Molecular Diagnosis of Pathogenic Sporothrix Species.

Background: Sporotrichosis is a chronic (sub)cutaneous infection caused by thermodimorphic fungi in the order, Ophiostomatales. These fungi are characterized by major differences in routes of transmission, host predilections, species virulence, and susceptibilities to antifungals. Sporothrix species emerge in the form of outbreaks.

In Vitro Activities of Five Antifungal Drugs Against Opportunistic Agents of Aspergillus Nigri Complex.

Black aspergilli, particularly Aspergillus niger and A. tubingensis, are the most common etiological agents of otomycosis followed by onychomycosis, pulmonary aspergillosis and aspergilloma. However, so far there is no systematic study on their antifungal susceptibility profiles.

Rapid identification of clinical members of Fusarium fujikuroi complex using MALDI-TOF MS.

Aim: To develop the matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) method for identification of Fusarium species within Fusarium fujikuroi complex for use in clinical microbiology laboratories.

Materials & Methods: A total of 24 reference and 60 clinical and environmental isolates belonging to the F. fujikuroi complex were subjected to MALDI-TOF MS identification.

Genetic Interaction of Aspergillus nidulans galR, xlnR and araR in Regulating D-Galactose and L-Arabinose Release and Catabolism Gene Expression.

In Aspergillus nidulans, the xylanolytic regulator XlnR and the arabinanolytic regulator AraR co-regulate pentose catabolism. In nature, the pentose sugars D-xylose and L-arabinose are both main building blocks of the polysaccharide arabinoxylan. In pectin and arabinogalactan, these two monosaccharides are found in combination with D-galactose.

Molecular identification of Histoplasma capsulatum using rolling circle amplification.

Histoplasmosis is a systemic fungal disease that occurs worldwide, causing symptomatic infection mostly in immunocompromised hosts. Etiological agent is the dimorphic fungus, Histoplasma capsulatum, which occurs in soil contaminated with bird or bat droppings. Major limitation in recognition of H.

Aspergillus Associated with Meju, a Fermented Soybean Starting Material for Traditional Soy Sauce and Soybean Paste in Korea.

Aspergillus is an important fungal genus used for the fermentation of Asian foods; this genus is referred to as koji mold in Japan and China. A. oryzae, A.

Seventeen years of subcutaneous infection by Aspergillus flavus; eumycetoma confirmed by immunohistochemistry.

Chronic subcutaneous infections caused by Aspergillus species are considered to be extremely rare. Because these fungi are among the most common laboratory contaminants, their role as eumycetoma causative agents is difficult to ascertain. Here, we report the first case of A.

Global Spread of Human Chromoblastomycosis Is Driven by Recombinant Cladophialophora carrionii and Predominantly Clonal Fonsecaea Species.

Global distribution patterns of Cladophialophora carrionii, agent of human chromoblastomycosis in arid climates of Africa, Asia, Australia, Central-and South-America, were compared with similar data of the vicarious Fonsecaea spp., agents of the disease in tropical rain forests. Population diversities among 73 C.

Hydrophilins in the filamentous fungus Neosartorya fischeri (Aspergillus fischeri) have protective activity against several types of microbial water stress.

Hydrophilins are proteins that occur in all domains of life and protect cells and organisms against drought and other stresses. They include most of the late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins and the heat shock protein (HSP) Hsp12. Here, the role of a predicted LEA-like protein (LeamA) and two Hsp12 proteins (Hsp12A and Hsp12B) of Neosartorya fischeri was studied.

First Autochthonous Coinfected Anthrax in an Immunocompetent Patient.

Cutaneous anthrax has a mortality rate of 20% if no antibacterial treatment is applied. The clinical manifestations of cutaneous anthrax are obviously striking, but coinfection may produce atypical lesions and mask the clinical manifestations and proper laboratory diagnosis. Anthrax is known to be more common in the Middle East and Iran is one of the countries in which the zoonotic form of anthrax may still be encountered.

Cercosporoid diseases of Citrus.

Citrus leaves and fruits exhibiting disease symptoms ranging from greasy spot, yellow spot, small or large brown spot, black dot, and brown dot were sampled from Fujian, Guangdong, Guizhou, Hunan, Jiangxi, Yunnan, Zhejiang provinces and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in China. In total 82 isolates representing various cercosporoid genera were isolated from these disease symptoms, which were supplemented with eight Citrus cercosporoid isolates collected from other countries. Based on a morphological and phylogenetic study using sequence data from the nuclear ribosomal DNA's ITS1-5.

Reclassification of Saccharomycodes sinensis, Proposal of Yueomyces sinensis gen. nov., comb. nov. within Saccharomycetaceae (Saccharomycetales, Saccharomycotina).

The phylogenetic position of Saccharomycodes sinensis has been debated by yeast taxonomists. In this study, a multigene phylogenetic analysis based on four regions, namely the 18S ribosomal DNA (rDNA), the D1/D2 domains of the 26S rDNA, the second largest subunit of RNA polymerase II gene (RPB2) and translation elongation factor 1-α gene (EF1-α), were performed to address the phylogenetic placement of S. sinensis.

