Morel-Rouhier, M. | Search bioRxiv

bioRxiv2019

Target Of Rapamycin pathway in the white-rot fungus Phanerochaete chrysosporium

The Target Of Rapamycin (TOR) signaling pathway is known to regulate growth in response to nutrient availability and stress in eukaryotic cells. In the present study, we have investigated the TOR pathway in the white-rot fungus Phanerochaete chrysosporium. Inhibition of TOR activity by rapamycin affects conidia germination and hyphal growth highlighting the conserved mechanism of susceptibility to rapamycin. Interestingly, the secreted protein content is also affected by the rapamycin treatment. Finally, homologs of the components of TOR pathway can be identified in P. chrysosporium. Altogether, those results indicate that the TOR pathway of P. chrysosporium plays a central role in this fungus.

microbiology↗

bioRxiv2019

A reverse chemical ecology approach to explore wood natural durability

The natural durability of wood species, defined as their inherent resistance to wood-destroying agents is a complex phenomenon depending of many biotic and abiotic factors. Besides the presence of recalcitrant polymers, the presence of compounds with antimicrobial properties is known to be important to explain wood durability. Based on the advancement in our understanding of fungal detoxification systems, a reverse chemical ecology approach was proposed to explore wood natural durability. A set of six glutathione transferases from the white-rot Trametes versicolor was used as targets to test wood extracts from seventeen French Guiana neotropical species. Fluorescent thermal shift assays allowed to quantify interactions between fungal glutathione transferases and these extracts. From these data, a model combining this approach and wood density predicts significantly wood natural durability of the tested species previously estimated by long-term soil bed tests. Overall, our findings confirm that detoxification systems could be used to explore the chemical environment encountered by wood decaying fungi and then wood natural durability.

microbiology↗