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Toxics May 2024triterpenes and spore powder have shown promising results in mitigating cadmium-induced renal and hepatic injuries. active peptide GLP4 is a natural protein with dual...
triterpenes and spore powder have shown promising results in mitigating cadmium-induced renal and hepatic injuries. active peptide GLP4 is a natural protein with dual antioxidant activities derived from the mycelium of . However, its efficacy in alleviating cadmium-induced lung injury remains unexplored. This study aims to investigate the protective effects of GLP4 against cadmium-induced lung injury in mice. Mice were exposed to cadmium chloride via nebulization to induce lung injury. The protective effect of GLP4 was assessed by measuring the total cell count in BALF, levels of inflammatory cytokines, and the expression of NLRP3 in lung tissues a through histopathological examination of lung tissue changes. The results showed that GLP4 significantly mitigated histopathological damage in lung tissues, decreased the secretion of inflammatory cytokines, and reduced the expression of NLRP3, which was elevated in cadmium-exposed mice. In vitro studies further revealed that GLP4 inhibited the cadmium-induced activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome. Notably, acute cadmium exposure by the respiratory tract did not affect the liver and kidneys of the mice. The findings suggest that GLP4 reduces cadmium-induced lung injury in mice by inhibiting the activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome, which provides a theoretical foundation for using as a preventive and therapeutic agent against cadmium poisoning.
PubMed: 38922058
DOI: 10.3390/toxics12060378 -
Journal of Fungi (Basel, Switzerland) May 2024Brown-rot fungus is one of the important medicinal mushrooms, which include some species within the genus . This study identified wild macrofungi collected from a...
Biological Characteristics, Domesticated Cultivation Protocol, Antioxidant Activity, and Protective Effects against Cellular Oxidative Stress of an Underutilized Medicinal Mushroom: .
Brown-rot fungus is one of the important medicinal mushrooms, which include some species within the genus . This study identified wild macrofungi collected from a broad-leaved tree in Liaoning Province as using both morphological and molecular methods. To elucidate the potential medicinal and economic value of , we conducted single-factor and orthogonal tests to optimize its mycelium culture conditions. Subsequently, we completed liquid culture and domestic cultivation based on these findings. Furthermore, crude polysaccharides were extracted from the cultivated fruiting bodies of and their antioxidant activity was evaluated using chemical methods and cell-based models. The results showed that the optimal culture conditions for mycelium were glucose as the carbon source, yeast extract powder as the nitrogen source, pH 6.0, and a temperature of 35 °C. Moreover, temperature was found to have the most significant impact on mycelial growth. The liquid strains were fermented for 6 days and then inoculated into a cultivation substrate composed of broadleaf sawdust, resulting in mature fruiting bodies in approximately 60 days. The crude polysaccharides extracted from the cultivated fruiting bodies of (FPPs) possess in vitro scavenging abilities against DPPH radicals and OH radicals, as well as a certain ferric-reducing antioxidant power. Additionally, FPPs effectively mitigated HO-induced oxidative stress in RAW264.7cells by enhancing the intracellular activity of antioxidant enzymes such as SOD and CAT, scavenging excess ROS, and reducing MDA levels. This study provides preliminarily evidence of the potential medicinal and economic value of and offers initial data for the future development and utilization of this species.
