Overview of the Interplay Between Cell Wall Integrity Signaling Pathways and Membrane Lipid biosynthesis in fungi: perspectives for Aspergillus fumigatus.

Overview of the Interplay Between Cell Wall Integrity Signaling Pathways and Membrane Lipid biosynthesis in fungi: perspectives for Aspergillus fumigatus. Curr Protein Pept Sci. 2019 Jul 05;: Authors: Fabri JHTM, Rocha MC, Malavazi I Abstract The cell wall (CW) and plasma membrane are fundamental structures that define cell shape and support different cellular functions. In pathogenic fungi, such as Aspegillus fumigatus, they not only play structural roles but also are important for virulence and immune recognition. Both the CW and the plasma membrane remain as attractive drug targets to treat fungal infections, such as the Invasive Pulmonary Aspergillosis (IPA), a disease associated with high morbimortality in immunocompromised individuals. The low efficiency of echinocandins that target the fungal CW biosynthesis, the occurrence of environmental isolates resistant to azoles such as voriconazole and the known drawbacks associated with amphotericin toxicity foster the urgent need for fungal-specific drugable targets and/or more efficient combinatorial therapeutic strategies. Reverse genetic approaches in fungi unveil that perturbations of the CW also render cells with increased susceptibility to membrane disrupting agents and vice-versa. However, how the fungal cells simultaneously cope with perturbation in CW polysaccharides and cell membrane proteins to allow morphogenesis is scarcely known. Here, we focus on current information on...
Source: Current Protein and Peptide Science - Category: Biochemistry Authors: Tags: Curr Protein Pept Sci Source Type: research