Valentin Wernet

• PhD
• Karlsruhe Institute of Technology

Filamentous fungi grow by apical extension where secretory vesicles are transported long distances by microtubules and by actin prior to fusion with the cell membrane. Apical, membrane-bound cell-end marker proteins (CEMPs) organise the cytoskeletons and thereby the growth machinery. CEMPs have been characterised mainly in Schizosaccharomyces pombe...

Peroxisomes are single membrane-bounded oxidative organelles with various metabolic functions including β-oxidation of fatty acids. Peroxisomes of many species confine certain metabolic enzymes into sub-compartments sometimes visible as electron dense cores. Why these structures form is largely unknown. Here, we report that in the smut fungus Ustil...

Communication is crucial for organismic interactions, from bacteria, to fungi, to humans. Humans may use the visual sense to monitor the environment before starting acoustic interactions. In comparison, fungi, lacking a visual system, rely on a cell-to-cell dialogue based on secreted signaling molecules to coordinate cell fusion and establish hypha...

Plant‐parasitic nematodes cause devastating agricultural damage worldwide. Only a few synthetic nematicides can be used and their application is limited in fields. Therefore, there is a need for sustainable and environment‐friendly alternatives. Nematode‐trapping fungi (NTF) are natural predators of nematodes. They capture and digest them with thei...

Communication is crucial for organismic interactions, from bacteria, to fungi, to humans. Humans may use the visual sense to monitor the environment before starting acoustic interactions. In comparison, fungi lack a visual system, instead, hyphae use a cell-to-cell dialogue based on secreted signaling molecules to orchestrate cell fusion and establ...

Significance This study reveals that a dialogue-like communication mechanism, which mediates cell–cell fusion in filamentous fungi, is a conserved complex trait. It allows the communication and behavioral coordination of cells of distantly related species and mediates their mutual attraction and subsequent physical contact, although interspecies fu...

Nematode-trapping fungi (NTF) are a diverse and intriguing group of fungi that live saprotrophically but can switch to a predatory lifestyle when starving and in the presence of nematodes. NTF like Arthrobotrys oligospora or Duddingtonia flagrans produce adhesive trapping networks to catch and immobilize nematodes. After penetration of the cuticle,...

Nematode-trapping fungi, such as Duddingtonia flagrans , are fascinating carnivorous microorganisms. In a nutrient-rich environment they live as saprotrophs, but if nutrients are scarce and in the presence of nematodes, they can switch to a predatory lifestyle. The switch is characterized by the formation of complex, adhesive trap structures. The i...

The striatin-interacting phosphatase and kinase complex (STRIPAK) is a highly conserved eukaryotic signaling hub involved in the regulation of many cellular processes. In filamentous fungi, STRIPAK controls multicellular development, hyphal fusion, septation and pathogenicity. In this study we analyzed the role of the STRIPAK complex in the nematod...

Centrosomes are important microtubule-organizing centers (MTOC) in animal cells. In addition, non-centrosomal MTOCs (ncMTOCs) were described in many cell types. Functional analogs of centrosomes in fungi are the spindle pole bodies (SPBs). In Aspergillus nidulans additional MTOCs were discovered at septa (sMTOC). Although the core components are co...

Fungi grow by apical extension of their hyphae. The continuous growth requires constant delivery of vesicles, which fuse with the membrane and secrete cell wall biosynthesis enzymes. The growth mechanism requires the fungal cytoskeleton and turgor pressure. In a recent study by Fukuda et al. (mBio 12:e03196-20, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1128/mBio.03...

Nematode-trapping fungi (NTF) are a large and diverse group of fungi, which may switch from a saprotrophic to a predatory lifestyle if nematodes are present. Different fungi have developed different trapping devices, ranging from adhesive cells to constricting rings. After trapping, fungal hyphae penetrate the worm, secrete lytic enzymes and form a...

Genome-based phylogenomic tree of NTF and other fungi. Bootstrap values are indicated beside the nodes. Orange color indicates the clade grouping of nematode trapping fungi. The proteomes of Arthrobotrys oligospora (ADOT00000000.1), Drechmeria coniospora (LAYC00000000.1), Dactylellina haptotyla (AQGS00000000.1), Fusarium graminearum (AACM00000000.2...

Germling and hyphal fusion pathway in D. flagrans. The pathway was reconstructed using the N. crassa model [52]. A so far unknown signaling molecule is released by the signal-emitting cell, probably by exocytosis, in a SO-dependent manner. The signal is perceived by a so far unknown receptor of the signal-receiving cell. The binding leads to the as...

Graphical representation of the GO term association data for 6,878 proteins and pathways identified in D. flagrans (https://chirimoyo.ac.uma.es/bitlab/portfolio/sma3s/). The slices represent the percentage of unigenes identified in the particular category. (A) Biological process. (B) Molecular function. (C) Uniprot pathways. (PPTX)

Comparison of the proteomes and secretomes of several fungi. 21 fungal secretomes and effectors were predicted and were compared to those of D. flagrans. All secretomes were generated on the same way as for D. flagrans (See Materials and methods). The proteomes of A. oligospora (ADOT00000000.1), Fusarium graminearium (AACM00000000.2), Aspergillus n...

