The Glass Lab |

Time 2020-09-11 20:04:28

Web Name: The Glass Lab |

WebSite: http://glasslab.berkeley.edu

ID:43583

Keywords:

The,Glass,Lab,

Description:

We're based in the Department of Plant Microbial Biology at the University of California, Berkeley. 
Our lab is interested in cell specialization, communication and nonself recognition, all crucial mechanisms in microbial organisms such as filamentous fungi.Some of our research interests are focused on understanding the signaling mechanisms that mediate cell fusion and the nonself recognition mechanisms that occur before and after fusion. 

The experimental tractability and availability of a large number of mutants in the filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa makes it a superb system to delineate both fungal-specific and general mechanisms of cell communication and nonself recognition.We use a combination of molecular biology, genetics, cell biology, genomics and bioinformatics to investigate these subjects.

 Recently we have begun to study how plant cell wall degradation is orchestrated by fungi, and how fungal enzymes are secreted. Our long term goal for this project is to significantly improve the efficiency of plant biomass degradation by fungi. Neurospora crassa is a model cellulolytic fungus, thus we are also using this species for these studies.  A recent article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (https://www.pnas.org/content/117/11/6003.long) reports on how a fungus senses and responds to different carbon sources, making the most nutritious choices for utilization of a plant biomass buffet. The findings reported in this article are the fruit of a collaborative project between the laboratories of PMB faculty member N. Louise Glass, Igor Grigoriev and Ronan O’Malley, members of the DOE Joint Genome Institute, and Philipp Benz, of the Technical University of Munich. The article reports the application of a new technology for fungi, termed DNA-affinity purification and sequencing (DAP-seq) and transcriptional profiling to determine how fungi sense simple to complex carbohydrates. Fungal organisms are used in the biotechnology sector to produce enzymes, proteins, and other chemicals for production of biofuels, and bioproducts for the textile and food industry. Thus, understanding how fungi decide what to eat and when will enable novel engineering approaches to efficiently harness these organisms to sustainably produce bioproducts. The work described in this study was funded by the Energy Biosciences Institute, a Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, a Joint Genome Institute Community Science Program grant (CSP 982), and funds from the Fred E. Dickinson Chair of Wood Science and Technology. See additional articles from LBNL and JGI at https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2020/06/03/how-fungi-choose-food/ and https://jgi.doe.gov/how-filamentous-fungi-sense-food-neurospora/. Darae and Gabe represented the Glass Lab at the 14th European Conference on Fungal Genetics in Haifa, Israel. Gabe received an award for his poster on germling communication and Darae presented her work on new genes involved in secretion in Neurospora. A new study by Jens Heller et al demonstrates that fungal NLRs function similar to NLRs in plants and animals, indicating that these fundamental players of innate immunity evolved independently in all three kingdoms.

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