Fungal Biology Reviews最新文献

Next-generation sequencing (NGS) has revolutionized research on fungi including Botryosphaeriaceae, a family of important plant and particularly tree pathogens. This review highlights the impact that NGS-generated genomes and transcriptomes have had on our understanding of the biology and evolution of these fungi. In less than a decade, 49 genomes representing 31 species in eight genera have been published for the Botryosphaeriaceae. These genomes have been used to show that species in this family are capable of sexual reproduction and that the evolution of their mating strategy is highly dynamic, due to multiple independent transitions from a heterothallic ancestral state to homothallism. Comparative genomics has further revealed an abundance of genes involved in infection and aggressiveness. These include plant cell wall-degrading enzymes and secondary metabolite biosynthetic genes as well as genes related to detoxification and cellular transport. Transcriptomics studies have shown that gene expression is tightly regulated and that there are often significant changes in gene expression occurring between early and late infection and as a response to environmental stress. Furthermore, the genomes of species in the Botryosphaeriaceae do not present genomic architecture compartmentalization based on gene and repeat density. Rather, gene organization patterns are influenced by gene co-expression patterns. NGS data have also made possible the development of molecular markers for some species and these can now also be used for species lacking genomic data. The growth of NGS platforms and their integration with other emerging technologies promises an even deeper understanding of the biology and evolution of the Botryosphaeriaceae and other plant pathogens. This will continue to promote and will also revolutionize the field of plant pathology.

The Coronavirus outbreak globally has changed the medical system and also led to a shortage of medical facilities in both developing and underdeveloped countries. The COVID19 disease, being novel in nature along with high infectivity and frequent mutational rate, has been termed to be fatal across the globe. The advent of infection by SARS-CoV-2 has brought a myriad of secondary complications and comorbidities resulting in additional challenges to the health care system induced by novel therapeutic procedures. The emerging variant with respect to the Indian subcontinent and the associated genetic mutations have worsened the situation at hand. Proper clinical management along with epidemiological studies and clinical presentations in scientific studies and trials is necessary in order to combat the simultaneous waves of emerging strains. This article summarizes three of the major fungal outbreaks in India namely mucormycosis, candidiasis and aspergillosis, and elaborates their subtypes, pathogenesis, symptoms and treatment and detection techniques. A detail of future therapeutics under consideration are also elaborated along with a general hypothesis on how COVID19 is related to immunological advances leading to major widespread fungal infection in the country. The factors that contribute in promoting virus proliferation and invasive fungal infections include cell-mediated immunity, associated immunocompromised conditions and treatment protocols that slows down immune mechanisms. To better comprehend a fungal or bacterial outbreak, it is very important to conduct audits mediated through multicenter national and state research teams for recognizing patterns and studying current cases of fungal infection in both healthy and comorbid groups of COVID19 patients.

The search for new, biotechnologically useful yeast strains has been carried out in many research centers in the world. Sporobolomyces and Sporidiobolus are examples of such useful yeasts, that can be used as a source of many valuable metabolites in industries. This article describes the modern taxonomy of these yeasts, which resulted from many years of research, including both classical microbiology and genetic analyses. Subsequently, the paper presents a review of scientific studies on the biosynthesis of various extracellular and intracellular metabolites produced by Sporobolomyces and Sporidiobolus yeasts, which are of great importance in the contemporary food, feed, and pharmaceutical industries. Such metabolites include exopolysaccharides, lipids, carotenoids, enzymes, and γ-decalactone. Aiming at developing a sustainable circular bioeconomy, this study considers two directions of use of these yeasts, i.e., as a feed additive and as an antagonist in the biocontrol of plant materials. This article is one of the first to organize the knowledge collected from published studies and present the contemporary scientific achievements and prospects for the biotechnological use of Sporobolomyces and Sporidiobolus yeasts.

The human diseases caused by the fungal pathogens Cryptococcus neoformans and Cryptococcus gattii are associated with high rates of mortality and toxic or cost-prohibitive therapeutic protocols. The need for affordable antifungals to combat cryptococcal disease is unquestionable. Benzimidazoles are potentially attractive antifungal compounds that were introduced in clinical practice nearly 60 years ago to treat helminthic infections. In addition to being safe, their cost of treatment is extraordinarily low. Several studies suggested benzimidazoles as promising anticryptococcal agents combining low-cost and high antifungal efficacy. So far, anti-cryptococcal activities were demonstrated for 16 different benzimidazoles. In particular, albendazole, mebendazole, flubendazole, and fenbendazole have potent in vitro antifungal activity against C. neoformans and C. gattii. Mice lethally infected with C. neoformans and treated with fenbendazole had 100 % survival when the drug was administered intranasally. In this review, we discuss the potential of benzimidazoles as potential anti-cryptococcal agents, including a general literature overview, most recent findings, mechanism of antifungal action, costs, toxicity, and antifungal potential in vivo.

Megatrends are slow processes that are hardly noticeable initially, but later cause long-term global effects. The European Environmental Agency (EEA) has set 11 global megatrends. Some of them - globalization, risk of pandemic, technological development and climate change - have major impacts on microfungi in a vulnerable region of Europe, the Pannonian Biogeographical Region. Due to the globalization, high amount of inocula is imported with tropical fruits, soil and packaging materials. Due to technological development, these fungi gain new habitats in the immediate surroundings of humans. In most of the cases these are considered to be extreme environments for which fungi can increasingly adapt. As a result of climate change, non-native species are more likely to colonize the natural habitats in the region. Some of these fungal species have great effect on human health and agriculture. The effects of global megatrends on fungi raise new issues not only from the point of view of economy and health, but also from plant protection and environmental perspectives. Because of the increasing presence of these fungal species, it is important to take them into account during the development of adaptation strategies.

