In recent years, the study of essential oils as antifungal alternatives and their encapsulation to increase their properties for greater effects has been tested. In this work, nanoparticles of chitosan-Schinus molle L. essential oil (CS-PEO-Np) with a size of 260 ± 31.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMicrotubule Organizing Centers (MTOC) are subcellular structures in eukaryotic cells where nucleation of microtubules (MTs) takes place and represents the filament's minus end. Their localization depends on the species, cell type, and cell cycle stage. Along the fungal kingdom, the Spindle Pole Body (SPB) in the nucleus (an equivalent to Centrosomes in animal cells) is the principal MTOC.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFor the first time, the International Symposium on Fungal Stress was joined by the XIII International Fungal Biology Conference. The International Symposium on Fungal Stress (ISFUS), always held in Brazil, is now in its fourth edition, as an event of recognized quality in the international community of mycological research. The event held in São José dos Campos, SP, Brazil, in September 2022, featured 33 renowned speakers from 12 countries, including: Austria, Brazil, France, Germany, Ghana, Hungary, México, Pakistan, Spain, Slovenia, USA, and UK.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFungal Genet Biol
September 2022
γ-Tubulin ring complexes (γ-TuRC) mediate nucleation and anchorage of microtubules (MTs) to microtubule organizing centers (MTOCs). In fungi, the spindle pole body (SPB) is the functional equivalent of the centrosome, which is the main MTOC. In addition, non-centrosomal MTOCs (ncMTOCs) contribute to MT formation in some fungi like Schizosaccharomyces pombe and Aspergillus nidulans.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe investigated hyphae regeneration in Trichoderma atroviride and Neurospora crassa, with particular focus on determining the role of the actin cytoskeleton after mechanical injury. Filamentous actin (F-actin) dynamics was observed by live-cell confocal microscopy in both T. atroviride and N.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe GUL-1 is part of the COT-1 pathway, which plays key roles in regulating polar hyphal growth and cell wall remodeling. We show that GUL-1 is a bona fide RNA-binding protein (RBP) that can associate with 828 "core" mRNA species. When cell wall integrity (CWI) is challenged, expression of over 25% of genomic RNA species are modulated (2,628 mRNAs, including the GUL-1 mRNA).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWater activity (a) is critical for microbial growth, as it is severely restricted at a < 0.90. Saturating NaCl concentrations (~5.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPolycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are among the most persistent xenobiotic compounds, with high toxicity effects. Mycoremediation with halophilic Aspergillus sydowii was used for their removal from a hypersaline medium (1 M NaCl). A.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFImpairment of theNeurospora crassaCOT-1 kinase results in defects in hyphal polarity. Some of these effects are partially suppressed by inactivation of gul-1 (encoding an mRNA-binding protein involved in translational regulation). Here, we report on the transcriptional profiling of cot-1 inactivation and demonstrate that gul-1 affects transcript abundance of multiple genes in the COT-1 pathway, including processes such as cell wall remodeling, nitrogen and amino acid metabolism.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn filamentous fungi, polarized growth is the result of vesicle secretion at the hyphal apex. Motor proteins mediate vesicle transport to target destinations on the plasma membrane via actin and microtubule cytoskeletons. Myosins are motor proteins associated with actin filaments.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Factors associated with candidiasis and colonization in HIV-positive children and adolescents in developing countries are not well understood.
Aim: To identify the factors associated with oral Candida colonization and candidiasis in institutionalized HIV-positive children and adolescents in Tijuana, México, as well as the response of the isolates to antifungals.
Materials And Methods: Sample of the oral mucosa of 30 HIV positive children and adolescents were obtained to isolate and identify Candida species by culture and metabolic profile.
