LAMS March 2026 Meeting - Grace Stark, PhD Fungi Perceive And Defend Against Microbial Competition

Fungi and bacteria drive the global cycle of nutrients, providing a myriad of important services to their ecosystems. Despite their individual significance, the mechanisms by which fungi and bacteria sense each other and establish mutualistic or parasitic relationships remain underexplored. In this talk, Grace will explain our current understanding of molecular mechanisms underlying fungal perception and defense against microbial competitors, focusing on parasitic fungi, bacteria and viruses, and how this connects to our nascent understanding of the fungal innate immune system. She will also compare this to well-studied innate immune systems across the tree of life. Finally, she will discuss the work she performed using the model organism Neurospora crassa to elucidate the mechanistic bases of fungal-bacterial perception and interaction.