Fungi articles from across Nature Portfolio

Nematode signals such as ascarosides are sensed by G protein-coupled receptors of a nematode-trapping fungus, resulting in fungal activation of cAMP–PKA signalling and trap development.

Challenges in obtaining empirical trait data hinder the development of trait-based frameworks for soil microbes. Here, the authors analyse traits of saprobic fungal isolates from a grassland site to propose a fungal economics spectrum, suggesting a general trait framework for soil fungi.

Coccidioidomycosis, a WHO-listed mycosis, is neglected in South America. Analysis of 292 cases in Brazil, often tied to armadillo hunting, unveils unique disease patterns, environmental factors and pathogen genetics causing the disease.

In this Review, Snyder et al. discuss the global impacts of food spoilage, mechanisms and causative agents, and strategies and emerging tools to control microbial food spoilage.

This study shows that hyphae formation is critical for Candida albicans gut colonization in the presence of commensal bacteria owing to the production of a hyphal-associated factor.

In this study, Liu et al. explore the interplay between a fungal effector and a plant cysteine protease and design a small-molecule compound aimed at targeting this effector to combat rice blast disease.

In this Journal Club, Amelia Barber discusses a study revealing intraspecies heterogeneity in a fungal pathogen, prompting us to re-evaluate the notion of ‘reference’ strains.

Vincent Courdavault and Nicolas Papon highlight two articles in Nature, published in 2006 and 2013, that reported the biosynthesis of a complex natural plant product to treat malaria in engineered yeast.

There are 5 million fungal species. However, the discovery and classification of fungi are in high flux. Modern concepts indicate that the three kingdoms of “fungi” are Chromista, Fungi and Protozoa. Strong support for the wrong phylogeny can occur without correct analytical methods. In the current Collection we envisaged fungi representing extremely diverse and ancient eukaryotic organisms, with familiar groups such as mushrooms, yeasts and “moulds”. We collected 6 fascinating papers in three areas of Diversity, Chemical Diversity and Evolution.

Increased heat tolerance in fungi with pathogenic potential due to global warming could bring new fungal diseases.