Global S&T Development Trend Analysis Platform of Resources and Environment
Proteins Enable Crop-Infecting Fungi to 'Smell' Food | |
admin | |
2020-12-15 | |
发布年 | 2020 |
语种 | 英语 |
国家 | 美国 |
领域 | 气候变化 |
正文(英文) | New research shows the same proteins that enable human senses such as smell also allow certain fungi to sense something they can eat. The UC Riverside study offers new avenues for protecting people from starvation due to pathogenic fungus-induced food shortages. Understanding how fungi sense and digest plants can also help scientists engineer fungal strains that are more efficient at producing biofuels. Newly published by the American Society for Microbiology journal mBio, the study details how fungi react to cellulose, the main component of plant cell walls. Humans and other animals lack the enzymes to digest cellulose, but fungi can convert it into glucose, a sugar that makes an excellent biofuel feedstock. Key to this conversion process are G proteins, which send signals from a cell's outer membrane into its nucleus. "These proteins get information about what's outside the cell into what is essentially the brain of the cell, the nucleus, which in turn instructs the cell to produce a cocktail of cellulose-digesting enzymes," said study author and biochemistry doctoral student Logan Collier. To determine whether G proteins play a role in the ability of fungi to sense nearby cellulose, the researchers modified strains of a fungus called Neurospora crassa. Once the G proteins were mutated, Neurospora no longer had the ability to "see" that it was on cellulose. Neurospora is a filamentous fungus, which means it's made of thin tubes that extend and form a mesh as it grows. It plays a critical role in the environment, recycling carbon by consuming decaying plant matter and converting it into glucose. It is also closely related to pathogenic fungi that kill crops such as tomatoes and wheat. One related species also causes rice blast, which destroys enough rice to feed about 80 million people annually. Knowing how to interfere with G protein signaling in the fungus so it cannot detect its "food" could be crucial to stopping these kinds of infections. "No one has previously examined every member of the signaling pathway, creating a model for how every all of the G proteins work together," said Katherine Borkovich, a UC Riverside microbiology and plant pathology professor, who led the study. Moving forward, the research team would also like to apply what they've learned to biofuel production. "It does appear from our study that there are ways to modify the fungus to produce extra cellulose-digesting enzymes, which would make them more efficient at breaking down biofuel feedstocks," Collier said. Based on renewable sources like plants, biofuels can play a valuable role in reducing dependence on fossil fuels.
make a difference: sponsored opportunity
Story Source: Materials provided by University of California - Riverside. Original written by Jules Bernstein. Note: Content may be edited for style and length. Journal Reference:
Cite This Page: University of California - Riverside. "Proteins enable crop-infecting fungi to 'smell' food: Humans use same proteins to smell, taste, and see." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 15 December 2020.
University of California - Riverside. (2020, December 15). Proteins enable crop-infecting fungi to 'smell' food: Humans use same proteins to smell, taste, and see. ScienceDaily. Retrieved December 15, 2020 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/12/201215090328.htm
University of California - Riverside. "Proteins enable crop-infecting fungi to 'smell' food: Humans use same proteins to smell, taste, and see." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/12/201215090328.htm (accessed December 15, 2020).
|
URL | 查看原文 |
来源平台 | Science Daily |
文献类型 | 新闻 |
条目标识符 | http://119.78.100.173/C666/handle/2XK7JSWQ/306929 |
专题 | 气候变化 |
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714 | admin. Proteins Enable Crop-Infecting Fungi to 'Smell' Food. 2020. |
条目包含的文件 | 条目无相关文件。 |
个性服务 |
推荐该条目 |
保存到收藏夹 |
查看访问统计 |
导出为Endnote文件 |
谷歌学术 |
谷歌学术中相似的文章 |
[admin]的文章 |
百度学术 |
百度学术中相似的文章 |
[admin]的文章 |
必应学术 |
必应学术中相似的文章 |
[admin]的文章 |
相关权益政策 |
暂无数据 |
收藏/分享 |
除非特别说明,本系统中所有内容都受版权保护,并保留所有权利。
修改评论