Project-ID: LS16-004
Project start: 01. October 2017
Runtime: 36 months / ongoing
Funding amount: € 277.000,00

Brief summary

Secondary metabolite production of fungi can be very beneficial for human kind because of their antibiotic effect, but in
many cases their toxicity represents an important threat to human health. In fungi, the VELVET protein is known to be involved in regulation of secondary metabolism, also in response to light. We could recently show that in the biotechnological workhorse Trichoderma reesei, VEL1 impacts communication among fungi upon encounter and subsequent sexual development. Interestingly, two fungi growing towards each other can sense their partner and influence their secondary metabolite production. Subsequently we also found that VEL1 interacts genetically with the photoreceptor ENV1. Further analyses suggested that a strain lacking env1 can influence secondary metabolite production of another fungus in its vicinity negatively.
In the proposed projects we consequently want to investigate chemical communication in fungi as regulated by VEL1 and ENV1 in more detail. The mechanisms of how the influence of VEL1 and ENV1 on fungi in their vicinity is exerted shall be studied. Moreover, we intend to evaluate how widespread these partner effects are by testing whether a strain lacking env1 can also alter secondary metabolite production in other species.
The insights into the mechanism of chemical communication in fungi to be gained in the course of this project will provide valuable knowledge for both optimization of antibiotics production as well as fighting mycotoxin production in agriculture and food and feed production.

Keywords:
Biotechnology - Fungal Signal Transduction pathways and secondary metabolism