PubMed: 38921365
DOI: 10.3390/jof10060380 -
Biomimetics (Basel, Switzerland) Jun 2024Mycelium-based green composites (MBCs) represent an eco-friendly material innovation with vast potential across diverse applications. This paper provides a thorough... (Review)
Review
Mycelium-based green composites (MBCs) represent an eco-friendly material innovation with vast potential across diverse applications. This paper provides a thorough review of the factors influencing the production and properties of MBCs, with a particular focus on interdisciplinary collaboration and long-term sustainability goals. It delves into critical aspects such as fungal species selection, substrate type selection, substrate preparation, optimal conditions, dehydrating methods, post-processing techniques, mold design, sterilization processes, cost comparison, key recommendations, and other necessary factors. Regarding fungal species selection, the paper highlights the significance of considering factors like mycelium species, decay type, hyphal network systems, growth rate, and bonding properties in ensuring the safety and suitability of MBCs fabrication. Substrate type selection is discussed, emphasizing the importance of chemical characteristics such as cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin content, pH, organic carbon, total nitrogen, and the C: N ratio in determining mycelium growth and MBC properties. Substrate preparation methods, optimal growth conditions, and post-processing techniques are thoroughly examined, along with their impacts on MBCs quality and performance. Moreover, the paper discusses the importance of designing molds and implementing effective sterilization processes to ensure clean environments for mycelium growth. It also evaluates the costs associated with MBCs production compared to traditional materials, highlighting potential cost savings and economic advantages. Additionally, the paper provides key recommendations and precautions for improving MBC properties, including addressing fungal strain degeneration, encouraging research collaboration, establishing biosecurity protocols, ensuring regulatory compliance, optimizing storage conditions, implementing waste management practices, conducting life cycle assessments, and suggesting parameters for desirable MBC properties. Overall, this review offers valuable insights into the complex interplay of factors influencing MBCs production and provides guidance for optimizing processes to achieve sustainable, high-quality composites for diverse applications.
PubMed: 38921217
DOI: 10.3390/biomimetics9060337 -
Biomimetics (Basel, Switzerland) May 2024Mycelium-based composites (MBCs) are biomaterials with scientifically proven potential to improve sustainability in construction. Although mycelium-based products are...
Mycelium-based composites (MBCs) are biomaterials with scientifically proven potential to improve sustainability in construction. Although mycelium-based products are not entirely new, their use in engineering presents challenges due to the inherent properties of this fungal material. This study investigated professional architects' and interior designers' perceptions of MBCs, focusing on familiarity, aesthetic appeal, and willingness to use. The first phase of the survey explored respondents' views on material-related ecological design principles. In the second phase, respondents evaluated ten small architectural objects crafted from MBCs, focusing on form, detail, and visual appeal. The last phase of the survey measured their interest in using mycelium in their design work. The results revealed that MBCs were relatively unknown among the surveyed professionals; only every second respondent knew this material. Despite this, 90% found MBCs visually appealing after seeing the examples. Interestingly, the natural, unprocessed appearance of the material was assessed as less aesthetically pleasing, with thermal treatment improving its perceived value. Architects were more receptive to using MBCs in their professional projects for customers than for personal use. This observation points to a 'double standard': professional architects are more open to using MBCs in projects not intended for their own use.
PubMed: 38921213
DOI: 10.3390/biomimetics9060333 -
Plant Disease Jun 2024Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) is one of the most widely cultivated industrial crops worldwide. From April to July 2023, about 40% of tobacco seedlings in the greenhouse...
Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) is one of the most widely cultivated industrial crops worldwide. From April to July 2023, about 40% of tobacco seedlings in the greenhouse exhibited irregular taupe lesions in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, China. At an early stage of the lesion development, light grey spots with the diameter of 1-2 mm were observed, these spots gradually expanded and connected into large irregular lesions causing leaf wrinkling or withered. A total of 12 infected leaf tissues were sterilized with 75% ethanol for 45 s, rinsed three times in sterilized water and then plated on potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium for 10 days at 28°C in darkness. Seven fungal colonies that show the similar appearance were isolated and three of them (MB-1, MB-2 and MB-3) were used for subsequent identification. Colonies of these strains on PDA with loose mycelium and orange-red pigment on the underside, white aerial in the center and light yellow hyphae near the periphery, formed in the shape of a concentric ring pattern. Ascomata appeared from the 14th day, were black, spherical or ellipsoid with walls of textura angularis, and size was 53.8-101.1 μm × 50.3-104.3 μm (n=30). Terminal hairs were brown and straight, gradually tapering toward the tips. Asci clavate or fusiform, spore bearing part 16.2-29.2 × 7.3-11.4 μm (n=21), with 8 irregularly arranged ascospores, evanescent. Ascospores are brown at maturity, biapiculate, navicular or fusiform shapes with size of 8.7-12.8 μm × 4.8-6.9 μm (n=100), and more or less inaequilateral. Single spore strains derived from these strains exhibited the morphological features consistent with the original strains. The morphological characteristics of the fungus were consistent with the description of Arcopilus aureus (Chivers) X.W. Wang & Samson (= Chaetomium aureum Chivers) (Lee et al. 2019). Furthermore, the sequences of RPB2 region were amplified from these strains and the result sequences (GenBank accession no. OR513105-OR513108) all showed a 100.00% identity with A. aureus strain CBS 538.73 (GenBank accession no. KX976807.1). It was reported that the RPB2 gene was efficient in discriminating Arcopilus species (Tavares et al. 2022), thus a maximum likelihood (ML) phylogenetic tree based on the RPB2 gene sequences were constructed using MEGA 7.0 with 1000 replications of bootstrapping (Kumar et al. 2016), which revealed that these strains formed a well-supported clade with A. aureus strains of (CBS 153.52 and CBS538.73) (Wang et al. 2022). Pathogenicity analysis were performed on healthy flue-cured tobacco seedlings leaves (cv Y85) by using mycelial agar plugs (5 mm in diameter) and spore suspension (1×106 spores/mL), and the PDA plugs and sterile water were used for control group, respectively. Tobacco seedlings were incubated in a 25°C and 70% RH growth chamber. After seven days, the leaves showed obvious symptoms, with taupe lesions and yellow halos on the periphery, whereas no symptoms were found on the control leaves. The A. aureu was then reisolated from inoculated diseased leaves. Previously, A. aureus has been only reported to cause leaf black disease on Pseudostellaria heterophylla in China (Yuan et al. 2021). To our knowledge, this is the first reported of A. aureus causing tobacco leaf grey spot worldwide. Arcopilus aureus has been reported as a plant biocontrol fungus (Wang et al. 2013). However, due to the potential serious damage in tobacco seedlings caused by this fungus, the use of A. aureus as a plant biocontrol agent needs to be given more attention, and disease control measures of this pathogen should be developed.
PubMed: 38916906
DOI: 10.1094/PDIS-04-24-0840-PDN -
Sheng Wu Gong Cheng Xue Bao = Chinese... Jun 2024Filamentous fungi are a group of eukaryotic microorganisms widely found in nature. Some filamentous fungi have been developed as "cell factories" and extensively used... (Review)
Review
Filamentous fungi are a group of eukaryotic microorganisms widely found in nature. Some filamentous fungi have been developed as "cell factories" and extensively used for the production of recombinant proteins, organic acids, and secondary metabolites due to their strong protein secretion capabilities or effective synthesis of many natural products. The growth morphology of filamentous fungi significantly influences the quality and quantity of fermented products. Previous research conducted by the authors' group revealed that an increase in hyphal branches leads to enhanced protein secretion during liquid fermentation. With the development of morphological engineering of filamentous fungi, an increasing number of studies have focused on modifying fungal mycelium morphology to improve the yield of target metabolites during fermentation. While there have been a few reviews on the relationship between fungal fermentation morphology and productivity, research in this area is rapidly developing and requires updates. The paper presents a comprehensive review of domestic and international research reports, along with the authors' own research findings, to systematically review the morphological patterns of filamentous fungi, the impact of fungal morphology on industrial fermentation, as well as methods and strategies for regulating mycelial morphology. The aim of this review is to enhance the understanding of relevant domestic scholars regarding the morphological development of filamentous fungi and provide ideas for the rational engineering of fungal strains suitable for industrial fermentation.
Topics: Fermentation; Fungi; Mycelium; Industrial Microbiology; Genetic Engineering; Recombinant Proteins; Hyphae
PubMed: 38914491
DOI: 10.13345/j.cjb.230717 -
World Journal of Microbiology &... Jun 2024Genetic diversity in Sclerotium rolfsii is useful for understanding its population structure, identifying different mycelial compatibility groups (MCGs), and developing...
