High-throughput functional genomics and transcriptomics reveal molecular mechanisms regulating the synergistic fungicidal activity of copper and zinc

Fungal diseases lead to significant crop damage and numerous fatalities each year. To create more effective treatments, researchers need to comprehend the biological processes targeted by these treatments and the cellular reactions fungi undergo. Previous methods to identify fungal genetic responses to antifungal drugs and fungicides involved tedious molecular genetics experiments or transcriptomics.

Scientists employed high-throughput screens on the basidiomycete yeast Rhodotorula (Rhodosporidium) toruloides to swiftly identify genes linked to the fungal response to a copper-zinc fungicide created by VM Agritech. They also compared these identified genes to those activated transcriptionally in R. toruloides and the filamentous ascomycete Neurospora crassa upon exposure to the fungicide.

By integrating omics technologies with molecular genetics and biochemical analyses, the researchers discovered that copper and zinc work together to inhibit fungal growth, at least partly due to an increase in cellular zinc concentrations when copper is present.

Interestingly, while high-throughput screens and transcriptomics identified genes involved in the copper-zinc fungicide response, there was minimal overlap in the genes identified by these two methods. This study highlights the effectiveness of merging functional genomics and transcriptomics approaches to generate a more comprehensive map of the genetic mechanisms crucial for responding to fungicides.