Plant defensins: Common fold, multiple functions
Publication date: January 2013 Source:Fungal Biology Reviews, Volume 26, Issue 4 Author(s): Nicole L. van der Weerden , Marilyn A. Anderson Plant defensins represent a large class of structurally similar peptides found throughout the plant kingdom. Despite a conserved cysteine spacing pattern and three-dimensional structure, their sequences are highly divergent and they display a range of activities including antifungal and antibacterial activities, enzyme inhibitory activities as well as roles in heavy metal tolerance and development. The vast number of sequences along with their diverse range of activities makes it...
Source: Fungal Biology Reviews - October 13, 2014 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Modes of antifungal action and in planta functions of plant defensins and defensin-like peptides
Publication date: January 2013 Source:Fungal Biology Reviews, Volume 26, Issue 4 Author(s): Barbara De Coninck , Bruno P.A. Cammue , Karin Thevissen Plant defensins are small basic peptides that are inhibitory against a range of plant and human pathogens. Their in vitro antimicrobial activity and structural similarity with human and insect defensins indicated an important role for plant defensins in the innate immune system of plants. Regarding their mode of antimicrobial action, most plant defensins interact with a specific microbial surface receptor, resulting in microbial cell death via e.g. induction of apoptos...
Source: Fungal Biology Reviews - October 13, 2014 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Antifungal peptides come of age
Publication date: January 2013 Source:Fungal Biology Reviews, Volume 26, Issue 4 Author(s): Dilip M. Shah , Nick D. Read (Source: Fungal Biology Reviews)
Source: Fungal Biology Reviews - October 13, 2014 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Turning the switch: using chemical genetics to elucidate protein kinase functions in filamentous fungi
Publication date: May 2013 Source:Fungal Biology Reviews, Volume 27, Issue 1 Author(s): André Fleißner Chemical genetics provides tools for controlling the activity of a selected enzyme in a dose-dependent and reversible manner. To study kinase functions, a system has been developed, which combines an engineered variant of the enzyme with modified chemical inhibitors or ATP analogs, which are not accepted by wild-type kinases. While this system has been widely utilized in yeast research, it remains underappreciated in filamentous fungi. Therefore, this powerful tool holds a strong, mostly untapped potential for the...
Source: Fungal Biology Reviews - October 13, 2014 Category: Biology Source Type: research
A decade's perspective on the impact of DNA sequencing on aquatic hyphomycete research
Publication date: May 2013 Source:Fungal Biology Reviews, Volume 27, Issue 1 Author(s): Sofia Duarte , Sahadevan Seena , Felix Bärlocher , Cláudia Pascoal , Fernanda Cássio A decade has passed since the first DNA sequences of aquatic hyphomycete species have become available. They have illuminated aspects of their phylogeny and evolution that were inaccessible by conventional methods. Here we present examples of how the resulting information has modified our knowledge of aquatic hyphomycetes. Generating more and better DNA sequence data will continue to expand the range of questions we can investigate concernin...
Source: Fungal Biology Reviews - October 13, 2014 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Regulation of transcription by light in Neurospora crassa: A model for fungal photobiology?
Publication date: May 2013 Source:Fungal Biology Reviews, Volume 27, Issue 1 Author(s): María Olmedo , Carmen Ruger-Herreros , Eva M. Luque , Luis M. Corrochano Neurospora crassa is used as a model to investigate the molecular mechanisms of fungal light responses. The effects of light in Neurospora include development of asexual spores and sexual structures, biosynthesis of photoprotective pigments in mycelia, and entrainment of the circadian clock. These effects are mediated by the White Collar Complex (WCC), which activates the transcription of genes. The transcription factor WHITE COLLAR-1 (WC-1) is a blue-lig...
Source: Fungal Biology Reviews - October 13, 2014 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Septum development in filamentous ascomycetes
Publication date: May 2013 Source:Fungal Biology Reviews, Volume 27, Issue 1 Author(s): Rosa R. Mouriño-Pérez Filamentous ascomycetes form multinucleated hyphae that are compartmentalized by septa. In this review, the central events in the dynamics and regulation of septum assembly of two ascomycetous model organisms (Aspergillus nidulans and Neurospora crassa) are discussed. It has been shown that septum formation has different stages that start with the accumulation of signals after the completion of mitosis, followed by the assembly of a “septal actomyosin tangle” prior to plasma membrane invagination, the fo...
Source: Fungal Biology Reviews - October 13, 2014 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Label-free fluorescence microscopy in fungi
Publication date: August 2013 Source:Fungal Biology Reviews, Volume 27, Issue 2 Author(s): Helene Knaus , Gerhard A. Blab , G. Jerre van Veluw , Hans C. Gerritsen , Han A.B. Wösten Label-free fluorescence microscopy detects fluorescence originating from endogenous fluorophores, such as NAD(P)H, melanin and flavins. The emitted fluorescence (spectrum, lifetime and polarization) is characteristic for the molecule and its environment. In most cases, a specimen contains multiple autofluorescent molecules contributing to the overall fluorescence. Methods have been developed to break down the fluorescence into the cont...
