Publications by authors named "Michael H Wheeler"

The predominant cell wall melanin of Wangiella dermatitidis, a black fungal pathogen of humans, is synthesized from 1,8-dihydroxynaphthalene (D2HN). An early precursor, 1,3,6,8-tetrahydroxynaphthalene (T4HN), in the pathway leading to D2HN is reportedly produced directly as a pentaketide by an iterative type I polyketide synthase (PKS). In contrast, the bluish-green pigment in Aspergillus fumigatus is produced after the enzyme Ayg1p converts the PKS product, the heptaketide YWA1, to T4HN.

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Monosporascus cannonballus causes root rot and vine decline in muskmelons and watermelons. Wild types of this fungus often undergo degenerative changes that have been associated with yellow to brown pigmentation, hypovirulence, dsRNA infection, and decreased production of perithecia. In this study, degenerate isolates that produced yellow to brown pigments and no perithecia were obtained from wild-type cultures that had been stored for extended periods of time.

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Monosporascus cannonballus causes severe production losses to muskmelon and watermelon in the United States and other countries. Wild types of the fungus produce no pigments when grown on potato dextrose agar (PDA). After long-term storage on soil/oat hull mix, however, some isolates of the fungus produce yellow to brown pigments and no perithecia when grown on PDA.

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The ascomycetous black yeasts Hortaea werneckii, Phaeotheca triangularis, and Trimmatostroma salinum are halophilic fungi that inhabit hypersaline water of solar salterns. They are characterized by slow, meristematic growth and very thick, darkly pigmented cell walls. The dark pigment, generally thought to be melanin, is consistently present in their cell walls when they grow under saline and non-saline conditions.

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A group of 133 isolates of the cotton wilt pathogen Fusarium oxysporum Schlecht f sp vasinfectum (Atk) Sny & Hans, representing five races and 20 vegetative compatibility groups within race 1 were used to determine the identity, biosynthetic regulation and taxonomic distribution of polyketide toxins produced by this pathogen. All isolates of F oxysporum f sp vasinfectum produced and secreted the nonaketide naphthazarin quinones, bikaverin and norbikaverin. Most isolates of race 1 (previously denoted as races 1, 2 and 6; and also called race A) also synthesized the heptaketide naphthoquinones, nectriafurone, anhydrofusarubin lactol and 5-O-methyljavanicin.

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Curvularia lunata (teleomorph: Cochliobolus lunatus) is a known plant and human pathogen. Tricyclazole, a specific inhibitor of pentaketide melanin biosynthesis, blocked the biosynthesis of melanin in Curvularia lunata and caused the accumulation of the melanin metabolites flaviolin and 2-hydroxyjuglone. This showed that melanin in Curvularia lunata is produced by a pentaketide pathway from 1,8-dihydroxynaphthalene.

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