Hitting the Sweet Spot: Glycans as Targets of Fungal Defense Effector Proteins

Molecules

Markus Künzler¹ 

[1] Institute of Microbiology, Department of Biology, ETH Zürich, Vladimir-Prelog-Weg 4, 8093 Zürich, Switzerland; E-Mail

关键词: antibiosis;    resistance;    fungi;    nematodes;    bacteria;    lectin;    defensin;    toxin;    glycolipid;    glycoprotein;   

DOI  :  10.3390/molecules20058144

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Organisms which rely solely on innate defense systems must combat a large number of antagonists with a comparatively low number of defense effector molecules. As one solution of this problem, these organisms have evolved effector molecules targeting epitopes that are conserved between different antagonists of a specific taxon or, if possible, even of different taxa. In order to restrict the activity of the defense effector molecules to physiologically relevant taxa, these target epitopes should, on the other hand, be taxon-specific and easily accessible. Glycans fulfill all these requirements and are therefore a preferred target of defense effector molecules, in particular defense proteins. Here, we review this defense strategy using the example of the defense system of multicellular (filamentous) fungi against microbial competitors and animal predators.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.