Abstract
Filamentous fungi, which inhabit diverse environments on earth, are ecologically important as they contribute to material cycles based on biomass decomposition, and they also have a strong influence on human society through their effects on animal, plant, and human diseases and their application in the fermentation industry. In the environment, they interact with microorganisms with different growth mechanisms, such as viruses, bacteria, and fungi, and a detailed and comprehensive understanding of these interactions is important for understanding the true ecology of filamentous fungi. Therefore, our laboratory has focused on 1) viruses in filamentous fungi cells, 2) co-cultures between filamentous fungi, and 3) interactions with microbial community, and has been analyzing these interactions. In particular, we have explored filamentous fungal viruses (mycoviruses) on a large scale, which have not been given much importance, and have contributed to our understanding of the diversity of mycoviruses and the mechanisms by which they express their functions in the host. Co-culture experiments with other fungi and filamentous fungi have also revealed the molecular basis of the mutual response that induces the production of secondary metabolites. We believe that this detailed and bird's-eye understanding of the interactions between organisms based on filamentous fungi will establish a new field of filamentous fungi research in the future.
