P046 Local adaptation to antifungal compounds in the model organism Neurospora crassa

POSTER SESSION 1, SEPTEMBER 21, 2022, 12:30 PM - 1:30 PM: : The domestication of Neurospora crassa has been a major driver of the fields in fungal molecular and cell biology. Not only this filamentous species enjoys modest nutritional requirements and grows swiftly in the laboratory, but also its genome is considerably well annotated, and a near-complete deletion strain collection is available for functional analyses. Furthermore, decades of research with N. crassa have been accompanied by the accrual of wild isolates from different points of the globe, which are an invaluable tool to study local adaptation. Using a panel of antifungal compounds, we found that drug resistance is naturally heterogeneous in wild populations of N. crassa, and chromosomal mapping of the causal loci is underway to unveil the genetic basis of the observed natural diversity. Furthermore, we are interested in the regulatory role played by two Zn2Cys6 transcription factors, CZT-1, and TAH-3, during fungal responses to various drugs. In summary, despite it being non-pathogenic, N. crassa presents many advantages as a model to study antifungal drug resistance. Since the paucity of valid molecular targets in the fungal cell has been hindering the discovery of new antifungal drugs, we consider that the identification and functional characterization of new genes and pathways involved in drug resistance may inform the adoption of new therapeutic schemes.