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

Abstract

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 future challenges in fungal biology and biotechnology in the coming decade. Currently, fungal cell factories are important for bulk manufacturing of organic acids, proteins, enzymes, secondary metabolites and active pharmaceutical ingredients in white and red biotechnology. In contrast, fungal pathogens of humans kill more people than malaria or tuberculosis. Fungi are significantly impacting on global food security, damaging global crop production, causing disease in domesticated animals, and spoiling an estimated 10 % of harvested crops. A number of challenges now need to be addressed to improve our strategies to control fungal pathogenicity and to optimise the use of fungi as sources for novel compounds and as cell factories for large scale manufacture of bio-based products. This white paper reports on the discussions of the Think Tank meeting and the suggestions made for moving fungal bio(techno)logy forward.

Plant Pathogenic Fungi ─ Novel Agents of Human Diseases: Implications for public Health

“…Recently A. flavus and A. oryzae were implicated in these conditions in India and Japan respectively (Hedeyati et al, 2007). Worldwide 1.2 billion individuals are living with ABPA with nearly 2.0 million deaths recorded from those infected on annual basis (Meyer et al, 2016). The disease presents difficulty in breathing (or shortness of breath), wheezing, coughing up mucus, anorexia, fever, general malaise and lung damage (fibrosis).…”

“…However, owing to inappropriate and/or excessive application of synthetic mycotic eradicants in agriculture, there is increasing emergence of hyper-virulent pathogenic fungal isolates which have been reported to cross kingdom barriers to cause resistant human mycoses with associated high death rates (Fig. 1) recorded in hospitals (Meyer et al, 2016). These resistant human mycoses were due to both primary (resistance to the active principle of the drug) and secondary resistances (inadequate drug concentration at infection sites) (Hedeyati et al, 2007).…”

“…The attribute of high environmental persistence which characterize most broad-spectrum synthetic fungicides used for the control of fungal diseases of crops and the consequent disruption of ecological health, as well as the development of widespread resistance to the later groups of narrow site fungicides (drugs) which interfere with membrane permeability, cell wall biosynthesis, ergosterol biosynthesis or nuclear function has created urgent room for smart fungicides (drugs) in the present. Smart fungicides (drugs) are novel highly active, lowdose, multi-site (broad-spectrum) fungicides (Meyer et al, 2016). Such new smart fungicides may be developed as improved laboratory copies of characterized isolates of plant-derived antifungal compounds from higher plants (Amadioha, 2003;Enyiukwu et al, 2014c).…”

When green and red mycology meet: Impressions from an interdisciplinary forum on virulence mechanisms of phyto- and human-pathogenic fungi

“…By linking several scientific disciplines and, most importantly, joining their forces and strengths in one particular aspect of research, unforeseeable insights and innovative strategies may emerge in a synergistic manner. 1 Given this promising and inspiring approach, an Interdisciplinary Forum on Virulence Mechanisms of Phyto-and Human-Pathogenic Fungi took place in October 2016, hosted at the Microbiology Institute of the University Hospital Erlangen and the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-N€ urnberg in Germany. This IFoFun-2016 was the most recent event emerging from a series of interdisciplinary meetings initiated in 1999 by a special interest group of the German Society of Microbiology and Hygiene (DGHM) and that is devoted to Eukaryotic Pathogens, among them human-pathogenic fungi.…”

Estudo da alteração do perfil de proteínas de fungos filamentosos em diferentes condições de cultivo utilizando ferramentas proteômicas e ensaios enzimáticos

“…A versatilidade metabólica, robustez e capacidade de secreção destes microrganismos tem sido explorada em processos estabelecidos para a produção de ácidos orgânicos, proteínas, enzimas, além de antibióticos, estatinas e esteroides (MEYER et al, 2016).…”