycetes and basidiomycetes, determined by loci named het or vic, and responds to both promoting and limiting selective constraints. While VI has been widely used to analyze fungal populations, genes controlling VI s...
Source: Fungal Biology Reviews - September 17, 2016 Category: Biology Source Type: research
‘Marine fungi’ and ‘marine-derived fungi’ in natural product chemistry research: Toward a new consensual definition
Publication date: Available online 7 September 2016 Source:Fungal Biology Reviews Author(s): Ka-Lai Pang, David P. Overy, E.B. Gareth Jones, Maria da Luz Calado, Gaëtan Burgaud, Allison K. Walker, John A. Johnson, Russell G. Kerr, Hyo-Jung Cha, Gerald F. Bills The discovery of new natural products from fungi isolated from substrata in marine environment has increased dramatically over the last few decades, cumulating in over 1000 new metabolites. The term ‘marine-derived fungi’ is used extensively in these reports, and it refers to the environment from which the fungi are isolated, in contrast to the class...
Source: Fungal Biology Reviews - September 8, 2016 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Diversity and ecology of soil fungal communities in rubber plantations
Publication date: Available online 6 September 2016 Source:Fungal Biology Reviews Author(s): Jutamart Monkai, Kevin D. Hyde, Jianchu Xu, Peter E. Mortimer Monoculture rubber cultivation and its intensive associated human activities are known to have a negative impact on the biodiversity, ecology, and biological conservation of the ecosystems in which they occur. These negative impacts include changes to the biodiversity and function of soil fungal communities, which contribute towards nutrient cycling and interact with other organisms in belowground ecosystems, and may be pathogens. Despite the important role of soil...
Source: Fungal Biology Reviews - September 5, 2016 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Approaches to understanding protein hypersecretion in fungi
Publication date: Available online 20 August 2016 Source:Fungal Biology Reviews Author(s): Morgann C. Reilly, Jon K. Magnuson, Scott E. Baker Fungi are well known for secreting high levels of proteins. A number of strategies have been used to characterize and maximize protein secretion for industrial purposes. In this review, we highlight three different ascomycetes and focus on a specific protein production example for each. Aspergillus niger has been utilized as a production host for amylases and multiple molecular genetic approaches have been applied to increase secretion in this organism. Saccharification of plant...
Source: Fungal Biology Reviews - August 20, 2016 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Stop and smell the fungi: Fungal volatile metabolites are overlooked signals involved in fungal interaction with plants
Publication date: July 2016 Source:Fungal Biology Reviews, Volume 30, Issue 3 Author(s): Ningxiao Li, Alsayed Alfiky, Martha M. Vaughan, Seogchan Kang Diverse fungi are intimately associated with plants, and molecules secreted from both the plant and fungal sides play critical roles in the establishment of their associations and affect plant growth and health. Through evolutionary arms races or strategic alliances with plants, fungi and other microbes have invented a bewildering array of secreted molecules to parasitize or communicate with plants. Research empowered by omics data and tools has greatly advanced ...
Source: Fungal Biology Reviews - July 30, 2016 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Fungal decolouration and degradation of azo dyes: A review
Publication date: July 2016 Source:Fungal Biology Reviews, Volume 30, Issue 3 Author(s): Sudip Kumar Sen, Smita Raut, Partha Bandyopadhyay, Sangeeta Raut The textile industry is a substantial consumer of water and produces enormous volumes of contaminated water; the most important contaminants are azo dyes. Fungal processes for the treatment of textile wastewater have the advantage of being cost-effective and environmentally friendly and producing less sludge. Unlike bacteria, fungi possessed strong ability of degrading complex organic compounds by producing extracellular ligninolytic enzymes including laccase,...
Source: Fungal Biology Reviews - July 30, 2016 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Regulation of the lignocellulolytic response in filamentous fungi
Publication date: July 2016 Source:Fungal Biology Reviews, Volume 30, Issue 3 Author(s): Lori B. Huberman, Jason Liu, Lina Qin, N. Louise Glass Lignocellulose is an abundant waste product of agricultural and processing industries that can be utilized as a renewable fuel substitute for petroleum-based fuels. Saprophytic filamentous fungi are an important source of plant cell wall degrading enzymes necessary to break down the complex carbohydrates found in plant cell walls into simple sugars. Zinc binuclear cluster transcription factors activate the transcription of plant cell wall degrading enzymes when fungal c...
Source: Fungal Biology Reviews - July 30, 2016 Category: Biology Source Type: research
RNAi silencing: A tool for functional genomics research on fungi
Publication date: July 2016 Source:Fungal Biology Reviews, Volume 30, Issue 3 Author(s): Anahí Armas-Tizapantzi, Alba Mónica Montiel-González RNA interference (RNAi) is a mechanism of post-transcriptional gene silencing which is triggered by the presence of double stranded RNA molecules homologous to a gene, resulting in degradation of the messenger RNA produced attenuating thereby the target gene expression, as a mechanism of regulation of gene expression. The potential use of this mechanism in several areas of life sciences is tangible. In the case of biotechnology, the use of fungi as production models of hum...
Source: Fungal Biology Reviews - July 30, 2016 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Mating-type genes and hyphal fusions in filamentous basidiomycetes
Publication date: December 2015 Source:Fungal Biology Reviews, Volume 29, Issues 3–4 Author(s): Marjatta Raudaskoski In the filamentous basidiomycetes Coprinopsis cinerea and Schizophyllum commune, mating is regulated by the tetrapolar mating-type system consisting of two unlinked genetic complexes, named A and B. In the nineties, the molecular structure of A and B mating type loci and genes was revealed side by side in C. cinerea and S. commune, first the A complex and quite soon thereafter the B complex genes. The clear molecular structure of C. cinerea mating type genes has led to their use as models for genomic...
Source: Fungal Biology Reviews - June 17, 2016 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Tales and mysteries of fungal fruiting: How morphological and physiological traits affect a pileate lifestyle
In conclusion, the review comes up with well and little-known mushroom properties, and the numerous gaps in attributing traits to functions. (Source: Fungal Biology Reviews)
Source: Fungal Biology Reviews - June 17, 2016 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Tales and mysteries of fungal fruiting: How morphological and physiological traits affect a pileate lifestyle
In conclusion, the review comes up with well and little-known mushroom properties, and the numerous gaps in attributing traits to functions. (Source: Fungal Biology Reviews)
Source: Fungal Biology Reviews - June 8, 2016 Category: Biology Source Type: research
