439: Microbes Mitigate Mushroom Morbidity

This episode: Bacteria protect farmed mushrooms from damage by
other bacteria by breaking down their toxins!


Download Episode (4.9 MB, 7.1 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Tomato mosaic virus


Takeaways


Almost all organisms are vulnerable to pathogenic microbes that
make them sick or cause damage. Most also have other microbes
that help them grow better or protect them from pathogens. This
includes animals, plants, and also fungi.

In this study, bacterial pathogens produce a toxin that causes
button mushrooms to turn brown and rot. However, other bacteria
can degrade this toxin and protect the fungus, and can also
degrade molecules the pathogens produce to help them swarm to
new places, restricting their movement.
Journal Paper:
Hermenau R, Kugel S, Komor AJ, Hertweck C. 2020. Helper bacteria
halt and disarm mushroom pathogens by linearizing structurally
diverse cyclolipopeptides. Proc Natl Acad Sci 117:23802–23806.


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com. Thanks for listening!


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