Fungal wars: The underlying molecular repertoires of combating mycelia

Non-self contact between fungi elicits strong morphological and biochemical reactions in the mycelia of interacting species. Although these reactions appear to be species- and interaction-specific, some responses such as pigmentation, increased secretion of phenol-oxidases, barrage formation and sealing of the mycelia front are common responses in most interactions. Hence, some species recruit similar molecular machineries in response to non-self. Increasing number of fully sequenced and annotated fungal genomes and advances in genome-wide and global proteome analytical tools now allow researchers to use techniques such as RNA sequencing, micro and macroarray analysis, 2-dimensional protein gel profiling, and differential display of mRNA to probe the underlying molecular mechanisms of combative mycelial interactions. This review provides an overview of the genes and proteins found to be differentially expressed in conflicting fungal mycelia by the use of 'omics' tools. Connections between observed gene and protein repertoires of competing mycelia and the attendant morphological and biochemical changes are presented.