Sphingolipids of plant pathogenic fungi

Abstract

Glycosphingolipids in filamentous fungi are significant components of the plasma membrane and are vital for different cellular processes, such as growth, morphological transition or signal transduction. Fungal growth inhibitors targeting glycosylinositolphosphoceramide (GIPCs) biosynthesis or antifungal compounds binding to GIPCs present in membranes could present a safe way of preventing fungal growth on crops since GIPCs are not present in mammalian cells. Mass spectrometry-based shotgun lipidomics was used to analyze sphingolipids of 11 fungal strains isolated from plant material. Molecular species with inositol ceramides containing zero to five carbohydrates were identified. Differences in the amount of individual molecular species were influenced by the taxonomic affiliation. All tested strains exhibited a relatively high content (more than 40 mol.%) of GIPCs with three and more saccharides attached to the polar head. It could be assumed that the sphingolipid profiles of the tested plant pathogens would be an adaptation mechanism to antifungal plant defensins.

The biological functions of sphingolipids in plant pathogenic fungi

“…However, whereas the production of phytosphingosine in mammalian cells is restricted in certain tissues, phytosphingosine production in fungal cells is quite abundant as the corresponding phytoceramides are then preferentially used to make inositol-containing sphingolipids. Interestingly, in fungi pathogenic to plants these inositol-containing sphingolipids are further highly glycosylated [33]. This glycosylation also occurs in fungi pathogenic to humans (e.g., Cryptococcus neoformans, Candida albicans, or Aspergillus fumigatus) but to a much lesser extent.…”

Novel Chemical and Biological Insights of Inositol Derivatives in Mediterranean Plants

“…These compounds, as the inositols, are ubiquitous to eukaryotes and assume a strategic importance in living organisms being involved in growth, cellular signaling, stress responses etc. In plants and fungi, the main sphingolipds are glucosyl inositol phosphoryl ceramides (GIPCs) [30][31][32][33], which are not present in mammalian organisms [34] (Figure 4). A further class of biomolecules containing inositol moiety is represented by the so called archedityl inositols, a class of polar lipids isolated from extremophile Archean [35,36].…”

“…These compounds, as the inositols, are ubiquitous to eukaryotes and assume a strategic importance in living organisms being involved in growth, cellular signaling, stress responses etc. In plants and fungi, the main sphingolipds are glucosyl inositol phosphoryl ceramides (GIPCs) [ 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 ], which are not present in mammalian organisms [ 34 ] ( Figure 4 ).…”

UHPLC-HRMS-Based Untargeted Lipidomics Reveal Mechanism of Antifungal Activity of Carvacrol against Aspergillus flavus

“…Their hydrophobicity allows them to form cell membranes that constitute a boundary against the hydrophilic environment of the cells [ 20 ]. As the important components of biological membranes, lipids (e.g., phospholipids, sphingolipids and phytosterol) are crucial for their pathogenicity and could be a potential target to inhibit fungal growth [ 21 , 22 ]. In recent years, some studies on the effect of EOs on the lipid profile of A .…”