Genetic diversity in Sclerotium rolfsii is useful for understanding its population structure, identifying different mycelial compatibility groups (MCGs), and developing targeted strategies for disease management in affected crops. In our study, a comprehensive genetic analysis was conducted on 50 isolates of S. rolfsii, collected from various geographic regions and host plants. Two specific genes, TEF1α and RPB2, were utilized to assess the genetic diversity and relationships among these isolates. Notably, out of 1225 pairings examined, only 154 exhibited a compatible reaction, while the majority displayed antagonistic reactions, resulting in the formation of a barrier zone. The isolates were grouped into 10 distinct MCGs. These MCGs were further characterized using genetic sequencing. TEF1α sequences distinguished the isolates into 17 distinct clusters, and RPB2 sequences classified them into 20 clusters. Some MCGs shared identical gene sequences within each gene, while others exhibited unique sequences. Intriguingly, when both TEF1α and RPB2 sequences were combined, all 10 MCGs were effectively differentiated, even those that appeared identical with single-gene analysis. This combined approach provided a comprehensive understanding of the genetic diversity and relationships among the S. rolfsii isolates, allowing for precise discrimination between different MCGs. The results shed light on the population structure and genetic variability within this plant pathogenic fungus, providing valuable insights for disease management and control strategies. This study highlights the significance of comprehending the varied virulence characteristics within S. rolfsii isolates, categorizing them into specific virulence groups based on disease severity index (DSI) values. The association with MCGs provides additional insights into the genetic underpinnings of virulence in this pathogen. Furthermore, the identification of geographical patterns in virulence implies the influence of region-specific factors, with potential implications for disease control and crop protection strategies.Please confirm if the author names are presented accurately and in the correct sequence (given name, middle name/initial, family name). Author 1 Given name: [G. M. Sandeep] Last name [Kumar]. Author 2 Given name: [Praveen Kumar] Last name [Singh]. Also, kindly confirm the details in the metadata are correct.I confirm that the given names are accurate and presented in the correct sequence.
Topics: Genetic Variation; Plant Diseases; Multilocus Sequence Typing; Phylogeny; Basidiomycota; Mycelium; Fungal Proteins; DNA, Fungal; Crops, Agricultural
PubMed: 38910228
DOI: 10.1007/s11274-024-04049-0 -
Journal of Agricultural and Food... Jun 2024Scaffold hopping and structural fine-tuning are important strategies for agrochemical innovation. Multidimensional optimization of the prevalidated antifungal lead was...
Scaffold hopping and structural fine-tuning are important strategies for agrochemical innovation. Multidimensional optimization of the prevalidated antifungal lead was conducted via the design, synthesis, and bioevaluation of 53 new compounds differing in either scaffold or substituent. The antifungal structure-activity relationship (SAR) revealed that a number of amides containing 2-(2-oxazolinyl) aniline (NHPhOx) or 2-(2-thiazolinyl) aniline (NHPhthiOx) demonstrated a more promising antifungal effect than both and the positive control boscalid. Specifically, compound (encoded ) shows an excellent antifungal effect against with an EC value lower than 0.11 μM. This small change leads to a significant improvement (over 1 order of magnitude) in bioactivity compared to that of either (EC = 1.41 μM) or boscalid (EC = 2.01 μM) and fluxapyroxad (EC = 4.35 μM). With much lower resistance factors, () was more efficacious against the two boscalid-resistant strains of TZ01 and NJBH2017. A combination of () and boscalid in a ratio of 1:3 showed synergistic effects against resistant TZ01 and NJBH2017, with SR values of 3.01 and 2.55, respectively. () has a curative efficacy (70.3%) more prominent than that of boscalid (51.2%) in controlling disease caused by . The molecular docking simulation of () with the SDH protein of displayed four hydrogen bonds with amino acid residues TYR144, ARG88, TRP81, and SER84, rationalizing a stronger affinity than boscalid. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) characteristic revealed that it could cause an obvious collapse of mycelium. This work indicates that () has the potential to be further explored as a new antifungal agent.
