Finding new ways to kill pathogenic fungi

Fungal pathogens pose a threat to human health and food security. Very few antifungals are available, and resistance to these is rising. There is an urgent need for new antifungals that feature new modes of killing action.

Yeasts, such as our common baker’s yeast and related species, have evolved a large set of functionally diverse toxic proteins to compete against fungi in the environment.

The researchers will develop a workflow than can reveal how these toxins kill pathogenic fungi and how different their killing strategies are. This knowledge could be used to develop new antifungals with diverse modes of action.