踏破铁鞋无觅处——一类新型抗真菌剂的发现

病原微生物通过其特有的机制破坏植物的防御屏障, 引发病害, 给农业生产造成损失。研究病菌致病机制, 能够启发人们探索病害防控的新思路。四川农业大学陈学伟团队阐明了稻瘟病菌的一种特殊结构——侵染钉的发生机制, 发现超长碳链脂肪酸合成酶在此过程中发挥重要作用。以超长碳链脂肪酸合成酶为靶点, 该团队寻找到了抑制超长碳链脂肪酸生物合成, 进而抑制侵染结构发生的化合物。这些化合物可广谱抑制多种病原真菌在动物和植物宿主上的致病力, 为创制新型农药开拓了新思路。

Antifungal Compounds Come in Handy

Pathogenic microbes employ specialized mechanisms to breach defense of host plants, causing diseases on plants and losses in agricultural production. Understanding mechanisms of pathogenesis offers new avenues for disease control. A team from Sichuan Agriculture University led by Xuewei Chen investigated mechanisms underlying the genera- tion of an infection structure called penetration peg, which is employed by many fungal pathogens such as the one causing blast disease on rice. They discovered that very-long-chain fatty acids are required for this process. They further demonstrated that a group of commercialized herbicides capable of inhibiting very-long-chain fatty acid biosynthesis in fungi can effectively inhibit pathogenesis of a broad spectrum of fungi, which brings new technology to control diseases and provides new ideas for new pesticides discovery.