The present study examines the notion that polarized exocytosis in the tips of growing hyphae creates an excess of plasma membrane and thus the need for its removal by endocytosis. To measure endocytosis experimentally, we developed a photobleaching (FRAP) procedure to count endocytic events in hyphae of Neurospora crassa carrying a fluorescent tag on the actin-binding protein fimbrin (FIM-1-GFP). Given 40 nm as the average diameter of endocytic vesicles, we calculated that about 12.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFilamentous fungi constitute a large group of eukaryotic microorganisms that grow by forming simple tube-like hyphae that are capable of differentiating into more-complex morphological structures and distinct cell types. Hyphae form filamentous networks by extending at their tips while branching in subapical regions. Rapid tip elongation requires massive membrane insertion and extension of the rigid chitin-containing cell wall.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCandidiasis is the most common opportunistic fungal infection in HIV patients. The aims of this study were to identify the prevalence of carriers of Candida, Candida species diversity, and in vitro susceptibility to antifungal drugs. In 297 HIV/AIDS patients in Baja California, Mexico, Candida strains were identified by molecular methods (PCR-RFLP) from isolates of oral rinses of patients in Tijuana, Mexicali, and Ensenada.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe cytoskeleton provides structure, shape and movement to various cells. Microtubules (MTs) are tubular structures made of α and β-tubulin heterodimers organized in 13 protofilaments, forming a hollow cylinder. A vast group of MT-associated proteins determines the function, behavior and interaction of the MTs with other cellular components.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe subapical endocytic collar is a prominent feature of hyphae of Neurospora crassa. It comprises a dynamic collection of actin patches associated with a number of proteins required for endocytosis, namely, ARP-2/3 complex, fimbrin, coronin, etc. We presently show that MYO-1 is another key component of this endocytic collar.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLIS1 is a microtubule (Mt) plus-end binding protein that interacts with the dynein/dynactin complex. In humans, LIS1 is required for proper nuclear and organelle migration during cell growth. Although gene duplication is absent from Neurospora crassa, we found two paralogues of human LIS1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSeptum formation in Neurospora crassa was studied by fluorescent tagging of actin, myosin, tropomyosin, formin, fimbrin, BUD-4, and CHS-1. In chronological order, we recognized three septum development stages: 1) septal actomyosin tangle (SAT) assembly, 2) contractile actomyosin ring (CAR) formation, 3) CAR constriction together with plasma membrane ingrowth and cell wall construction. Septation began with the assembly of a conspicuous tangle of cortical actin cables (SAT) in the septation site >5 min before plasma membrane ingrowth.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNuclear DBF2p-related (NDR) kinases constitute a functionally conserved protein family of eukaryotic regulators that control cell division and polarity. In fungi, they function as effector kinases of the morphogenesis (MOR) and septation initiation (SIN) networks and are activated by pathway-specific germinal centre (GC) kinases. We characterized a third GC kinase, MST-1, that connects both kinase cascades.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe microtubule (MT) "plus end" constitutes the platform for the accumulation of a structurally and functionally diverse group of proteins, collectively called "MT plus-end tracking proteins" (+TIPs). +TIPs control MT dynamics and link MTs to diverse sub-cellular structures. Neurospora crassaMicroTubule Binding protein-3 (MTB-3) is the homolog of yeast EB1, a highly conserved +TIP.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHyphae of the Ascomycota are tubular cells compartmentalized by perforated septa, whose central pore allows the flow of organelles and cytoplasm. While in plants and yeast septation leads to cell separation, in filamentous fungi the formation of crosswalls appears to have an architectural role, limits the extent of mechanical damage thus maintaining hyphal integrity, and also is of fundamental importance as part of cell differentiation. The increasing number of available fungal genome sequences, knockout mutants, versatile tools for protein tagging, and the continuous improvement of fluorescence microscopes have allowed scientists to analyze living cells and reveal the molecular and cellular basis of septation with unprecedented detail.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCoronin plays a major role in the organization and dynamics of actin in yeast. To investigate the role of coronin in a filamentous fungus (Neurospora crassa), we examined its subcellular localization using fluorescent proteins and the phenotypic consequences of coronin gene (crn-1) deletion in hyphal morphogenesis, Spitzenkörper behavior and endocytosis. Coronin-GFP was localized in patches, forming a subapical collar near the hyphal apex; significantly, it was absent from the apex.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFilamentous actin (F-actin) plays essential roles in filamentous fungi, as in all other eukaryotes, in a wide variety of cellular processes including cell growth, intracellular motility, and cytokinesis. We visualized F-actin organization and dynamics in living Neurospora crassa cells via confocal microscopy of growing hyphae expressing GFP fusions with homologues of the actin-binding proteins fimbrin (FIM) and tropomyosin (TPM-1), a subunit of the Arp2/3 complex (ARP-3) and a recently developed live cell F-actin marker, Lifeact (ABP140 of Saccharomyces cerevisiae). FIM-GFP, ARP-3-GFP, and Lifeact-GFP associated with small patches in the cortical cytoplasm that were concentrated in a subapical ring, which appeared similar for all three markers but was broadest in hyphae expressing Lifeact-GFP.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDue to the large number of microtubules in the wild-type strain, total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy was used to study cortical microtubule dynamics in leading hyphae of Neurospora crassa expressing beta-tubulin-GFP. Detection of plus-end dynamics of individual microtubule was much improved with this approach compared to the other commonly used methods such as confocal and widefield fluorescence microscopy. In order to address the roles of motor proteins in microtubule dynamics, microtubule-motor mutant strains, deltankin and ro-1 were examined.
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