Martina Leipelt

TL;DR: Structurally homologous anti-fungal peptides present in species from different eukaryotic kingdoms interact with the same target in the fungal plasma membrane, namely glucosylceramides, and as such support the hypothesis that defensins from plants and insects have evolved from a single precursor.

TL;DR: A systematic functional analysis of a glycosyltransferase gene family with members of animal, plant, fungal, and bacterial origin found five novel glucosylceramide synthase genes were identified from the plant Gossypium arboreum, the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, and the fungi Magnaporthe grisea, Candida albicans, and P. pastoris.

TL;DR: The synthesis of GlcCer in the transformed double mutant shows that the G CS is SG‐independent, while the detection of SG suggests that in addition to the sterol glucosyltransferase, also the GCS may contribute in planta to SG biosynthesis.

TL;DR: Investigation of the homologous and heterologous expression of GT21 enzymes from Agrobacterium tumefaciens and Mesorhizobium loti and the yeast Pichia pastoris revealed that the bacterial glycosyltransferases are involved in the synthesis of mono-, di- and even tri-glycosylated glycolipids.

TL;DR: To initiate investigations into the roles played by cerebrosides in plants and fungi, a ceramide glucosyltransferase from the yeast Candida albicans is cloned and characterized and functional expression of this gene in Saccharomyces cerevisiae led to the accumulation of new glycolipids which were not present in wild-type baker's yeast.