LAUSR

Overview AU : Pleaseconfirmthatallheadinglevelsarerepresentedcorrectly: Mucormycosis represents a group of infections with different organ manifestations caused by some species of the fungal order Mucorales. Historically, this disease has received limited attention due to its low worldwide prevalence, but the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has led to an increase in the incidence of fungal infections, including mucormycosis, raising concern about their risks [1,2]. The prevalence of mucormycosis has increased by up to 50 times the previously recorded maximum [3], highlighting the need to better understand this disease [4]. Mucormycosis is an opportunistic infection that affects individuals with predisposing factors, including impaired immune function caused by different reasons, diabetes, and traumas in immunocompetent individuals [5]. The mortality rate is alarmingly high, with an overall rate exceeding 40% and approaching 100% in disseminated infections [6,7]. This high mortality rate is exacerbated by the intrinsic resistance of the causative agents to nearly all available antifungal drugs [8]. To understand the pathogenesis and antifungal resistance of Mucorales, researchers need to study models that are amenable to genetic manipulation, which faces the genetic intractability of these fungi. One outstanding exception to this general rule is Mucor species, particularly Mucor lusitanicus, which has the most comprehensive repertoire of molecular genetic tools for studying gene function [9]. Despite ranking third among the causative agents of mucormycosis, after Rhizopus and Lichtheimia species [6], the adoption of Mucor as a model to study mucormycosis has allowed researchers to study the function of putative virulence factors by the generation of knockout mutants. Some of the functional analyses have served to corroborate the results obtained in works employing causative models less willing to genetic modification, making the findings widespread throughout Mucorales, a critical aspect in the design of broad antifungals to combat mucormycosis. The contribution of these functional studies in Mucor to the advance in the understanding of processes associated with the infection is described in this Pearls mini-review.