Unravelling how the biosynthesis of sphingolipids impacts stress responses in Aspergillus nidulans

Abstract

"For the past years filamentous fungi have been emerging as critical human-pathogens and have been increasingly provoking deadly invasive infections. The currently available antifungal drugs are inadequate to fight this global threat and the discovery of new antifungal targets are urgently needed. In this context, fungal sphingolipids have come up as potential targets for the development of new antifungal agents; however, knowledge on sphingolipid biosynthetic pathways in filamentous fungi, such as Aspergillus nidulans, is still rather limited. Previous observations demonstrated that some ionic liquids can trigger the accumulation of sphingolipid intermediates of the glucosylceramide biosynthetic pathway, that in response to the induced stress are probably acting as second messengers. In the present thesis we wanted to assess how sphingolipid biosynthesis can impact stress responses in A. nidulans.(...)"