Fungi as foe and friend: Combating and utilizing Fusarium as producers of natural products (FUSION)

Filamentous fungi of the genus Fusarium are one of the few trans-kingdom pathogens. They cause crop losses as plant pathogens and can cause serious superficial diseases in humans that can be life-threatening. The treatment of infections is very difficult because Fusarium fungi have a high intrinsic resistance to clinically used antifungal drugs. Fusarium fungi are widespread in the environment and are known as notorious plant pathogens and mycotoxin producers. Due to the high number and diversity of natural products they produce, they also represent a rich and untapped source of new active compounds that could be used as antibiotics or antifungal agents.

The aim of the FUSION project is to efficiently exploit both the potential of Fusarium natural products and new strategies for combating Fusarium spp. To this end, the modular technology platform JenXplor at the Leibniz-HKI offers a fully automated infrastructure for biological laboratory processes. JenXplor was established by the junior research group Robotics-Assisted Discovery of Anti-Infectives, led by Luzia Gyr.

The genome sequences of clinical Fusarium isolates from the junior research group (Epi-)Genetic Regulation of Fungal Virulence, led by Slavica Janevska, are being used in particular for the targeted production of active natural products. The work of FUSION directly continues the funding of the Thuringian research groups RoboThür and FusInfect.

The new research group brings together the expertise and methods of both groups for a joint research project. It is funded by the Free State of Thuringia with funds from the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+).