Sphingolipids are critically significant in a range of biological processes in animals, plants, and fungi. In mammalian cells, they serve as vital components of the plasma membrane (PM) in maintaining its structure, tension, and fluidity. They also play a key role in a wide variety of biological processes, such as intracellular signal transduction, cell polarization, differentiation, and migration. In plants, sphingolipids are important for cell development and for cell response to environmental stresses. In pathogenic fungi, sphingolipids are crucial for the initiation and the development of infection processes afflicting humans. However, our knowledge on the metabolism and function of the sphingolipid metabolic pathway of pathogenic fungi affecting plants is still very limited. In this review, we discuss recent developments on sphingolipid pathways of plant pathogenic fungi, highlighting their uniqueness and similarity with plants and animals. In addition, we discuss recent advances in the research and development of fungal-targeted inhibitors of the sphingolipid pathway, to gain insights on how we can better control the infection process occurring in plants to prevent or/and to treat fungal infections in crops.

中文翻译：

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植物病原真菌中鞘脂的生物学功能


鞘脂在动物、植物和真菌的一系列生物过程中至关重要。在哺乳动物细胞中，它们是质膜 (PM) 的重要组成部分，维持其结构、张力和流动性。它们还在多种生物过程中发挥着关键作用，例如细胞内信号转导、细胞极化、分化和迁移。在植物中，鞘脂对于细胞发育和细胞对环境压力的反应很重要。在病原真菌中，鞘脂对于人类感染过程的启动和发展至关重要。然而，我们对影响植物的病原真菌的鞘脂代谢途径的代谢和功能的了解仍然非常有限。在这篇综述中，我们讨论了植物病原真菌鞘脂途径的最新进展，强调了它们与植物和动物的独特性和相似性。此外，我们还讨论了鞘脂通路真菌靶向抑制剂的研究和开发的最新进展，以深入了解如何更好地控制植物中发生的感染过程，以预防或/和治疗作物中的真菌感染。