Antifungal Activities of Killer Toxin-Like Genes within Filamentous Fungi
Additional Funding Sources
The project described was supported by an Institutional Development Award (IDeA) from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Grant #P20GM103408. The project was also supported by the Research Experience for Undergraduates Program Site: Molecular and organismal evolution at the University of Idaho under Award No. 1757826 and by a student grant from the UI Office of Undergraduate Research.
Abstract
A growing resistance in pathogenic fungi to standard antifungal products results in major crop losses each year. For instance, Fusarium wilt (Panama disease) devastated the Gros Michel banana industry in Central America in the 1950s forcing sole dependence on Cavendish bananas. Thus, the discovery of antifungal “killer toxins” naturally produced by fungi has spurred interest in their use against diseases such as Fusarium wilt. However, little is understood about killer toxin antifungal mechanisms except for Killer Protein 4 (KP4) produced by Ustilago maydis. This project is ongoing with the investigation of the lethal characteristics of several KP4-like proteins from various filamentous fungi. We developed a screen to pinpoint the antifungal mechanisms of KP4-like proteins by using a cataloged collection of over 4000 Saccharomyces cerevisiae mutants transformed with a KP4-like gene of interest. We found 39 candidate genes potentially related to the cause of the lethal phenotype of the KP4-like protein from Basidiobolus meristosporus produced by our screening process. This knowledge will contribute to our understanding of the mechanism at a cellular level which, in turn, will allow us to evaluate the use of killer toxins for mitigation of fungal diseases that are affecting important crops.
Antifungal Activities of Killer Toxin-Like Genes within Filamentous Fungi
A growing resistance in pathogenic fungi to standard antifungal products results in major crop losses each year. For instance, Fusarium wilt (Panama disease) devastated the Gros Michel banana industry in Central America in the 1950s forcing sole dependence on Cavendish bananas. Thus, the discovery of antifungal “killer toxins” naturally produced by fungi has spurred interest in their use against diseases such as Fusarium wilt. However, little is understood about killer toxin antifungal mechanisms except for Killer Protein 4 (KP4) produced by Ustilago maydis. This project is ongoing with the investigation of the lethal characteristics of several KP4-like proteins from various filamentous fungi. We developed a screen to pinpoint the antifungal mechanisms of KP4-like proteins by using a cataloged collection of over 4000 Saccharomyces cerevisiae mutants transformed with a KP4-like gene of interest. We found 39 candidate genes potentially related to the cause of the lethal phenotype of the KP4-like protein from Basidiobolus meristosporus produced by our screening process. This knowledge will contribute to our understanding of the mechanism at a cellular level which, in turn, will allow us to evaluate the use of killer toxins for mitigation of fungal diseases that are affecting important crops.
Comments
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