The Hsueh lab

The Hsueh lab investigates the molecular interactions and coevolution between C. elegans and the nematophagous fungi.

What are we interested?

Nematodes are the most abundant animals on earth and many species are parasitic, causing diseases in human, animals and plants that result in more than a billion infections worldwide and more than USD$80 billions in crop loss annually. Drug resistance is an emerging problem, and hardy gastrointestinal nematodes displaying multidrug resistance to all three basic classes of anthelmintics (benzimidazoles, macrocyclic lactones and imidazothiazoles) have appeared in livestock around the world. Thus, new treatments or methods to control these parasites are urgently needed. In nature, nematodes exist in complex multitrophic communities. They rely on elaborate networks of chemical signaling to communicate with each other and engage interactions with a wide-variety of different organisms, including predators such as carnivorous fungi. Many fungi have independently evolved the ability to prey on nematodes to gain additional nutrients under starvation. The predator-prey relationship between nematophagous fungi and nematodes makes them an ideal system to study inter-species communication and predator-prey co-evolution. We have established molecular and genetic tools to study the molecular interactions between the nematode-trapping fungus Arthrobotrys oligospora and the oyster mushroom Pleurotus ostreatus with the model nematode C. elegans.

worms

C. elegans

What are signals produced by nematodes that can be recognized by fungi? How does C. elegans evolve and adapt to fungal predation? Does C. elegans learn in response to predation?

Arthrobotrys oligospora

How does nematode-trapping fungus sense nematodes and develop traps? What makes the traps sticky?

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Pleurotus ostreatus

How does oyster mushroom paralyze the nematodes? What are the nematocidal compounds produced by Pleurotus mushrooms?

News

研之有物-見微知著 新書分享會

Academia Sinica published a book that introduce the research of 21 labs on campus for science outreach.

京翰畢業了!Ching-Han defended his thesis. Congrats Dr. Lee!

Congrats to Ching-Han! He is Ping's first Ph.D. student.

李天德醫藥基金會 青年醫藥科技獎頒獎 The lab attended the Tien-Te Lee Biomedical award ceremony.

感謝李天德醫藥基金會支持台灣生物醫學基礎研究。我們會持續努力的探索! We thank the Tien-Te Lee Biomedical Foundation for supporting basic biomedical research!

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