Focus on fungi

Abstract

Fungi play critical roles in the homeostasis of ecosystems globally and have emerged as significant causes of an expanding repertoire of devastating diseases in plants, animals, and humans. In this Commentary, we highlight the importance of fungal pathogens and argue for concerted research efforts to enhance understanding of fungal virulence, antifungal immunity, novel drug targets, antifungal resistance, and the mycobiota to improve human health.

Figure 1.. Fungi and “One Health”.

Environmental and host associated fungal species play critical roles and impact in ecosystem homeostasis, infectious and non-infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistance. Fungi and their toxins have a significant impact on wildlife, agriculture, food production, and food safety. The excessive use of agricultural fungicides and broad-spectrum antifungal drugs in the animal industry and human healthcare has led to a dramatic rise in antimicrobial resistance and cross-resistance. Fungi are essential components of human, animal, and terrestrial microbiomes, playing a crucial role in these microbial communities. New research areas focus on antifungal immunity, the impact of fungi on non-infectious and inflammatory diseases, and neuroimmunology. AMR, antimicrobial resistance.

Figure 2.. WHO critical and high priority fungal pathogen list and funding available to fungal research.

Levels of intrinsic and emerging secondary antimicrobial drug resistance for the indicated fungal species. AMR level depicted as: high, “+++”; intermediate “++” and low “+”. ^ Relative contribution of specific fungal diseases to the mean estimated mortality attributed to fungal infections. From right to left: Invasive Aspergillosis, Invasive Candidiasis, Chronic Pulmonary Aspergillosis, Cryptococcal meningitis, Mucormycosis, Pneumocystis pneumonia, Fungal asthma, Others. Estimates are based on data by⁴. *Estimates are based on US (NIH) and European (ERC) funding agencies.