Fantin Mesny

Structural homology reveals cerato-platanins as conserved antimicrobials repeatedly co-opted for fungal host colonization

This study identifies antimicrobial activity as the conserved core function of fungal cerato-platanins, showing how these proteins evolved from ancient antimicrobials to manipulate host interactions.

Bacteria rewire fungal antimicrobial gene expression in microbial arms races

The paper shows bacteria suppress fungal antimicrobial gene expression in soil microbiota, reducing fungal colonization and revealing community-level microbial competition.

Genetic factors driving multi-host infection in a core member of the root mycobiota

The paper identifies a fungal gene encoding a β-1,3-glucanase as a key genetic factor driving multi-host infection in Plectosphaerella cucumerina.

Critical Assessment of Metagenome Interpretation - the second round of challenges

The paper evaluates metagenomic software tools using realistic datasets, highlighting improvements in assembly and taxon profiling while identifying remaining challenges in virus/archaea detection and reproducibility.