Lipo-chitooligosaccharides: very common signals in the fungi world?

The mutualistic symbioses that plants establish with nitrogen-fixing bacteria, or with ecto mycorrhizal or arbuscular fungi rely on the production of very similar molecular signals by the symbionts, the lipo-chitooligosaccharides (LCO). An international collaboration involving researchers from the EDB, LIPME and LRSV laboratories has shown that the production of LCOs seems to be much more widespread than initially thought in the fungi world. Indeed, out of 59 species of fungi tested, representative of most fungal phyla, 53 produce LCOs. Functional and transcriptomic analyses have shown that LCO treatments affect spore germination, hyphal branching and transcription in non-symbiotic fungi. It appears that LCOs may function as highly conserved signals regulating the growth and development of many fungi.