Articles

Promoters from the itaconate cluster of Ustilago maydis are induced by nitrogen depletion

Ustilago maydis is known for its natural potential to produce a broad range of valuable chemicals, such as itaconate, from both industrial carbon waste streams and renewable biomass. P...

Authors: Thiemo Zambanini, Sandra K. Hartmann, Lisa M. Schmitz, Linda Büttner, Hamed Hosseinpour Tehrani, Elena Geiser, Melanie Beudels, Dominik Venc, Georg Wandrey, Jochen Büchs, Markus Schwarzländer, Lars M. Blank and Nick Wierckx

Comparing the physiochemical parameters of three celluloses reveals new insights into substrate suitability for fungal enzyme production

The industrial applications of cellulases are mostly limited by the costs associated with their production. Optimized production pathways are therefore desirable. Based on their enzyme inducing capacity, cellu...

Authors: Lara Hassan, Manfred J. Reppke, Nils Thieme, Steffen A. Schweizer, Carsten W. Mueller and J. Philipp Benz

Openness and visibility of fungal bio(techno)logy

Authors: Vera Meyer, Corrado Nai and Alexander Idnurm

Physiological characterization of secondary metabolite producing Penicillium cell factories

Penicillium species are important producers of bioactive secondary metabolites. However, the immense diversity of the fungal kingdom is only scarcely represented in industrial bioproce...

Authors: Sietske Grijseels, Jens Christian Nielsen, Jens Nielsen, Thomas Ostenfeld Larsen, Jens Christian Frisvad, Kristian Fog Nielsen, Rasmus John Normand Frandsen and Mhairi Workman

Emergence and loss of spliceosomal twin introns

In the primary transcript of nuclear genes, coding sequences—exons—usually alternate with non-coding sequences—introns. In the evolution of spliceosomal intron–exon structure, extant intron positions can be ab...

Authors: Michel Flipphi, Norbert Ág, Levente Karaffa, Napsugár Kavalecz, Gustavo Cerqueira, Claudio Scazzocchio and Erzsébet Fekete

A silver bullet in a golden age of functional genomics: the impact of Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of fungi

The implementation of Agrobacterium tumefaciens as a transformation tool revolutionized approaches to discover and understand gene functions in a large number of fungal species. A. tumefaciens mediated transforma...

Authors: Alexander Idnurm, Andy M. Bailey, Timothy C. Cairns, Candace E. Elliott, Gary D. Foster, Giuseppe Ianiri and Junhyun Jeon

Marine fungi in the spotlight: opportunities and challenges for marine fungal natural product discovery and biotechnology

The marine fungal natural products (MaFNaP) Consortium, a scientific network founded in 2014, aims to fuel systematic research on marine fungi and their secondary metabolites. The 2nd international conference ...

Authors: Deniz Tasdemir

Filamentous ascomycetes fungi as a source of natural pigments

Filamentous fungi, including the ascomycetes Monascus, Fusarium, Penicillium and Neurospora, are being explored as novel sources of natural pigments with biological functionality for food, feed and cosmetic appli...

Authors: Rebecca Gmoser, Jorge A. Ferreira, Patrik R. Lennartsson and Mohammad J. Taherzadeh

Multiple genotypes within aecial clusters in Puccinia graminis and Puccinia coronata: improved understanding of the biology of cereal rust fungi

Cereal rust fungi (Puccinia spp.) are among the most economically important plant pathogens. These fungi have a complex life cycle, including five spore stages and two hosts. They infect one grass host on which t...

Authors: Anna Berlin, Berit Samils and Björn Andersson

The fungal composition of natural biofinishes on oil-treated wood

Biofinished wood is considered to be a decorative and protective material for outdoor constructions, showing advantages compared to traditional treated wood in terms of sustainability and self-repair. Natural ...

Authors: Elke J. van Nieuwenhuijzen, Jos A. M. P. Houbraken, Peter J. Punt, Guus Roeselers, Olaf C. G. Adan and Robert A. Samson

A flavoprotein supports cell wall properties in the necrotrophic fungus Alternaria brassicicola

Flavin-dependent monooxygenases are involved in key biological processes as they catalyze a wide variety of chemo-, regio- and enantioselective oxygenation reactions. Flavoprotein monooxygenases are frequently...

Authors: Sandrine Pigné, Agata Zykwinska, Etienne Janod, Stéphane Cuenot, Mohammed Kerkoud, Roxane Raulo, Nelly Bataillé-Simoneau, Muriel Marchi, Anthony Kwasiborski, Guillaume N’Guyen, Guillaume Mabilleau, Philippe Simoneau and Thomas Guillemette

The beauty and the morbid: fungi as source of inspiration in contemporary art

The arts have the power to irritate, to provoke and to let us think and dream about the impossible. The relationship of the arts and fungi is not immediate; however, fungi are ideal subjects for artists. They ...

Authors: Corrado Nai and Vera Meyer

The freedom of choice

Authors: Vera Meyer and Alexander Idnurm

Update on Nox function, site of action and regulation in Botrytis cinerea

The production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and a balanced redox homeostasis are essential parameters, which control the infection process of the plant pathogen Botrytis cinerea. The necrotrophic fungus is ab...

