Fungal RNA Biology

Our molecular and biochemical understanding of basic fungal processes lags far behind our understanding of other microbes like bacteria or viruses. We aim to level the playing field by defining novel modes of regulation for fungal RNA. These studies will provide a base for the development of future RNA-based therapeutics.

Staff

Matthew Blango
Bhawana Israni
Talha Maqsood
Swatika Prabakar
Marlen Schnauß-Müller

Publications

Pan X*, Kelani AA*, Schrettenbrunner L, Prabakar S, Israni B, Blango MG# (2026) An improved description of the small RNA landscape of the human fungal pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus. Mol Microbiol , 1-12.
Schrettenbrunner L, Maufrais C, Janbon G, Wallace EWJ, Blango MG# (2026) Comprehensive mapping of the 5' and 3' untranslated regions of Aspergillus fumigatus reveals diverse mechanisms of mRNA processing including premature transcription termination. RNA 32(2), 250-266.
Bruch A*, Lazarova V*, Berg M, Krueger T, Schaeuble S, Kelani AA, Mertens B, Lehenberger P, Kniemeyer O, Kaiser S, Panagiotou G, Gsaller F, Blango MG (2025) tRNA hypomodification facilitates 5-fluorocytosine resistance via cross-pathway control system activation in Aspergillus fumigatus Nucleic Acids Res 53(3), gkae1205.
Kelani AA, Bruch A, Rivieccio F, Visser C, Krüger T, Weaver D, Pan X, Schaeuble S, Panagiotou G, Kniemeyer O, Bromley MJ, Bowyer P, Barber AE, Brakhage AA, Blango MG (2023) Disruption of the A. fumigatus RNA interference machinery alters the conidial transcriptome. RNA 29(7), 1033-1050.