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Fungal genetics is the study of the mechanisms of heritable information in fungi. Yeasts and filamentous fungi are extensively used as model organisms for eukaryotic genetic research, including cell cycle regulation, chromatin structure, genetic recombination and gene regulation.
Here, Lax et al characterise the role and distribution of an epigenetic mark, adenine methylation (6mA), in the genomes of early diverging fungi and find the enzymes that write symmetric and asymmetric 6mA in their DNA.
Nematode-trapping fungi are able to overcome the cuticle of Caenorhabditis elegans to colonize the nematode body. Here, Emser et al. characterise a nematode induced protein that induces blister formation in the nematode epidermis to facilitate fungal entry.
Myb-like protein A (MylA) that has two tandem MYB domains is critical for appropriate fungal growth, development, conidial maturation, dormancy, and germination in Aspergillus nidulans.
A nematode-trapping fungus uses a dual-function G-protein-coupled receptor for perception of nematode-derived ascarosides for hunting Caenorhabditis elegans.
Azole antifungals are used to treat lung diseases caused by the pathogenic fungus Aspergillus fumigatus, but resistance is rising. Here, the authors generate a library of >100 protein kinase mutants of A. fumigatus, and show that loss of function or pharmacological inhibition of kinase YakA results in hypersensitivity to azoles and reduced pathogenicity.
In this Journal Club, Amelia Barber discusses a study revealing intraspecies heterogeneity in a fungal pathogen, prompting us to re-evaluate the notion of ‘reference’ strains.
Identification and analysis of mutator strains in the human fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans show that natural loss of RNA interference triggers massive accumulation of Cnl1 retroelements at subtelomeric regions.
Computational analysis of fungal genomes revealed that some early-branching fungi use selenocysteine, the selenium-containing amino acid, that was thought to be missing from proteins in this lineage.