Authors: Robert Marschall, Ulrike Siegmund, Joachim Burbank and Paul Tudzynski

Volatile organic compounds emitted by Trichoderma species mediate plant growth

Many Trichoderma species are applied as biofungicides and biofertilizers to agricultural soils to enhance crop growth. These filamentous fungi have the ability to reduce plant diseases and promote plant growth an...

Authors: Samantha Lee, Melanie Yap, Gregory Behringer, Richard Hung and Joan W. Bennett

Current challenges of research on filamentous fungi in relation to human welfare and a sustainable bio-economy: a white paper

The EUROFUNG network is a virtual centre of multidisciplinary expertise in the field of fungal biotechnology. The first academic-industry Think Tank was hosted by EUROFUNG to summarise the state of the art and...

Authors: Vera Meyer, Mikael R. Andersen, Axel A. Brakhage, Gerhard H. Braus, Mark X. Caddick, Timothy C. Cairns, Ronald P. de Vries, Thomas Haarmann, Kim Hansen, Christiane Hertz-Fowler, Sven Krappmann, Uffe H. Mortensen, Miguel A. Peñalva, Arthur F. J. Ram and Ritchie M. Head

Let microorganisms do the talking, let us talk more about microorganisms

Microorganisms are of uttermost importance, yet in the eyes of the general public they are often associated with dirt and diseases. At the same time, microbiologists have access to and comprehensive knowledge ...

Authors: Corrado Nai, Boris Magrini and Julia Offe

Two genomes are better than one: history, genetics, and biotechnological applications of fungal heterokaryons

Heterokaryosis is an integral part of the parasexual cycle used by predominantly asexual fungi to introduce and maintain genetic variation in populations. Research into fungal heterokaryons began in 1912 and c...

Authors: Noah B. Strom and Kathryn E. Bushley

Effect of secretory pathway gene overexpression on secretion of a fluorescent reporter protein in Aspergillus nidulans

The considerable capacity of filamentous fungi for the secretion of proteins is the basis for multi-billion dollar industries producing enzymes and proteins with therapeutic value. The stepwise pathway from t...

Authors: Martin Schalén, Diana Chinyere Anyaogu, Jakob Blæsbjerg Hoof and Mhairi Workman

Identification and characterization of the ergochrome gene cluster in the plant pathogenic fungus Claviceps purpurea

Claviceps purpurea is a phytopathogenic fungus infecting a broad range of grasses including economically important cereal crop plants. The infection cycle ends with the formation of th...

Authors: Lisa Neubauer, Julian Dopstadt, Hans-Ulrich Humpf and Paul Tudzynski

Simple sequence repeat markers that identify Claviceps species and strains

Claviceps purpurea is a pathogen that infects most members of Pooideae, a subfamily of Poaceae, and causes ergot, a floral disease in which the ovary is replaced with a sclerotium. Whe...

Authors: Barbara S. Gilmore, Stephen C. Alderman, Brian J. Knaus, Nahla V. Bassil, Ruth C. Martin, James E. Dombrowski and Jeremiah K. S. Dung

Production of cyathane type secondary metabolites by submerged cultures of Hericium erinaceus and evaluation of their antibacterial activity by direct bioautography

Fungi of the phylum Basidiomycota are well-known to form a broad spectrum of biologically active secondary metabolites, especially low molecular weight compounds such as terpenoids. Hericium erinaceus produces va...

Authors: T. Shen, G. Morlock and H. Zorn

Geographic information system (GIS)-based image analysis for assessing growth of Physarum polycephalum on a solid medium

The conventional method used to assess growth of the plasmodium of the slime mold Physarum polycephalum in solid culture is to measure the extent of plasmodial expansion from the point of inoculation by using a r...

Authors: Hanh T. M. Tran, Steven L. Stephenson and Jason A. Tullis

Unlocking the potential of fungi: the QuantFung project

Authors: Zsófia Büttel, Rafael Díaz, Benedict Dirnberger, Michal Flak, Sietske Grijseels, Min Jin Kwon, Jens Christian Froslev Nielsen, Yvonne Nygård, Pradeep Phule, Carsten Pohl, Sylvain Prigent, Milica Randelovic, Tabea Schütze, Danielle Troppens and Annarita Viggiano

A framework for an organelle-based mathematical modeling of hyphae

Although highly desirable, a mechanistic explanation for the outstanding protein secretion capabilities of fungi such as Aspergilli is missing. As a result, a rational and predictive design of strains as cell fac...

Authors: Rudibert King

Efficient gene editing in Neurospora crassa with CRISPR technology

Efficient gene editing is a critical tool for investigating molecular mechanisms of cellular processes and engineering organisms for numerous purposes ranging from biotechnology to medicine. Recently developed...

Authors: Toru Matsu-ura, Mokryun Baek, Jungin Kwon and Christian Hong

Phytochelatin synthase is required for tolerating metal toxicity in a basidiomycete yeast and is a conserved factor involved in metal homeostasis in fungi

Phytochelatin synthase (PCS) is an enzyme that catalyzes the biosynthesis of phytochelatin from glutathione. Phytochelatins protect cells against the toxic effects of non-essential heavy metals, such as cadmiu...

