Determinants of fungal cell wall morphology: the vesicle supply center

1995 ◽  
Vol 73 (S1) ◽  
pp. 372-378 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Bartnicki-Garcia ◽  
D. D. Bartnicki ◽  
G. Gierz

Because fungal cell walls are shaped during construction, factors that regulate wall biogenesis must play a decisive role in morphogenesis. By delivering ingredients for wall formation in vesicles, fungi have a de facto mechanism to mold their own shape. The gradients in wall formation required for cell morphogenesis ensue from the pattern of vesicle discharge. A vesicle-based, mathematical model of fungal morphogenesis revealed that a relatively simple process could establish these gradients. The model and its underlying hyphoid equation assumes that wall-building vesicles emanate from a vesicle supply center (VSC). The VSC serves as an organizing center from which vesicles would move radially to the cell surface in all directions at random. VSC displacement is then an immediate cause of morphogenesis: a sustained linear displacement of the VSC would generate a polarized pattern of exocytosis required to make a hypha. The model predicts that the Spitzenkörper functions as a VSC. We have tested this prediction by analyzing instances where dislocations in Spitzenkörper position result in hyphal deformations. When the VSC was programmed to duplicate the movements of the Spitzenkörper before, during, and after a deformation, the resulting shapes mimicked closely the observed deformations. These correlations support the contention that the position and movement of the VSC determines the morphology of the fungal cell wall. The computer model has been refined to incorporate transverse random oscillations of the VSC to simulate more realistically the meandering shape of fungal hyphae. The model predicts that hyphal ring formation results from a sustained directional bias to the transverse oscillations of the Spitzenkörper. Key words: hyphal morphogenesis, Spitzenkörper, vesicle supply center, mathematical model, hyphoid equation, hyphal curvature.

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Schuster ◽  
Magdalena Martin-Urdiroz ◽  
Yujiro Higuchi ◽  
Christian Hacker ◽  
Sreedhar Kilaru ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (10) ◽  
pp. 812-830 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Marie Arockianathan ◽  
Monika Mishra ◽  
Rituraj Niranjan

The developing resistance in fungi has become a key challenge, which is being faced nowadays with the available antifungal agents in the market. Further search for novel compounds from different sources has been explored to meet this problem. The current review describes and highlights recent advancement in the antifungal drug aspects from plant and marine based sources. The current available antifungal agents act on specific targets on the fungal cell wall, like ergosterol synthesis, chitin biosynthesis, sphingolipid synthesis, glucan synthesis etc. We discuss some of the important anti-fungal agents like azole, polyene and allylamine classes that inhibit the ergosterol biosynthesis. Echinocandins inhibit β-1, 3 glucan synthesis in the fungal cell wall. The antifungals poloxins and nikkomycins inhibit fungal cell wall component chitin. Apart from these classes of drugs, several combinatorial therapies have been carried out to treat diseases due to fungal resistance. Recently, many antifungal agents derived from plant and marine sources showed potent activity. The renewed interest in plant and marine derived compounds for the fungal diseases created a new way to treat these resistant strains which are evident from the numerous literature publications in the recent years. Moreover, the compounds derived from both plant and marine sources showed promising results against fungal diseases. Altogether, this review article discusses the current antifungal agents and highlights the plant and marine based compounds as a potential promising antifungal agents.


2021 ◽  
pp. 2100110
Author(s):  
Liyuan Zhang ◽  
Mengchen Zhang ◽  
Gongping Liu ◽  
Wanqin Jin ◽  
Xiaoyan Li

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