Application of Biofire Filmarray Joint Infection Panel for Rapid Identification of Aetiology in a Necrotizing Fasciitis Case.

: Monomicrobial necrotizing fasciitis is associated with exceedingly high mortality rates. Although effective antimicrobial therapy is an important part of treatment, the traditional microbiological diagnostic methods are not fast enough to meaningfully influence early therapeutic decisions. : Here, we report the application of the BioMérieux Biofire Filmarray Joint Infection Panel (BFJIP) for the rapid detection of the causative agent and susceptibility prediction in such a case.

The bacterial and yeast microbiota in livestock forages in Hungary.

Background: Along bacteria, yeasts are common in forages and forage fermentations as spoilage microbes or as additives, yet few studies exist with species-level data on these fungi's occurrence in feedstuff. Active dry yeast and other yeast-based products are also common feed additives in animal husbandry. Here, we aimed to characterize both fermented and non-fermented milking cow feedstuff samples from Hungary to assess their microbial diversity in the first such study from Central Europe.

Interactions between the NLRP3-Dependent IL-1β and the Type I Interferon Pathways in Human Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cells.

Generally, a reciprocal antagonistic interaction exists between the antiviral type I interferon (IFN) and the antibacterial nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain (NOD)-like receptor pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3)-dependent IL-1β pathways that can significantly shape immune responses. Plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs), as professional type I IFN-producing cells, are the major coordinators of antiviral immunity; however, their NLRP3-dependent IL-1β secretory pathway is poorly studied. Our aim was to determine the functional activity of the IL-1β pathway and its possible interaction with the type I IFN pathway in pDCs.

Heme Oxygenase-1 () Loss of Function Increases the In-Host Fitness of the Probiotic Yeast in a Mouse Fungemia Model.

The use of yeast-containing probiotics is on the rise; however, these products occasionally cause fungal infections and possibly even fungemia among susceptible probiotic-treated patients. The incidence of such cases is probably underestimated, which is why it is important to delve deeper into the pathomechanism and the adaptive features of S. ‘boulardii’.

Associations between carabid beetles and fungi in the light of 200 years of published literature.

Describing and conserving ecological interactions woven into ecosystems is one of the great challenges of the 21 century. Here, we present a unique dataset compiling the biotic interactions between two ecologically and economically important taxa: ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) and fungi. The resulting dataset contains the carabid-fungus associations collected from 392 scientific publications, 129 countries, mostly from the Palearctic region, published over a period of 200 years.

Virulence Factors and in-Host Selection on Phenotypes in Infectious Probiotic Yeast Isolates ().

yeast probiotics () have long been applied in the treatment of several gastrointestinal conditions. Despite their widespread use, they are rare opportunistic pathogens responsible for a high proportion of mycosis cases. The potential virulence attributes of as well as its interactions with the human immune system have been studied, however, no information is available on how these yeasts may change due to in-host evolution.

How to characterize a strain? Clonal heterogeneity in industrial Saccharomyces influences both phenotypes and heterogeneity in phenotypes.

Populations of microbes are constantly evolving heterogeneity that selection acts upon, yet heterogeneity is nontrivial to assess methodologically. The necessary practice of isolating single-cell colonies and thus subclone lineages for establishing, transferring, and using a strain results in single-cell bottlenecks with a generally neglected effect on the characteristics of the strain itself. Here, we present evidence that various subclone lineages for industrial yeasts sequenced for recent genomic studies show considerable differences, ranging from loss of heterozygosity to aneuploidies.

Shed Light in the DaRk LineagES of the Fungal Tree of Life-STRES.

The polyphyletic group of black fungi within the Ascomycota (Arthoniomycetes, Dothideomycetes, and Eurotiomycetes) is ubiquitous in natural and anthropogenic habitats. Partly because of their dark, melanin-based pigmentation, black fungi are resistant to stresses including UV- and ionizing-radiation, heat and desiccation, toxic metals, and organic pollutants. Consequently, they are amongst the most stunning extremophiles and poly-extreme-tolerant organisms on Earth.

