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Chemical signals driving bacterial–fungal interactions
Author(s) -
Khalid Saima,
Keller Nancy P.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
environmental microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.954
H-Index - 188
eISSN - 1462-2920
pISSN - 1462-2912
DOI - 10.1111/1462-2920.15410
Subject(s) - biology , chemical communication , signalling , focus (optics) , computational biology , bacteria , drug discovery , range (aeronautics) , ecology , bioinformatics , genetics , microbiology and biotechnology , pheromone , physics , materials science , optics , composite material
Summary Microorganisms reside in diverse environmental communities where interactions become indispensable due to close physical associations. These interactions are driven by chemical communication among different microbial kingdoms, particularly between fungi and bacteria. Knowledge about these communication signals provides useful information about the nature of microbial interactions and allows predictions of community development in diverse environments. Here, we provide an update on the role of small signalling molecules in fungal–bacterial interactions with focus on agricultural and medicinal environments. This review highlights the range of – and response to – diverse biochemicals produced by both kingdoms with view to harnessing their properties towards drug discovery applications.