Altegoerlab – Just a second title

How do fungi perceive and respond to environmental and host-derived signals?

Fungi thrive in complex and changing environments and have to perceive and process a variety of external signals. To do so, they rely on G protein–coupled receptors (GPCRs) that help fungi detect cues from plant hosts, algae, cyanobacteria, and the surrounding environment, allowing them to adapt their growth, behavior, and interaction strategies.
We identify and characterize fungal GPCRs, dissect their signaling networks to understand how fungi integrate information to make context-specific decisions.

How do fungi suppress plant defenses and rewire host processes?

Fungal plant pathogens heavily modify their hosts in many ways. One line of research focuses on identifying and characterizing fungal effector proteins – molecular tools secreted by fungi to modulate immune signaling and manipulate core physiological functions in host and partner organisms. Combining structural biochemistry with cell biology aproaches – we study how these proteins enter plant cells, how they interact with host targets, and how their activity shapes the outcome of plant–fungus interactions. Insights gained provide a molecular blueprint of host colonization and microbial adaptation.