Poster
Ana Lopez-Moral
Postdoctoral Researcher
University of Cologne
Cologne, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
Saifei Liu
PhD student
University of Colognge
Cologne, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
Hui Tian
Postdoctoral Researcher
University of Cologne
Cologne, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
Jana Marx
Master Student
University of Cologne
Cologne, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
Andrea Doddi
PhD student
University of Cologne
Cologne, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
Fantin Mesny
Postdoctoral Researcher
University of Cologne
Cologne, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
Bart Thomma (he/him/his)
CEPLAS/University of Cologne
Cologne, GERMANY
LysM effectors, commonly encoded in fungal genomes, are secreted proteins containing carbohydrate-binding LysM domains without additional annotated protein domains. Most LysM effectors characterized in plant-pathogenic fungi bind fungal chitin fragments to suppress chitin-triggered immunity during host plant colonization. However, as LysM effectors also occur in fungi that are not associated with (plant) hosts, we anticipate roles for these effectors besides suppression of host immunity. Originally, the LysM was identified in lysozymes, proteins that bind and hydrolyze bacterial peptidoglycan. Thus, we hypothesize that LysM effectors may play roles in fungal-bacteria interactions as well. To test this, we confronted a diversity panel of bacteria with fungal LysM effectors. Interestingly, the growth of particularly Gram-positive bacteria, which expose peptidoglycan on their cell wall, was strongly inhibited. Moreover, binding assays confirmed that particular LysM effectors can bind purified peptidoglycan. Our current efforts are aimed at unravelling the mode of action of LysM effectors as antibacterial proteins that act in microbial competition. We furthermore study the impact of LysM effectors on microbiota compositions in the environment of the fungus to elucidate their contribution to fungal fitness and niche competition.