PubMed: 38907719
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jafc.4c00782 -
Microbial Pathogenesis Jun 2024The antifungal activity of Serratia plymuthica CCGG2742, a bacterial strain isolated from grapes berries skin, against a phytopathogenic fungus isolated from blueberries...
The antifungal activity of Serratia plymuthica CCGG2742, a bacterial strain isolated from grapes berries skin, against a phytopathogenic fungus isolated from blueberries was evaluated in vitro and in vivo. In order to characterize the wild fungal isolate, phylogenetic analysis using concatenated DNA sequences from the RPB2 and TEF1 genes and of the ITS region was performed, allowing the identification of the fungal isolate that was called Alternaria tenuissima CC17. Hyphae morphology, mycelium ultrastructure, conidia and reproductive structures were in agreement with the phylogenetic analysis. The antifungal activity of the S. plymuthica strain was dependent on the composition of the culture medium. The greatest inhibition of mycelial growth of A. tenuissima CC17 by S. plymuthica CCGG2742 was observed on YTS medium, which lacks of an easily assimilable carbon source. Fungal growth medium supplemented with 50 % of bacterial supernatant decreased the conidia germination of A. tenuissima CC17 up to 32 %. Preventive applications of S. plymuthica CCGG2742 to blueberries and tomato leaves at conidia:bacteria ratio of 1:100, protected in 77.8 ± 4.6 % and 98.2 ± 0.6 % to blueberries and tomato leaves from infection caused by A. tenuissima CC17, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the antifungal activity of S. plymuthica against A. tenuissima, which could be used as a biological control agent of plant diseases caused by this fungal species. In addition, the results of this work could be a starting point to attribute the real importance of A. tenuissima as a pathogen of blueberries in Chile, which until now had been considered almost exclusively to A. alternata. Likewise, this research could be relevant to start developing highly effective strategies based on S. plymuthica CCGG2742 for the control of this important phytopathogenic fungus.
PubMed: 38906491
DOI: 10.1016/j.micpath.2024.106750 -
Polish Journal of Microbiology Jun 2024This study aimed to elucidate the influence of various culture medium components, including carbon sources, nitrogen sources, inorganic salts, suspension agents, and...
This study aimed to elucidate the influence of various culture medium components, including carbon sources, nitrogen sources, inorganic salts, suspension agents, and temperature, on the mycelial growth characteristics of . Employing single-factor experiments and response surface methodology within glass Petri dishes, the research identified that carrot powder, soybean powder, and ZnSO notably enhanced the proliferation of aerial mycelium, significantly augmenting the growth rate of mycelium. The resultant mycelium was observed to be dense, robust, and fluffy in texture. In particular, ZnSO markedly accelerated the mycelium growth rate. Furthermore, xanthan gum was found to effectively modulate the medium's viscosity, ensuring a stable suspension and facilitating nutrient equilibrium. The optimal cultivation temperature was determined to be 25°C, with mycelial growth ceasing below 5°C and mycelium perishing at temperatures exceeding 35°C. The optimal medium composition was established as follows: wheat starch 5 g/l, carrot powder 5 g/l, soybean powder 7.50 g/l, glucose 10 g/l, ZnSO 0.71 g/l, NHCl 0.68 g/l, xanthan gum 0.5 g/l, and agar 20 g/l. Under these optimized conditions, the mycelium of exhibited a rapid growth rate (1.04 ± 0.14 mm/day), characterized by a thick, dense, and well-developed structure. This investigation provides a theoretical foundation for the conservation, strain selection, and breeding of .
Topics: Mycelium; Culture Media; Temperature; Nitrogen; Carbon; Polysaccharides, Bacterial
PubMed: 38905279
DOI: 10.33073/pjm-2024-022