Authors: Alaina M Shine, Viplendra PS Shakya and Alexander Idnurm

A new vector for efficient gene targeting to the pyrG locus in Aspergillus niger

The possibility for efficient gene targeting for the controlled integration of DNA constructs is an important tool in fungal genetics.

Authors: Mark Arentshorst, Ellen L Lagendijk and Arthur FJ Ram

Penicillium nalgiovense Laxa isolated from Antarctica is a new source of the antifungal metabolite amphotericin B

The need for new antibiotic drugs increases as pathogenic microorganisms continue to develop resistance against current antibiotics. We obtained samples from Antarctica as part of a search for new antimicrobia...

Authors: K Stefan Svahn, Erja Chryssanthou, Björn Olsen, Lars Bohlin and Ulf Göransson

Next-generation genome sequencing can be used to rapidly characterise sequences flanking T-DNA insertions in random insertional mutants of Leptosphaeria maculans

Banks of mutants with random insertions of T-DNA from Agrobacterium tumefaciens are often used in forward genetics approaches to identify phenotypes of interest. Upon identification of mutants of interest, the fl...

Authors: Kylie Chambers, Rohan GT Lowe, Barbara J Howlett, Manuel Zander, Jacqueline Batley, Angela P Van de Wouw and Candace E Elliott

A minimal growth medium for the basidiomycete Pleurotus sapidus for metabolic flux analysis

Pleurotus sapidus secretes a huge enzymatic repertoire including hydrolytic and oxidative enzymes and is an example for higher basidiomycetes being interesting for biotechnology. The complex growth media used fo...

Authors: Marco A Fraatz, Stefanie Naeve, Vanessa Hausherr, Holger Zorn and Lars M Blank

The capacity of Aspergillus niger to sense and respond to cell wall stress requires at least three transcription factors: RlmA, MsnA and CrzA

Cell wall integrity, vesicle transport and protein secretion are key factors contributing to the vitality and productivity of filamentous fungal cell factories such as Aspergillus niger. In order to pioneer ratio...

Authors: Markus RM Fiedler, Annett Lorenz, Benjamin M Nitsche, Cees AMJJ van den Hondel, Arthur FJ Ram and Vera Meyer

RNA-sequencing reveals the complexities of the transcriptional response to lignocellulosic biofuel substrates in Aspergillus niger

Saprobic fungi are the predominant industrial sources of Carbohydrate Active enZymes (CAZymes) used for the saccharification of lignocellulose during the production of second generation biofuels. The productio...

Authors: Steven T Pullan, Paul Daly, Stéphane Delmas, Roger Ibbett, Matthew Kokolski, Almar Neiteler, Jolanda M van Munster, Raymond Wilson, Martin J Blythe, Sanyasi Gaddipati, Gregory A Tucker and David B Archer

Prospecting the biodiversity of the fungal family Ustilaginaceae for the production of value-added chemicals

Ustilaginaceae (belonging to the smut fungi) are commonly known for their plant pathogenicity. Although these microbes lead to yield reduction of cereal production, they can also have an economically positive ...

Authors: Elena Geiser, Vincent Wiebach, Nick Wierckx and Lars M Blank

Exploring fungal biodiversity: organic acid production by 66 strains of filamentous fungi

Filamentous fungi are well known for their ability to degrade lignocellulosic biomass and have a natural ability to convert certain products of biomass degradation, for example glucose, into various organic ac...

Authors: Nadège Liaud, Christian Giniés, David Navarro, Nicolas Fabre, Sylvaine Crapart, Isabelle Herpoël- Gimbert, Anthony Levasseur, Sana Raouche and Jean-Claude Sigoillot

Welcome to Fungal Biology and Biotechnology

No abstract

Authors: Alexander Idnurm and Vera Meyer

Fungal biology in the post-genomic era

In this review I give a personal perspective of how fungal biology has changed since I started my Ph. D. in 1963. At that time we were working in the shadow of the birth of molecular biology as an autonomous a...

Authors: Claudio Scazzocchio

Identification of the UDP-glucose-4-epimerase required for galactofuranose biosynthesis and galactose metabolism in A. niger

Galactofuranose (Galf)-containing glycoconjugates are important to secure the integrity of the cell wall of filamentous fungi. Mutations that prevent the biosynthesis of Galf-containing molecules compromise cell ...

Authors: Joohae Park, Boris Tefsen, Mark Arentshorst, Ellen Lagendijk, Cees AMJJ van den Hondel, Irma van Die and Arthur FJ Ram

Engineering of Aspergillus niger for the production of secondary metabolites

Filamentous fungi can each produce dozens of secondary metabolites which are attractive as therapeutics, drugs, antimicrobials, flavour compounds and other high-value chemicals. Furthermore, they can be used a...

Authors: Lennart Richter, Franziska Wanka, Simon Boecker, Dirk Storm, Tutku Kurt, Özlem Vural, Roderich Süßmuth and Vera Meyer