The survival of living organisms depends on iron, one of the most abundant metals in the Earth's crust. Nevertheless, this micronutrient is poorly available in our aerobic atmosphere as well as inside the mammalian host. This problem is circumvented by the expression of high affinity iron uptake machineries, including the production of siderophores, in pathogenic fungi.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIron is a micronutrient required by almost all living organisms. Despite being essential, the availability of this metal is low in aerobic environments. Additionally, mammalian hosts evolved strategies to restrict iron from invading microorganisms.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFZinc is one of the main micronutrients for all organisms. One of the defense mechanisms used by the host includes the sequestration of metals used in fungal metabolism, such as iron and zinc. There are several mechanisms that maintain the balance in the intracellular zinc supply.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBlack fungi comprise a diverse group of melanized microorganisms, many of which are able to infect humans. One of the recognized diseases that arise with black fungi infection is chromoblastomycosis, a neglected implantation mycosis. Considering their ecology, black fungi may face conditions with distinct metal availability.
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