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Stress Research in Filamentous Fungi and Yeasts—2nd Edition
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Stress Research in Filamentous Fungi and Yeasts—2nd Edition

A Special Issue of Journal of Fungi (ISSN 2309-608X) belonging to the section "Fungal Genomics, Genetics and Molecular Biology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 28 February 2027 | Viewed by 1885

Editor

Prof. Dr. István Pócsi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Department of Molecular Biotechnology and Microbiology, Institute of Biotechnology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Debrecen, 4032 Debrecen, Hungary
2. Fungal Stress Biology Research Group, HUN-REN, University of Debrecen, 4032 Debrecen, Hungary
Interests: fungal stress biology; microbial biotechnology; omics techniques; antimycotics; mycotoxins
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Fungal stress biology is an important but still relatively understudied field of mycology. Regardless of their lifestyle, fungi often face harsh environmental conditions to which they must adapt in order to survive. They are remarkably successful in adapting to a broad spectrum of environmental stress conditions, which allows them to occupy a wide range of ecological niches. This Special Issue aims to expand and summarize today's knowledge regarding the elements and regulation of fungal stress defense systems, covering both general and taxon-specific features. In addition, this Special Issue aims to focus on new results promoting innovative applied research in various fields, including the development of highly stress-resistant industrial strains, new types of antifungal agents, and new technologies to increase the safety of the feed and food chain. It is hoped that this Special Issue will provide all interested parties with an authentic and comprehensive picture of the current and future trends in fungal stress biology research.

Prof. Dr. István Pócsi
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Fungi is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • fungal stress biology
  • environmental stress
  • stress sensing
  • signaling and adaptation
  • stress defense system
  • new-type antimycotics
  • industrial strain development
  • food chain safety

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Related Special Issue

Published Papers (3 papers)

