Chih-Yen Kuo, Rebecca J Tay, Hung-Che Lin, Sheng-Chian Juan, Guillermo Vidal-Diez de Ulzurrun, Yu-Chu Chang, Jason Hoki, Frank C Schroeder, Yen-Ping Hsueh
The ability to sense prey-derived cues is essential for predatory lifestyles. Under low-nutrient conditions, Arthrobotrys oligospora and other nematode-trapping fungi develop dedicated structures for nematode capture when exposed to nematode-derived cues, including a conserved family of pheromones, the ascarosides. A. oligospora senses ascarosides via conserved MAPK and cAMP-PKA pathways; however, the upstream receptors remain unknown. Here, using genomic, transcriptomic and functional analyses, we identified two families of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) involved in sensing distinct nematode-derived cues...
April 22, 2024: Nature Microbiology