Source: Fungal Biology Reviews - October 13, 2014 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Insights to fungal biology through LaeA sleuthing
Publication date: August 2013 Source:Fungal Biology Reviews, Volume 27, Issue 2 Author(s): Sachin Jain , Nancy Keller LaeA was first identified as a novel Aspergillus nuclear protein which functions as a global regulator of secondary metabolism, morphogenetic development, and antibiotic production in various filamentous fungi. Since then, it has been studied extensively by research groups around the world in order to identify virulence factors, transcription factors and/or cryptic secondary metabolite gene clusters regulated by LaeA. The coupling of LaeA with VeA and VelB as a nuclear complex, the “Velvet Complex...
Source: Fungal Biology Reviews - October 13, 2014 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Fungal peptide synthetases: an update on functions and specificity signatures
Publication date: August 2013 Source:Fungal Biology Reviews, Volume 27, Issue 2 Author(s): Daniel Kalb , Gerald Lackner , Dirk Hoffmeister A considerable share of fungal small-molecule natural products is assembled via nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs). Here, we introduce the readers to two topical aspects which have emerged during work with enzymes of both asco- and basidiomycete origin. First, we highlight the function of non-canonical NRPS-like enzymes which lack the ability to make peptide bonds, and we summarize how they contribute to metabolic diversity. Second, we address the question to what extent su...
Source: Fungal Biology Reviews - October 13, 2014 Category: Biology Source Type: research
The impact of the water moulds Saprolegnia diclina and Saprolegnia parasitica on natural ecosystems and the aquaculture industry
Publication date: August 2013 Source:Fungal Biology Reviews, Volume 27, Issue 2 Author(s): Albert Hendrik van den Berg , Debbie McLaggan , Javier Diéguez-Uribeondo , Pieter van West A very large number of diseases in agriculture and aquaculture are caused by fungal-like micro-organisms, classified as Oomycetes or water moulds. Collectively, oomycetes represent a huge threat to global food security. In addition, several oomycetes can cause environmental disasters, by wiping out native species of trees, crustacians and amphibians. The group representing the aquatic oomycetes are relatively understudied in contrast t...
Source: Fungal Biology Reviews - October 13, 2014 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Impacts of mesomycetozoean parasites on amphibian and freshwater fish populations
Publication date: December 2013 Source:Fungal Biology Reviews, Volume 27, Issues 3–4 Author(s): Jodi J.L. Rowley , Frank H. Gleason , Demetra Andreou , Wyth L. Marshall , Osu Lilje , Rodolphe Gozlan Fungal and fungal-like parasites and the diseases which they cause have been increasingly associated with amphibians and fish population declines at a global scale. This review summarises our current knowledge of the Mesomycetozoea, a poorly-studied group of fungal-like parasites that includes emerging virulent parasites capable of causing high mortality rates in fish and amphibian populations. This review considers...
Source: Fungal Biology Reviews - October 13, 2014 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Lineages of ectomycorrhizal fungi revisited: Foraging strategies and novel lineages revealed by sequences from belowground
Publication date: December 2013 Source:Fungal Biology Reviews, Volume 27, Issues 3–4 Author(s): Leho Tedersoo , Matthew E. Smith In the fungal kingdom, the ectomycorrhizal (EcM) symbiosis has evolved independently in multiple groups that are referred to as lineages. A growing number of molecular studies in the fields of mycology, ecology, soil science, and microbiology generate vast amounts of sequence data from fungi in their natural habitats, particularly from soil and roots. However, as the number and diversity of sequences has increased, it has become increasingly difficult to accurately identify the fungal spe...
Source: Fungal Biology Reviews - October 13, 2014 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Fungal laccases
Publication date: December 2013 Source:Fungal Biology Reviews, Volume 27, Issues 3–4 Author(s): Claudia M. Rivera-Hoyos , Edwin David Morales-Álvarez , Raúl A. Poutou-Piñales , Aura Marina Pedroza-Rodríguez , Refugio RodrÍguez-Vázquez , Julio M. Delgado-Boada Laccases are enzymes widely distributed in plants, fungi, bacteria, and insects. They are multicopper oxidases that catalyze the transformation of aromatic and non-aromatic compounds with reduction of molecular oxygen to water. These enzymes participate in processes such as biosynthesis and lignin degradation, morphogenesis, and pigment biosynthesis,...
Source: Fungal Biology Reviews - October 13, 2014 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Fungal pathogenesis: Past, present and future
Publication date: May 2014 Source:Fungal Biology Reviews, Volume 28, Issue 1 Author(s): Claire Taylor , Sarah Gurr Over the last 20 years a record number of fungal and fungal-like diseases have jeopardized wild species the world over, causing several of the most severe population declines and extinctions ever witnessed (Fisher et al. 2012). Such events include the devastating impact of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis on amphibian populations and the extinction of bat populations as a result of Geomyces destructans infection. This commentary focusses on two human-infecting fungal pathogens causing much scientific inte...
Source: Fungal Biology Reviews - October 13, 2014 Category: Biology Source Type: research
