Published in

American Society for Microbiology, mBio, 5(11), 2020

DOI: 10.1128/mbio.01985-20

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Targeting Methionine Synthase in a Fungal Pathogen Causes a Metabolic Imbalance That Impacts Cell Energetics, Growth, and Virulence

This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Abstract

Fungal pathogens are responsible for millions of life-threatening infections on an annual basis worldwide. The current repertoire of antifungal drugs is very limited and, worryingly, resistance has emerged and already become a serious threat to our capacity to treat fungal diseases. The first step to develop new drugs is often to identify molecular targets in the pathogen whose inhibition during infection can prevent its growth. However, the current models are not suitable to validate targets in established infections. Here, we have characterized the promising antifungal target methionine synthase in great detail, using the prominent fungal pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus as a model. We have uncovered the underlying reason for its essentiality and confirmed its druggability. Furthermore, we have optimized the use of a genetic system to show a beneficial effect of targeting methionine synthase in established infections. Therefore, we believe that antifungal drugs to target methionine synthase should be pursued and additionally, we provide a model that permits gaining information about the validity of antifungal targets in established infections.