Biodi­ver­si­ty, dis­tri­bu­tion and pre­va­lence of azole resi­stant fungi from natu­ral to inten­si­vely far­med soils with a focus on land use gra­di­ents

Join us for a diverse series of talks at the Institute of Microbiology, with presentations given by speakers ranging from Master's students to professors. Everyone is warmly welcome!

Seminar of the Department of Microbiology

 

Alina Nowak-Rainer – PhD candidate – UIBK  

29.01.2026, 11:00 - Hybrid

  • Join online
  • or in presence: Seminarraum Biologie - Foyer (Technikerstraße 25, Viktor-Franz-Hess Haus, Parterre).

 

Abstract

Fungal pathogens threaten human life directly and indirectly as they are responsible for about 2.5 million human deaths annually and for up to 30% pre- and post-harvest yield losses. Furthermore, resistance development against antifungal agents challenges medicine and agriculture even more. One of the most concerning resistance is the one against the group of azoles. They are commonly used in both medicine and agriculture and this dual use harbors the problem of cross-resistances within azole antifungals. Azoles inhibit the sterol 14α-demethylase in the ergosterol biosynthesis and hence influence cell wall stability. Resistances were found to be due to single amino acid substitutions in the encoding gene cyp51, besides other more general mechanisms like overexpression of the target protein or drug efflux pumps and transporters. The development of azole resistance has been linked to the exposure of fungi to azoles used in agriculture, contributing to cross-resistances against medically used azoles. Yet, other environmental factors and the role of azole burden in soils remain unclear. Furthermore, the diversity of azole resistant fungi in soils has not been studied yet. This work assesses the risk factors and functional traits for azole resistance development in plant, human and putative human fungi inhabiting soils. We study the frequency and diversity of azole resistant fungi along a land-use gradient by culture-based and molecular approaches correlating it to abiotic factors and the azole burden in soil. In the first culture-based approach about 300 azole resistant morphotypes from over 1000 azole resistant isolates have been collected. Azole resistant isolates have been retrieved from all studied soils no matter the land-use and represent a variety of fungal taxa and some yet undescribed species. Collected isolates will be sequenced for species determination and further characterized physiologically including resistance testing. Furthermore, the resistance gene cyp51 will be sequenced to build a library of gene variants. By correlating azole burden, abiotic soil parameters, fungal biodiversity and diversity of the cyp51 a database for a soil functional biodiversity index for resistance will be established.

Nach oben scrollen