Molecular detection and genotyping of Aphanomyces astaci directly from preserved crayfish samples uncovers the Norwegian crayfish plague disease history.

Aphanomyces astaci causes crayfish plague in European freshwater crayfish, but most historical epizootics lack agent isolation and identification. Although declared as crayfish plague outbreaks by the Norwegian Competent Authorities, only presumptive diagnoses without agent isolation exist from Norwegian epizootics until 2005. Molecular methods now allow both A.

A quantitative TaqMan MGB real-time polymerase chain reaction based assay for detection of the causative agent of crayfish plague Aphanomyces astaci.

Here we present the development and first validation of a TaqMan minor groove binder (MGB) real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) method for quantitative and highly specific detection of Aphanomyces astaci, the causative agent of crayfish plague. The assay specificity was experimentally assessed by testing against DNA representative of closely related oomycetes, and theoretically assessed by additional sequence similarity analyses comparing the primers and probe sequences to available sequences in EMBL/GenBank. The target of the assay is a 59 bp unique sequence motif of A.

Exploring the species diversity of Trichoderma in Norwegian drinking water systems by DNA barcoding.

A total of 123 Trichoderma strains were isolated from Norwegian surface-sourced drinking water. The water samples included raw water, treated water, and water from private homes and hospital installations. Trichoderma species are difficult to differentiate morphologically, but recent molecular identification tools, including DNA barcoding, successfully distinguish between closely related species.

Polyphasic re-examination of Yarrowia lipolytica strains and the description of three novel Candida species: Candida oslonensis sp. nov., Candida alimentaria sp. nov. and Candida hollandica sp. nov.

The type strain of Yarrowia lipolytica and 38 strains identified as Yarrowia lipolytica, four strains of Candida deformans, including the type and two subcultures of the type, two strains of Candida galli and six unidentified strains that resembled Y. lipolytica were examined by PCR fingerprints using primers M13 and (GAC)5. The same strains, together with four strains of the recently introduced Candida yakushimensis nom.

Diversity and significance of mold species in Norwegian drinking water.

In order to determine the occurrence, distribution, and significance of mold species in groundwater- and surface water-derived drinking water in Norway, molds isolated from 273 water samples were identified. Samples of raw water, treated water, and water from private homes and hospital installations were analyzed by incubation of 100-ml membrane-filtered samples on dichloran-18% glycerol agar. The total count (number of CFU per 100 ml) of fungal species and the species diversity within each sample were determined.

Multiple regression analysis as a tool for the identification of relations between semi-quantitative LC-MS data and cytotoxicity of extracts of the fungus Fusarium avenaceum (syn. F. arthrosporioides).

The cytotoxicity of methanolic extracts from rice cultures of 53 Fusarium avenaceum strains, which had been isolated from different host organisms in Northern Europe, Canada and Australia/New Zealand, was investigated in a rat hepatoma (H4IIE-W), porcine epithelial kidney (PK-15), foetal feline lung fibroblast, dog lymphoblast (D3447), and a human hepatocarcinoma (Hep G2) cell line using the Alamar Bluetrade mark assay. All extracts were screened for known fungal metabolites using high-performance liquid chromatography with photodiode array and mass spectrometric detection, and both known and unknown metabolites were semi-quantified. Known metabolites that were determined in the cultures include acuminatopyrone, 2-amino-14,16-dimethyloctadecan-3-ol (2-AOD-3-ol), antibiotic Y, aurofusarin, chlamydosporol, chlamydospordiol, enniatins, fusarin A and C, and moniliformin.