Molecular Bacteria-Fungi Interactions: Effects on Environment, Food, and Medicine

Abstract

This review focuses on bacteria-fungi interactions mediated by secondary metabolites that occur in the environment and have implications for medicine and biotechnology. Bipartite interactions that affect agriculture as well as relationships involving additional partners (plants and animals) are discussed. The advantages of microbial interplay for food production and the risks regarding food safety are presented. Furthermore, recent developments in decoding the impact of bacteria-fungi interactions on infection processes and their implications for human health are highlighted. In addition, this reviews aims to demonstrate how the understanding of complex microbial interactions found in nature can be exploited for the discovery of new therapeutics.

Molecular mechanisms underlying the close association between soil Burkholderia and fungi

“…Burkholderia are particularly abundant in soil where they can be associated with a wide range of plants (Elliott et al, 2009;Carlier and Eberl, 2012), invertebrates (Kikuchi et al, 2005) and fungi (Warmink et al, 2009;Uroz et al, 2012;Scherlach et al, 2013). Since Burkholderia are mostly found in acidic soils (Stopnisek et al, 2014), interactions with fungi might be of particular relevance as fungi also favour acidic environments.…”

Copsin, a Novel Peptide-based Fungal Antibiotic Interfering with the Peptidoglycan Synthesis

“…One of the best studied types of bacterial-fungal interactions is the antibiosis, where secreted substances play a key role in combating other microorganisms to defend a nutritional niche (1,2). Secondary metabolites are the best characterized group of defense molecules, with the most prominent member being penicillin from the Penicillium chrysogenum mold (3).…”

“…Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) 2 are a class of defense molecules that participate in competing bacteria and other microbes as a part of an innate immune system. AMPs are a large and highly diverse group of low molecular mass proteins (Ͻ10 kDa), produced by both prokaryotes and eukaryotes.…”

Fungal Secondary Metabolism in the Light of Animal–Fungus Interactions: From Mechanism to Ecological Function

“…For example, in the field, fungi are assumed to interact with a multitude of other microorganisms [18,19]). Recent studies have used confrontation assays with bacteria to determine influence of prokaryotes on fungal secondary metabolite formation.…”