Length and mean coverage of D. flagrans contigs. The length of the contigs is given in bp. The mean coverage is calculated for each contig and the last row is the sum of length and mean coverage of all contigs. (XLS)

BlastP result of D. flagrans proteins compared with A. oligospora proteins with e-values below 10 E-5. The columns are the same as in S4 Table. (XLS)

Comparison of the Pfam domains in 4 NTF. Pfam domains and the corresponding numbers found in D. flagrans, A. oligospora, Da. haptotyla and Dre. coniospora. (XLS)

PHI base and the corresponding number of genes in D. flagrans. D. flagrans proteins blasted against the Pathogen–Host Interaction database (PHI). Columns: PHI accession number, number of proteins found in D. flagrans and virulence effect level. (XLS)

Pathogenesis-related genes in several fungal genomes. Comparison between proteins (transporter, signaling, oxidation, transcription regulation, metabolism and some others) from the PHI database between D. flagrans, A. oligospora, Da. haptotyla, Dre. coniospora and Pochonia chlamydospora. Columns: PHI accession number, description of the protein wit...

Oligonucleotides used in this study. (XLS)

Additional genome features. (DOCX)

Genome structure of D. flagrans. Circular map displaying genomic features of the D. flagrans genome. Distinct contigs are depicted using Circos with colored sectors on the outer layer resulting in 36.6 Mb. From outside to inside: (a) CDS position, (b) Intron position, (c) percentage of G+C, (d) percentage of GC skew, (e) effector genes, (f) secreto...

Comparison of nematode-trapping fungi secretome proteins. (A) Venn diagram of D. flagrans, A. oligospora and D. haptotyla secretomes, 157 orthologous proteins are shared. (B) Venn diagram of orthologous gene clusters of D. flagrans, A. oligospora, Da. haptotyla and D. stenobrocha. The four nematode trapping fungi share 139 clusters. (PPTX)

Detailed annotations of the D. flagrans secretome based on the Sma3s tool and InterProScan. Columns: protein accession, protein name (when found in Uniprot 90), description of the protein, enzyme reference, GO ontology, keyword, IPR domain and IPR description. (XLS)

Secretome and effector comparison between several fungi. 21 fungi were compared at the proteome, secretome and effectors level. Columns: name of the fungus, number of proteins, number of proteins in secretome, % of secretome compared to proteome, number of protein effectors, % of effectors in secretome. (XLS)

Clustering of orthologous proteins exclusive to D. flagrans common in five chlamydospore-forming fungi. The OrthoVenn diagram shows the clustering of orthologous proteins exclusive to D. flagrans (not found in A. oligospora) in the five chlamydospore forming fungi Botrytis cinerea, Cryptococcus neoformans, Fusarium oxysporum and Pochonia chlamydosp...

ATGC repartition in each contig. The length of the contigs is given in bp. The rest of the columns show the percentage of nucleotide usage in each contig. (XLS)

Genome size, number of predicted protein-coding genes, G + C content and best Blast top hit homology between D. flagrans and other 8 fungal genomes. The columns show: Genome size in Mb, percentage of GC content, number of proteins, best blast top hit (orthologous proteins), the life style and NCBI project accession number. (XLS)

BlastP result of D. flagrans proteins analyzed using the Swissprot database. Columns show: qseqid: query accession dot version, sseqid: subject accession dot version (database hit), pident: percentage of identical matches, length: alignment length, mismatch: number of mismatches, gapopen: number of gap openings, qstart: start of alignment in query,...

D. flagrans mitochondrial genes and their annotation. Mitochrondrial proteins and their corresponding description in the InterProScan database. (XLS)

Annotated D. flagrans proteome using Pfam. All D. flagrans proteins with Pfam or Interpro domains are depicted. Columns: proteins assigned with locus-tag, Pfam domain, description from Pfam database, E-value, Interpro domain, description from Interpo database. (XLS)

Genes involved in germling/hyphal fusion in N. crassa, Sordaria macrospora and orthologues in D. flagrans. The orthologues and accession numbers of N. crassa and S. macrospora are shown. The D. flagrans orthologues were identified by BLAST search against N. crassa. (XLS)

Polarized growth of filamentous fungi requires continuous transport of biomolecules to the hyphal tip. To this end, construction materials are packaged in vesicles and transported by motor proteins along microtubules and actin filaments. We have studied these processes with quantitative superresolution localization microscopy of live Aspergillus ni...

Cell wall formation and maintenance are crucial for hyphal morphogenesis. In many filamentous fungi, chitin is one of the main structural components of the cell wall. Aspergillus nidulans ChsB, a chitin synthase, and CsmA, a chitin synthase with a myosin motor-like domain (MMD) at its N-terminus, both localize predominantly at the hyphal tip region...