N-Acetylglucosamine Sensing and Metabolic Engineering for Attenuating Human and Plant Pathogens

Abstract

During evolution, both human and plant pathogens have evolved to utilize a diverse range of carbon sources. N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc), an amino sugar, is one of the major carbon sources utilized by several human and phytopathogens. GlcNAc regulates the expression of many virulence genes of pathogens. In fact, GlcNAc catabolism is also involved in the regulation of virulence and pathogenesis of various human pathogens, including Candida albicans, Vibrio cholerae, Leishmania donovani, Mycobacterium, and phytopathogens such as Magnaporthe oryzae. Moreover, GlcNAc is also a well-known structural component of many bacterial and fungal pathogen cell walls, suggesting its possible role in cell signaling. Over the last few decades, many studies have been performed to study GlcNAc sensing, signaling, and metabolism to better understand the GlcNAc roles in pathogenesis in order to identify new drug targets. In this review, we provide recent insights into GlcNAc-mediated cell signaling and pathogenesis. Further, we describe how the GlcNAc metabolic pathway can be targeted to reduce the pathogens’ virulence in order to control the disease prevalence and crop productivity.

Trichoderma: The Current Status of Its Application in Agriculture for the Biocontrol of Fungal Phytopathogens and Stimulation of Plant Growth

“…The great importance of Trichoderma in signaling and influencing the virulence of pathogens is associated with the ability to release an unusual universal signaling substance, N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc), as a result of chitinolytic activity [241]. A crucial step in a successful attack on fungal hosts is the production of hydrolytic enzymes that permeabilize and degrade the fungal cell wall [242].…”

WRKY genes provide novel insights into their role against Ralstonia solanacearum infection in cultivated peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.)

“…Climate change and crop production are directly correlated with each other, and current climate changes significantly impact agricultural productivity (Sharma et al, 2021 , 2022 ; Farooq et al, 2022 ). Mainly, different biotic diseases and abiotic environmental factors greatly affect the productivity and overall quality of various crop plants around the world (Irfan et al, 2016 , 2021 ; Kumar et al, 2016 ; Jiang et al, 2017 ; Ansari et al, 2022 ; Raza et al, 2022a , b ). Peanut ( Arachis hypogaea L.) is one of the most important oil crops in the world, but its yield is severely limited by various biotic and abiotic stresses (Mishra et al, 2015 ; Gangurde et al, 2019 ).…”

Recent Advances in Search of Bioactive Secondary Metabolites from Fungi Triggered by Chemical Epigenetic Modifiers

“…For examples, GlcNAc was considered as the DNA methyltransferase modifier [ 25 ]. It also regulated the expression of many virulence genes of pathogens to provide a survival advantage to the pathogens in the host [ 158 ]. Nicotinamide was an inhibitor of NAD + -dependent HDAC of class III in epigenetic regulation of fungal secondary metabolism [ 47 ].…”