The Response of to the Interaction with Human Neutrophils.

The fungal pathogen causes systemic mycosis Paracoccidioidomycosis (PCM), which presents a broad distribution in Latin America. Upon infection, the fungus undergoes a morphological transition to yeast cells and provokes an inflammatory granulomatous reaction with a high number of neutrophils in the lungs. In this work, we employed proteomic analysis to investigate the in vitro response of the fungus to the interaction with human neutrophils.

Molecular Interactions of the Copper Chaperone Atx1 of with Fungal Proteins Suggest a Crosstalk between Iron and Copper Homeostasis.

spp. are endemic fungi from Latin America that cause Paracoccidioidomycosis, a systemic disease. These fungi present systems for high-affinity metal uptake, storage, and mobilization, which counteract host nutritional immunity and mitigate the toxic effects of metals.

Iron Deprivation Modulates the Exoproteome in .

Fungi of the genus are the etiological agents of the systemic mycosis paracoccidioidomycosis and, when in the host, they find a challenging environment that is scarce in nutrients and micronutrients, such as Fe, which is indispensable for the survival of the pathogen. Previous studies have shown that fungi of this genus, in response to Fe deprivation, are able to synthesize and capture siderophores (Fe chelators), use Fe-containing host proteins as a source of the metal, and use a non-canonical reductive pathway for Fe assimilation. Despite all of these findings, there are still gaps that need to be filled in the pathogen response to metal deprivation.

In vitro, ex vivo and in vivo models: A comparative analysis of Paracoccidioides spp. proteomic studies.

Members of the Paracoccidioides complex are human pathogens that infect different anatomic sites in the host. The ability of Paracoccidioides spp. to infect host niches is putatively supported by a wide range of virulence factors, as well as fitness attributes that may comprise the transition from mycelia/conidia to yeast cells, response to deprivation of micronutrients in the host, expression of adhesins on the cell surface, response to oxidative and nitrosative stresses, as well as the secretion of hydrolytic enzymes in the host tissue.

Paracoccidioides brasiliensis presents metabolic reprogramming and secretes a serine proteinase during murine infection.

Paracoccidoides brasiliensis and Paracoccidioides lutzii, the etiologic agents of paracoccidioidomycosis, cause disease in healthy and immunocompromised persons in Latin America. We developed a method for harvesting P. brasiliensis yeast cells from infected murine lung to facilitate in vivo transcriptional and proteomic profiling.

Hemoglobin uptake by Paracoccidioides spp. is receptor-mediated.

Iron is essential for the proliferation of fungal pathogens during infection. The availability of iron is limited due to its association with host proteins. Fungal pathogens have evolved different mechanisms to acquire iron from host; however, little is known regarding how Paracoccidioides species incorporate and metabolize this ion.

α-(1,4)-Amylase, but not α- and β-(1,3)-glucanases, may be responsible for the impaired growth and morphogenesis of Paracoccidioides brasiliensis induced by N-glycosylation inhibition.

The cell wall of Paracoccidioides brasiliensis, which consists of a network of polysaccharides and glycoproteins, is essential for fungal pathogenesis. We have previously reported that N-glycosylation of proteins such as N-acetyl-β-D-glucosaminidase is required for the growth and morphogenesis of P. brasiliensis.

Comparative proteomics in the genus Paracoccidioides.

The genus Paracoccidioides comprises a complex of phylogenetic species of dimorphic pathogenic fungi, the etiologic agents of paracoccidioidomycosis (PCM), a disease confined to Latin America and of marked relevance in its endemic areas due to its high frequency and severity. The members of the Paracoccidioides genus are distributed in distinct phylogenetic species (S1, PS2, PS3 and 01-like) that potentially differ in their biochemical and molecular characteristics. In this work, we performed the proteomic characterization of different members of the genus Paracoccidioides.

Serotype and genotype distributions of pneumococcal carriage isolates recovered from Brazilian children attending day-care centres.

Pneumococcal nasopharyngeal carriage isolates recovered from Brazilian children attending day-care centres in 2005 were assessed for serotype, genotype and penicillin susceptibility phenotype. As 124 of the 253 isolates (49 %) were characterized previously with respect to serotype and penicillin susceptibility, the primary objectives were to examine clonal associations and penicillin susceptibility within major serotypes and to assess the suitability of conventional multiplex PCR for deducing carriage serotypes within this population. Using a combination of PCR-based serotyping and the Quellung reaction, serotypes were identified for 81 % (205/253) of the isolates, with serogroups or types 14, 6, 23F, 19F and 18 being predominant.