Project description:Rhizopus microsporus is one of the most common agents of mucormycosis, a severe and emerging infection caused by Mucorales fungi that poses a significant clinical challenge, particularly due to the growing population of immunocompromised individuals. An substantial proportion of clinical isolates harbor bacterial endosymbionts, which regulate key fungal functions, such asexual sporulation. The strict dependence on endosymbionts for spore formation has limited a comprehensive understanding of endosymbiosis in R. microsporus biology. Here, we demonstrate that sporulation in endosymbiont-cured strains of this fungus, which previously harbored Mycetohabitans bacteria, can be induced by light. Interestingly, both light and endosymbionts regulate sporulation through the same regulatory pathway, and a high proportion of the genes upregulated by these signals are known to be involved in asexual sporulation in other fungi, including Mucorales. Light-induced sporulation enabled comparative assays to assess the impact of symbiosis on fungal traits. In addition to previously known effects on fungal fitness, this study reveals that germination is independent of endosymbionts, although their presence accelerates the process. Furthermore, it shows that asexual spores lacking endosymbionts exhibit a reduced virulence in a mouse model of mucormycosis. The discovery of light-induced sporulation in endosymbiont-free strains of R. microsporus paves the way for future comparative studies using genetically identical backgrounds, advancing our understanding of fungal-bacterial symbiosis and its role in fungal biology and human pathogenesis.
2026-02-28 | GSE289616 | GEO
Project description:Genomes of Pandoraea sputorum and Mycetohabitans endofungorum
Project description:Uric acid stored in the fat body of cockroaches is a nitrogen reservoir mobilized in times of scarcity. The discovery of urease in Blattabacterium cuenoti, the primary endosymbiont of cockroaches, suggests that the endosymbiont may participate in cockroach nitrogen economy. However, bacterial urease may only be one piece in the entire nitrogen recycling process from insect uric acid. Thus, in addition to the uricolytic pathway to urea, there must be glutamine synthetase assimilating the released ammonia by the urease reaction to enable the stored nitrogen to be metabolically usable. None of the Blattabacterium genomes sequenced to date possess genes encoding for those enzymes. To test the host's contribution to the process, we have sequenced and analysed Blattella germanica transcriptomes from the fat body. We identified transcripts corresponding to all genes necessary for the synthesis of uric acid and its catabolism to urea, as well as for the synthesis of glutamine, asparagine, proline and glycine, i.e. the amino acids required by the endosymbiont. We also explored the changes in gene expression with different dietary protein levels. It appears that the ability to use uric acid as a nitrogen reservoir emerged in cockroaches after its age-old symbiotic association with bacteri
Project description:Transcriptome analysis of Wigglesworthia glossinidia endosymbiont derived from control samples with or without parasite contact at 10 days. Expression profiling by array - Wigglesworthia glossinidia endosymbiont of Glossina morsitans morsitans
2015-07-01 | GSE55991 | GEO
Project description:Endosymbiont Genomes of Psylloidea Species
Project description:Transcriptome analysis of Wigglesworthia glossinidia endosymbiont derived from uninfected and infected samples at 3 time points (3, 10 and 20 days). Expression profiling by array - Wigglesworthia glossinidia endosymbiont of Glossina morsitans morsitans
