Uncovering the genetic code for new antifungal chemistry.

Fungal pathogens pose a threat to human health and food security. Few antifungals are available, and resistance is rising. There is an urgent need for new chemically diverse antifungals.

Yeasts – such as our common baker’s yeast and related species – have evolved a large set of antifungal molecules to compete against fungi in the environment, still, yeasts have been ignored as a source for antifungal discovery over the last decades. We have bio-mined over 125 yeast with antifungal activity.

Here we want to identify the biosynthetic pathways encoding these molecules toward discovering new catalysts and chemistries for antifungal design.