A new species of from Ecuador and Panama revealed by morphology and phylogenetic reconstruction, with a discussion of secondary barcodes in Laboulbeniomycetes taxonomy.

This paper describes and illustrates a new species of Laboulbeniales (Ascomycota, Laboulbeniomycetes) recovered from bat flies (Diptera, Streblidae) in Ecuador and Panama. Bat fly-associated Laboulbeniales are still unexplored in the Neotropics, with only four described species of and one species of known. Morphological characteristics and phylogenetic analyses support placement of the new taxon in and its recognition as an undescribed species.

The and Their Mycotoxins: Metabolic Interactions With Plants and the Soil Biota.

Species of the highly diverse fungal genus are well-known agricultural pests, and, most importantly, producers of various mycotoxins threatening food safety worldwide. Mycotoxins are studied predominantly from the perspectives of human and livestock health. Meanwhile, their roles are far less known in nature.

Adverse Effects, Transformation and Channeling of Aflatoxins Into Food Raw Materials in Livestock.

Aflatoxins are wide-spread harmful carcinogenic secondary metabolites produced by species, which cause serious feed and food contaminations and affect farm animals deleteriously with acute or chronic manifestations of mycotoxicoses. On farm, both pre-harvest and post-harvest strategies are applied to minimize the risk of aflatoxin contaminations in feeds. The great economic losses attributable to mycotoxin contaminations have initiated a plethora of research projects to develop new, effective technologies to prevent the highly toxic effects of these secondary metabolites on domestic animals and also to block the carry-over of these mycotoxins to humans through the food chain.

Comparative biocompatibility and antimicrobial studies of sorbic acid derivates.

Nowadays, the sorbates are the third largest group of antimicrobial preservatives in food and pharmaceutical industries, following the parabens and benzoates whose safety is questioned by recent publications. A disadvantage of sorbates is their pH dependence, as their antimicrobial effect is greatly reduced in alkaline environment. The main, widely used sorbate derivatives are sorbic acid and potassium sorbate, no sorbic acid esters are involved in current industrial application.

A new, rapid multiplex PCR method identifies frequent probiotic origin among clinical Saccharomyces isolates.

An increasing number of infections originating from probiotic use are reported worldwide, with the majority of such cases caused by the yeast Saccharomyces 'boulardii', a subtype of S. cerevisiae. Reliably linking infectious cases to probiotic products requires unequivocal genotyping data, however, these techniques are often time-consuming and difficult to implement in routine diagnostics.

Studies of Laboulbeniales on Myrmica ants (IV): host-related diversity and thallus distribution patterns of Rickia wasmannii.

Fungal species identities are often based on morphological features, but current molecular phylogenetic and other approaches almost always lead to the discovery of multiple species in single morpho-species. According to the morphological species concept, the ant-parasitic fungus Rickia wasmannii (Ascomycota, Laboulbeniales) is a single species with pan-European distribution and a wide host range. Since its description, it has been reported from ten species of Myrmica (Hymenoptera, Formicidae), of which two belong to the rubra-group and the other eight to the phylogenetically distinct scabrinodis-group.

Birth of an order: Comprehensive molecular phylogenetic study excludes Herpomyces (Fungi, Laboulbeniomycetes) from Laboulbeniales.

The class Laboulbeniomycetes comprises biotrophic parasites associated with arthropods and fungi. Two orders are currently recognized, Pyxidiophorales and Laboulbeniales. Herpomyces is an isolated genus of Laboulbeniales, with species that exclusively parasitize cockroaches (Blattodea).

Laboulbeniales (Fungi: Ascomycota) infection of bat flies (Diptera: Nycteribiidae) from Miniopterus schreibersii across Europe.

Background: Bat flies (Diptera: Nycteribiidae and Streblidae) are obligate, blood-sucking ectoparasites of bats with specialized morphology, life-cycle and ecology. Bat flies are occasionally infected by different species of Laboulbeniales (Fungi: Ascomycota), microscopic fungal ectoparasites belonging to three genera: Arthrorynchus spp. are restricted to the Eastern Hemisphere, while species of Gloeandromyces and Nycteromyces occur on Neotropical bat flies.

