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Antifungal triazoles inhibit biosynthesis of ergosterol, a crucial component of the fungal plasma membrane. Here, Xie et al. show that Erg6, the enzyme that catalyzes a previous step in ergosterol biosynthesis, is essential for the viability of Aspergillus fumigatus, and its repression reduces the virulence of this fungal pathogen in an animal model of infection.
Echinocandins are antifungal drugs that inhibit hyphal growth and induce lysis of hyphal tip compartments in pathogenic Aspergillus species. Here, Calise et al. show that echinocandins induce production of a fungal oxylipin signal, thus triggering hyphal growth changes that reduce hyphal tip lysis and confer echinocandin tolerance.
In this study, Liu et al. explore the interplay between a fungal effector and a plant cysteine protease and design a small-molecule compound aimed at targeting this effector to combat rice blast disease.
Invasive fungal diseases are on the increase globally. The World Health Organization fungal priority pathogens list highlights fungi of critical or high importance to human health and provides pathways for action. The report calls for improved surveillance (diagnostics and antifungal resistance monitoring), research and innovation (implementation research) and public-health interventions.
This study describes the isolation of a new compound, turbinmicin, which shows potent activity in mice against multidrug-resistant fungi and might have a novel mechanism of action.
This study reports that extensive copy number variations occur in the presence of azole antifungal drugs in Candida albicans, which might cause phenotypic and population-level heterogeneity observed in clinical isolates.