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40 pages, 14130 KB  
Article
Metabolomic Profiling of Endomyces magnusii During Long-Term Cultivation on Glycerol and Glucose
by Olga I. Klein, Katerina V. Sazanova, Elena P. Isakova, Natalya N. Gessler, Alexander M. Prosvirin, Ekaterina V. Solovyeva and Yulia I. Deryabina
J. Fungi 2026, 12(8), 592; https://doi.org/10.3390/jof12080592 - 10 Aug 2026
Viewed by 298
Abstract
Introduction: The study purpose was to identify possible key metabolites that determine the adaptation of the Endomyces magnusii yeast to long-term cultivation (four weeks) using glycerol as an “oxidative” and glucose as a “fermentative” substrate. Methods: The metabolic profile was assayed using gas [...] Read more.
Introduction: The study purpose was to identify possible key metabolites that determine the adaptation of the Endomyces magnusii yeast to long-term cultivation (four weeks) using glycerol as an “oxidative” and glucose as a “fermentative” substrate. Methods: The metabolic profile was assayed using gas chromatography combined with mass spectrometry, followed by bioinformatic analysis (PARADISe, Golm metabolome database (GMD), MassBank, UniChrom). Results: PCA and PLS-DA analyses showed that the type of carbon source contributed significantly to the overall variability of the data, and the greatest variance was observed for the groups grown on different substrates for the first cultivation week. Growth on glycerol increased the chronological lifespan of E. magnusii due to the early launch of adaptive oxidative stress, the active use of lipids as an energy source, the accumulation of membrane sterols, osmo-protective polyols, organic acids (malic, methyl glycerinic, palmitic, linoleic), and some sugars (lyxose, galactose), which increased the overall resistance and maintained high cell survival. On the contrary, cultivation using glucose provoked a sharp substrate depletion, inducing passive storage of sugars (trehalose), diauxic shock, and less effective antioxidant protection, which provided lower cell survival upon prolonged growth. Conclusions: (1) Metabolic signs associated with prolonged culturing were identified in all the compounds classes tested (polyols, fatty acids, lactones); (2) some metabolites (in particular, dulcitol), being hypothetical biomarkers of aging, are at the same time protective agents involved in the adaptation of yeast cells to the deep stationary growth stages. Our data can serve as a basis for comparative studies of aging-related metabolism in other eukaryotic models. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Stress Research in Filamentous Fungi and Yeasts—2nd Edition)
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17 pages, 1388 KB  
Article
Aspergillus flavus bZIP-Type Transcription Factors as Promising Novel Targets for Future Aflatoxin Control Strategies
by Ágnes Kata Mondok, Tünde Pusztahelyi, Szilvia Kovács, Barbara Brendzsák, Tamás Emri, István Pócsi and Éva Leiter
J. Fungi 2026, 12(7), 532; https://doi.org/10.3390/jof12070532 - 19 Jul 2026
Viewed by 529
Abstract
The bZIP type transcription factors (bZIPs) are global regulators governing vegetative growth, development, stress defense and secondary metabolism, including mycotoxin production in filamentous fungi. In this work, we constructed and phenotypically characterized gene deletion and complementation mutants of some bZIPs, including Afap1, [...] Read more.
The bZIP type transcription factors (bZIPs) are global regulators governing vegetative growth, development, stress defense and secondary metabolism, including mycotoxin production in filamentous fungi. In this work, we constructed and phenotypically characterized gene deletion and complementation mutants of some bZIPs, including Afap1, AflatfA, LziP, AflatfB and bZIP6 in Aspergillus flavus. Environmental and fungicide stress responses, as well as aflatoxin production of the mutants in both surface cultures and infected maize kernels, were studied. Phenotypic characterization of the mutants revealed that Afap1 and AflatfA were involved in the oxidative (H2O2, menadione, tert-butyl hydroperoxide), cell wall integrity (Congo Red) and heavy metal (CdCl2) stress responses of A. flavus. In addition, the Afap1 and AflatfA gene deletions decreased the diamide and prothioconazole tolerances of the fungus, respectively. The ΔLziP strain showed increased growth in the presence of diamide, while reduced colony diameters were observed after exposure to CdCl2 and fludioxonil. The ΔAflatfB gene deletion mutant was also sensitive to tBOOH, while azoxystrobin and prothioconazole fungicides significantly inhibited the growth of ΔbZIP6. When aflatoxin (AFB1) production was measured in surface cultures, decreased AFB1 levels were detected only in the ΔAflatfA gene deletion mutant strain. However, in corn kernel infection assays, the ΔAfap1, ΔAflatfA, and ΔAflatfB mutants were characterized by significantly reduced aflatoxin production, while the deletion of bZIP6 almost completely abolished AFB1 biosynthesis. Our results suggest that Afap1 and AflatfA appear to be promising targets for the development of new antifungal agents, as their inhibition may increase the sensitivity of A. flavus to environmental stress, simultaneously reducing the aflatoxin production of the fungus and the use of azoles (AflatfA) in the antifungal protection of maize. In addition, bZIP6 may also be considered as an attractive target for further studies when aiming to eliminate aflatoxin production and minimize the use of azoxystrobin and prothioconazole in maize crop protection. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Stress Research in Filamentous Fungi and Yeasts—2nd Edition)
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16 pages, 4683 KB  
Article
Ras1-Independent High Iron-Mediated Hyphal Formation in Candida albicans
by Deepak Parashar, Rishabh Sharma and Sumant Puri
J. Fungi 2026, 12(7), 459; https://doi.org/10.3390/jof12070459 - 23 Jun 2026
Viewed by 532
Abstract
C. albicans small GTPase Ras1 belonging to the cAMP-Protein Kinase A (PKA) signaling pathway is a well-established master regulator of hyphal development, taking its environmental cues from N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) as a carbon source. Iron is also known to induce filamentation in C. albicans [...] Read more.
C. albicans small GTPase Ras1 belonging to the cAMP-Protein Kinase A (PKA) signaling pathway is a well-established master regulator of hyphal development, taking its environmental cues from N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) as a carbon source. Iron is also known to induce filamentation in C. albicans. However, the influence of iron availability on Ras1-cAMP-PKA signaling in response to GlcNAc-induced filamentation has never been studied. In this study, we investigated the role of Ras1 in hyphal induction under varying iron conditions, using both in vitro systems and an in vivo model of mucosal colonization in Caenorhabditis elegans. Surprisingly, upon GlcNAc exposure, Δ/Δras1 cells formed true hyphae exclusively under high-iron conditions, whereas its parent strain (CAI4-Ura+) showed hyphal formation irrespective of environmental iron levels. Further analysis revealed that this GlcNAc-mediated hyphal formation under high iron in Δ/Δras1 cells was independent of cAMP levels but required the downstream effectors Efg1 and Tpk2. A similar iron-dependent pattern of hyphal formation in Δ/Δras1 cells was also observed in vivo in C. elegans. Transcriptomic analysis indicated that high iron induced robust expression of hypha-associated genes in Δ/Δras1, accompanied by downregulation of BCY1, a negative regulator of PKA. Overexpression of BCY1 in Δ/Δras1 cells completely blocked the iron-dependent hyphal formation, highlighting a previously unrecognized Ras1-independent, iron-responsive mechanism controlling PKA-mediated filamentation. Collectively, our findings reveal that increased environmental iron availability can bypass Ras1 to regulate hyphal development by limiting Bcy1 levels to allow PKA activation. This provides insights into how C. albicans can exploit iron replete host niches for enhanced pathogenicity, eliminating the need for key modulators such as Ras1. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Stress Research in Filamentous Fungi and Yeasts—2nd Edition)
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