Birth-and-Death Evolution and Reticulation of ITS Segments of and rDNA Repeats.

The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region (ITS1, 5.8S rDNA, and ITS2) separates the genes coding for the SSU 18S and the LSU 26S genes in the rDNA units which are organized into long tandem arrays in the overwhelming majority of fungi. As members of a multigenic family, these units are subject of concerted evolution, which homogenizes their sequences.

Herpomyces ectoparasitic fungi (Ascomycota, Laboulbeniales) are globally distributed by their invasive cockroach hosts and through the pet trade industry.

The introduction of non-native animals occasionally results in the co-introduction of their microbial symbionts or parasites. The trade of exotic pets and zoo animals has inadvertently introduced several parasitic species to countries where they are non-native. Both the presence of suitable native hosts and opportunity for dispersal determine whether these non-native species become naturalized.

Candida albicans isolates from a single hospital show low phenotypical specialization.

Candida albicans is the best-studied opportunistic human pathogenic yeast species, and its virulence factors, susceptibility to antimycotics, the diversity of its physiological properties and the determinative factors of these traits are interesting from a clinical as well as from an evolutionary perspective. By applying statistical modeling for the phenotypical differences observed among a collection of 63 C. albicans isolates originating from different clinical care units, from a diverse group of patients with or without mycosis, collected in a Hungarian clinic, we found that (i) host-related aspects like anatomical source, care unit of isolation, patients' age, sex, and disease severity, or ABC genotypes of the isolates had less effect on the phenotypic features of this opportunistic pathogen than host-independent aspects, for example, year or month of isolation; (ii) different phenotypic traits did not show any significant correlations with each other; and (iii) different genotypes displayed no anatomical specialization and rarely showed any significant correlation with parameters of isolation either.

Proteomic analysis of protein phosphatase Z1 from Candida albicans.

Protein phosphatase Z is a "novel type" fungus specific serine/threonine protein phosphatase. Previously our research group identified the CaPPZ1 gene in the opportunistic pathogen Candida albicans and reported that the gene deletion had several important physiological consequences. In order to reveal the protein targets and the associated mechanisms behind the functions of the phosphatase a proteomic method was adopted for the comparison of the cappz1 deletion mutant and the genetically matching QMY23 control strain.

Commercial strain-derived clinical Saccharomyces cerevisiae can evolve new phenotypes without higher pathogenicity.

Scope: Saccharomyces cerevisiae is one of the most important microbes in food industry, but there is growing evidence on its potential pathogenicity as well. Its status as a member of human mycobiome is still not fully understood.

Methods And Results: In this study, we characterize clinical S.

Parasites of parasites of bats: Laboulbeniales (Fungi: Ascomycota) on bat flies (Diptera: Nycteribiidae) in central Europe.

Background: Bat flies (Streblidae and Nycteribiidae) are among the most specialized families of the order Diptera. Members of these two related families have an obligate ectoparasitic lifestyle on bats, and they are known disease vectors for their hosts. However, bat flies have their own ectoparasites: fungi of the order Laboulbeniales.

Effects of hemin, CO, and pH on the branching of Candida albicans filamentous forms.

Morphological transitions of wild-type and oxidative stress-tolerant Candida albicans strains were followed in the RPMI-FBS culture medium at pH values and CO levels characteristic for the anatomical niches inhabited by this opportunistic human pathogen fungus, including the oral cavity as well as the intestinal and vaginal lumens. Selected cultures were also supplemented with hemin modeling bleedings. Germination as well as elongation and branching of hyphae were monitored in the cultures using time-lapse video microscopy.

Studies of Laboulbeniales on Myrmica ants (III): myrmecophilous arthropods as alternative hosts of Rickia wasmannii.

Myrmecophilous arthropods and their manifold relations to host ants are interesting from an evolutionary perspective. Rickia wasmannii is an ectoparasitic fungus belonging to the Laboulbeniales order. Here, we show that inquiline mites can become infected by R.