In Vitro Susceptibility Profiles of Eight Antifungal Drugs against Clinical and Environmental Strains of Phaeoacremonium.

In vitro susceptibilities of a worldwide collection of molecularly identified Phaeoacremonium strains (n = 43) belonging to seven species and originating from human and environmental sources were determined for eight antifungal drugs. Voriconazole had the lowest geometric mean MIC (0.35 μg/ml), followed by posaconazole (0.

Phylogenetic diversity of human pathogenic Fusarium and emergence of uncommon virulent species.

Objectives: Fusarium species cause a broad spectrum of infections. However, little is known about the etiological agents to the species level. We identified Fusarium species isolated from clinical specimens including those of high risk patients to better understand the species involved in the pathogenesis.

Evaluation of two molecular techniques for rapid detection of the main dermatophytic agents of tinea capitis.

Background: Tinea capitis is very common in Western China, with the most widespread aetiological agent being Trichophyton violaceum, while Microsporum canis is prevalent in the remainder of China. Conventional diagnostics and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequencing analyses have proven relatively limited due to the close phylogenetic relationship of anthropophilic dermatophytes. Therefore, alternative molecular tools with sufficient specificity, reproducibility and sensitivity are necessary.

Pitfalls in Serological Diagnosis of Cryptococcus gattii Infections.

The detection of cryptococcal antigen by latex agglutination tests (LATs), enzyme-linked immunoassays (ELISA), or lateral flow assay (LFA) is an important tool for diagnosis of a Cryptococcus infection. Cerebrospinal fluid and/or serum samples of 10 patients with cryptococcosis due to Cryptococcus gattii or a hybrid of Cryptococcus neoformans and C. gattii were examined by three LATs (the IMMY Latex-Crypto(®) test, the Pastorex(TM) Crypto Plus, and the Remel Cryptococcus Antigen Test Kit) and the LFA made by Immuno-Mycologics.

The rise of Ramularia from the Mycosphaerella labyrinth.

In this study we aimed to resolve the Ramularia endophylla species-complex by applying a polyphasic approach involving morphology and multi-gene phylogeny. Eleven partial genes were targeted for amplification and sequencing for a total of 81 isolates representing R. endophylla s.

Phaeoacremonium: from esca disease to phaeohyphomycosis.

Phaeoacremonium spp. are commonly isolated from stems and branches of diseased woody hosts, and humans with phaeohyphomycosis. The genus Phaeoacremonium (Togniniaceae, Togniniales) has recently been monographed, and presently contains 46 species, while its sexual morph, Togninia, contains 26 epithets, of which 13 are insufficiently known.

Aspergillus and aspergilloses in wild and domestic animals: a global health concern with parallels to human disease.

The importance of aspergillosis in humans and various animal species has increased over the last decades. Aspergillus species are found worldwide in humans and in almost all domestic animals and birds as well as in many wild species, causing a wide range of diseases from localized infections to fatal disseminated diseases, as well as allergic responses to inhaled conidia. Some prevalent forms of animal aspergillosis are invasive fatal infections in sea fan corals, stonebrood mummification in honey bees, pulmonary and air sac infection in birds, mycotic abortion and mammary gland infections in cattle, guttural pouch mycoses in horses, sinonasal infections in dogs and cats, and invasive pulmonary and cerebral infections in marine mammals and nonhuman primates.

Spatial differentiation of gene expression in Aspergillus niger colony grown for sugar beet pulp utilization.

Degradation of plant biomass to fermentable sugars is of critical importance for the use of plant materials for biofuels. Filamentous fungi are ubiquitous organisms and major plant biomass degraders. Single colonies of some fungal species can colonize massive areas as large as five soccer stadia.

Diagnosis of Infections: Approaches to Identification by the Clinical Mycology Laboratory.

Infections caused by the genus have emerged over the past decades and range from onychomycosis and keratitis in healthy individuals to deep and disseminated infections with high mortality rates in immune-compromised patients. As antifungal susceptibility can differ between the different species, identification at species level is recommended. Several clinical observations as hyaline hyphae in tissue, necrotic lesions in the skin and positive blood tests with fungal growth or presence of fungal cell wall components may be the first hints for fusariosis.

Epidemiological changes in tinea capitis over the sixty years of economic growth in China.

Background: Tinea capitis is a fungal infection of the scalp occurring commonly in children. Historical data indicate that clinical manifestations and the spectrum of etiologic agents vary greatly with geography, as well as socioeconomic affected populations.

Objective: To study the possible connection between socioeconomic status, the disease patterns and the variability of etiological agents.

Accumulation of recalcitrant xylan in mushroom-compost is due to a lack of xylan substituent removing enzyme activities of Agaricus bisporus.

The ability of Agaricus bisporus to degrade xylan in wheat straw based compost during mushroom formation is unclear. In this paper, xylan was extracted from the compost with water, 1M and 4M alkali. Over the phases analyzed, the remaining xylan was increasingly substituted with (4-O-methyl-)glucuronic acid and arabinosyl residues, both one and two arabinosyl residues per xylosyl residue remained.