South Africa has a wide range of mining activities making mineral resources important economic commodities. However, the industry is responsible for several environmental impacts; one of which is acid mine drainage (AMD). Despite several years of research, attempts to prevent AMD generation have proven to be difficult.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFEMS Microbiol Ecol
March 2016
The commercially important plants in the genus Cyclopia spp. are indigenous to the Cape Floristic Region of South Africa and are used to manufacture an herbal tea known as honeybush tea. Growing in the low nutrient fynbos soils, these plants are highly dependent on symbiotic interactions with soil microorganisms for nutrient acquisition.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFConiochaeta pulveracea is a dimorphic lignicolous fungus that has mostly been isolated from decaying wood. However, relatively little work was conducted on the conditions for the dimorphic switch or the biological interactions of the fungus in its yeast-like microcyclic growth phase. Therefore, in this study, the microcyclic conidiation of C.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe used both aerobic and anaerobic liquid co-cultures, prepared with Luria Bertani broth, to study the effect of bacteria on the survival of Candida albicans in the external environment, away from an animal host. The bacteria were represented by Aeromonas hydrophila, Bacillus cereus, Bacillus subtilis, Clostridium, Enterobacter, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Kluyvera ascorbata and Serratia marcescens. Under aerobic conditions, the yeast's growth was inhibited in the presence of bacterial growth; however, under anaerobic conditions, yeast and bacterial growth in co-cultures was similar to that observed for pure cultures.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCetaceans, occupying the top levels in marine food chains, are vulnerable to elevated levels of potentially toxic trace elements, such as aluminium (Al), mercury (Hg) and nickel (Ni). Negative effects associated with these toxic metals include infection by opportunistic microbial invaders. To corroborate the link between the presence of cutaneous fungal invaders and trace element levels, skin samples from 40 stranded false killer whales (FKWs) were analysed using culture techniques and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectroscopy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMarine fungi are known to originate from a wide variety of habitats within the marine environment. Marine sediment represents one environmental niche, with most fungi occurring in these sediments being facultative marine fungi with terrestrial origins. It has not been proven whether these fungi merely survive the harsh environmental conditions presented by the ocean sediment, as opposed to playing an active role in this ecological niche.
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