- Summary
- Team
Project B05
Role of Basidiomycete Small Molecules on Habitat-sharing Microbes
Basidiomycetes support ecosystems as symbionts and by maintaining global carbon cycling through lignocellulose breakdown. Bacterial communities are associated with and impact these fungi. Natural products are known to play an interactive role between basidiomycetes and bacteria. For the saprotrophic model brown rot basidiomycete Serpula lacrymans, we found that biofilm- and motility-inhibiting pulvinic acids were biosynthesized when bacteria of various phyla, were present. The regulation of basidiomycete natural product genes in response to the presence of bacterial consortia is entirely unknown.
Schematic summary of basidiomycete responses in dual or multi-partner cultures. An unknown peptidic compound is assumed to serve as cue. The fungal natural products are atromentin-derived pigments. Preliminary evidence shows that in multi-partner culture a second bacterium can override inhibitory properties of another species.
This project focuses on S. lacrymans and its interactions in decaying wood including another, genetically amenable The interaction between wood-rotting basidiomycete,s like Serpula lacrymans and Schizophyllum commune, and a modelwith each other and with the co-occurring bacterium,a like Bacillus subtilis and theirdetermines overall degradation rates, while natural products mediatinge the community interactions. With the tripartite interactions, we plan to study how bacteria impact growth of basidiomycetes that grow in consortia (organismic level), and how stimuli by consortia are transduced inside the basidiomycete cell (cellular level) to aid future applications in wood protection by providing signals for the targeted manipulation of the community.