About this Research Topic
Pathogenic fungi need to adapt to the host environment to efficiently promote infection. In this sense, macromolecules delimiting the fungal cell, such as lipids and carbohydrates, play a pivotal role in sensing and responding to a myriad of factors (temperature, pH, CO2 pressure, nutrient availability, presence of antifungals) which ultimately govern fungal growth, differentiation, signaling transduction and metabolism. In addition, the presence of specific lipids and sugars in the fungal membrane and cell wall might facilitate the pathogen evasion from the host immune system and dramatically interfere with the host’s immunity. Therefore, understanding how these border molecules act in shielding the fungal cell from stressors is crucial for the development of new and efficacious antifungal agents, therapeutics and to guide policies for dealing with emerging fungal diseases and drug resistant isolates worldwide.
Fungal diseases are increasingly reported as one of the main public health concerns due to the high morbimortality rates recorded worldwide. The recent announcement of the World Health Organization fungal priority pathogens list encompasses the fungal species of high importance to human global health. One of the pathways for action aiming to mitigate the effects of life-threatening fungal infection is the intensification of research and characterization of molecules that can render fungal cells vulnerable to novel antifungals or emerge as prominent vaccinal agents, novel druggable targets, or solid disease progressing markers for different fungal pathogen highlighted in the WHO priority list. Molecular genetics and biochemical approaches have been long used to profile Pathogen Associated Molecular Patterns (PAMPs).
In this Research Topic, we welcome the submission of Original Research, Review, and Opinion articles that include a focus on macromolecules of pathogenic fungi including animal and plant pathogens, focusing on lipids and carbohydrates that may have a solid involvement in virulence and pathogenicity, drug resistance, stress response, and so on. We are particularly interested in gathering resources to describe new druggable targets to combat fungal infection, molecules that can enhance the activity of the current clinically available antifungals, disease progression markers and targets for diagnosis of fungal infections. To this end structural analysis of carbohydrates and lipids are also encouraged. In addition, methods for detection and quantification of lipids and carbohydrates that correlate with research topics defined above.
Fungal diseases are increasingly reported as one of the main public health concerns due to the high morbimortality rates recorded worldwide. The recent announcement of the World Health Organization fungal priority pathogens list encompasses the fungal species of high importance to human global health. One of the pathways for action aiming to mitigate the effects of life-threatening fungal infection is the intensification of research and characterization of molecules that can render fungal cells vulnerable to novel antifungals or emerge as prominent vaccinal agents, novel druggable targets, or solid disease progressing markers for different fungal pathogen highlighted in the WHO priority list. Molecular genetics and biochemical approaches have been long used to profile Pathogen Associated Molecular Patterns (PAMPs).
In this Research Topic, we welcome the submission of Original Research, Review, and Opinion articles that include a focus on macromolecules of pathogenic fungi including animal and plant pathogens, focusing on lipids and carbohydrates that may have a solid involvement in virulence and pathogenicity, drug resistance, stress response, and so on. We are particularly interested in gathering resources to describe new druggable targets to combat fungal infection, molecules that can enhance the activity of the current clinically available antifungals, disease progression markers and targets for diagnosis of fungal infections. To this end structural analysis of carbohydrates and lipids are also encouraged. In addition, methods for detection and quantification of lipids and carbohydrates that correlate with research topics defined above.
Keywords: Aspergillus, Cryptococcus, Candida, Fusarium, pathogenic fungi, lipids, carbohydrates, membrane, cell wall, virulence, antifungals
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