A rapid and effective identification of fungal species is essential for numerous applications, and electronic nose systems are being proposed as suitable alternatives to currently available fungi identification techniques. Hence, the present review aims to unveil all published information concerning fungi identification by electronic nose systems.

A systematic review of the literature was conducted according to the PRISMA guidelines. A total of 16 articles met the inclusion criteria and were included in the analysis. The results of the reviewed studies demonstrated that effective detection of fungi was possible through sensor-based electronic nose systems, which may actually function as a mycotoxin screening tool for several applications.

The obtained results suggest that the sensor-based electronic nose systems may not only screen different fungi genera, but also identify the associated species. This technology has already been experimented in several fields, from food industry to clinical practice.

By summarizing these results, the present review may accelerate the standardization of electronic noses in fungi detection and discrimination, allowing a faster and more efficient screening of samples.

Fungal contamination of agricultural commodities, particularly by mycotoxigenic fungi, represents an enormous concern for global food security in terms of feeding the world's growing population with sufficient and safe food. Not only do they reduce crop yield and quality, but they also produce substantial numbers of mycotoxins, which pose serious adverse health effects in human and animals. As the genome of most mycotoxigenic species have been sequenced, the gene clusters involved in the biosynthesis of agriculturally important mycotoxins including aflatoxins, fumonisins, ochratoxins, zearalenone and trichothecenes, have been largely identified and characterised, with their roles elucidated by researchers. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the current knowledge of genes involved in the biosynthetic pathways of mycotoxins. In addition, the influence of climatic factors including water, temperature and carbon dioxide on differential mycotoxin gene expressions have been highlighted. Overall, the relationship between the relative expression of key regulatory and structural genes under different environmental conditions is significantly correlated with mycotoxins production. This indicates that mycotoxin gene induction can be used as a reliable indicator or marker to monitor mycotoxin production pre-and-post harvest. Furthermore, current strategies to manage mycotoxin risks still require improvement. Thus, an accurate understanding of the molecular mechanisms of mycotoxin biosynthesis in mycotoxigenic species could help to develop an innovative, robust targeted control strategy. This could include the exploitation of novel compounds, which can inhibit biosynthetic genes, to minimise mycotoxin risks.

Sarocladium oryzae is a filamentous fungus, commonly related to sheath rot, a disease until recently considered of low relevance but whose frequency has increased worldwide in rice cultivation. Few research groups have studied this microorganism, and consequently, the knowledge concerning biochemical and genetic factors that differentiate isolates within populations in terms of virulence (virulence factors/phytotoxin production) is limited. Some works have demonstrated that avirulent isolates of S. oryzae may act as biological control agents (BCAs), primarily due to their high potential for production of the secondary metabolite cerulenin, a potent antifungal. For these reasons, the goal of this paper is to review what is known about the virulence factors of S. oryzae, to highlight the main secondary metabolites produced by the fungus and their role in sheath rot development, and to try to establish a relationship between virulent, avirulent and potential BCA strains of S. oryzae.

Understanding the how behind the polyphyletic trait of fungal thermotolerance has important implications to both medical and industrial pursuits. In this review, our goal is to synthesize research on fungal thermotolerance from industry, biology, and health science to provide an overview of where the field stands. We first consider correlative traits, which may not directly cause thermotolerance but have demonstrated strong associations with it. We then look into the biomolecules involved in sensing and responding to heat shock and/or stress. Lastly, we examine an overview of physiological mechanisms, both natural and man-made, which fungi can use to withstand heat stress both in the moment and among their progeny. Each section makes attempts to list relevant applications of various traits, in addition to potential knowledge gaps that will need to be addressed in future research. This review highlights that, although thermotolerance is a complex concept with diverse manifestations throughout the fungal kingdom, there are multiple patterns in the heat-shock response worthy of further study.

Fungal pathogens destroy our crops and cause hazardous human infections, therefore threatening our health and food security. The ability of fungal pathogens to sense and respond to dynamic host microenvironments enables the establishment and progression of disease. Sensing nutritional cues is vital throughout fungal infection of either plants or mammals: enabling the pathogen to invade, adapt and survive in the face of host immunity. Acquiring nutrients from their host for energy, growth and repair is also essential to a fungal pathogen's success. Cell-surface proteins embedded in the fungal plasma membrane sense and transport host macro- and micronutrients, including carbon and nitrogen sources and minerals such as iron and zinc. Using examples from model crop (Fusarium graminearum, Magnaporthe oryzae and Ustilago maydis) and human (Aspergillus fumigatus, Candida albicans, Cryptococcus neoformans) pathogens we review the nutrient sensing and transporting roles of fungal cell-surface receptor, transporter and transceptor proteins, and their importance to plant and human fungal disease. We discuss how their cellular localisation, central role in cell signalling and importance to disease makes these fungal cell-surface proteins candidates in the search for new strategies to control fungal diseases, while highlighting the areas where further research is needed to make this possible.