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Case Reports in Gastroenterology 2016Zygomycosis is a rare invasive opportunistic fungal infection that occurs in the setting of hematologic malignancies, chemotherapy-induced neutropenia, and...
Zygomycosis is a rare invasive opportunistic fungal infection that occurs in the setting of hematologic malignancies, chemotherapy-induced neutropenia, and immunosuppressive therapies. We report the first case of disseminated appendiceal zygomycosis due to Absidia spp. in a neutropenic patient who initially presented as acute appendicitis. A 63-year-old woman with acute myeloid leukemia presented as acute appendicitis while receiving induction chemotherapy and ultimately succumbed to overwhelming disseminated zygomycosis. Initial symptoms included loose stools and right lower abdominal pain unresponsive to broad-spectrum antibiotics. Clinical examination and cross-sectional imaging suggested acute appendicitis. The final diagnosis was established by histological evaluations of the ileocecectomy specimen, which showed angioinvasive fungal organisms within the necrotic appendiceal wall with characteristics typical of zygomycetes. Fungal cultures demonstrated Absidia spp. The patient was treated with amphotericin B but expired in the setting of fungal sepsis. A diagnosis of a fungal infection, including zygomycosis, should be considered in all chemotherapy-induced neutropenic patients who present with symptoms of acute appendicitis. A high index of clinical suspicion with prompt histologic and culture diagnosis of zygomycosis may reduce the high mortality and morbidity associated with zygomycosis of the gastrointestinal tract.
PubMed: 27403107
DOI: 10.1159/000444275 -
Frontiers in Microbiology 2023Mucormycosis, an invasive fungal disease with severe consequences, poses a significant threat to immunocompromised individuals. However, the timely and accurate...
Mucormycosis, an invasive fungal disease with severe consequences, poses a significant threat to immunocompromised individuals. However, the timely and accurate identification of Mucorales infection continues to present difficulties. In this study, novel detection techniques utilizing recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) were developed, specifically targeting the mitochondrial gene, in order to address this challenge. The specificity of the RPA and qPCR assay was assessed by adding genomic DNAs extracted from 14 non-targeted strains, as well as human and mouse blood. No false-positive results were observed. Additionally, genomic DNAs from 13 species in five genera of order Mucorales were tested and yielded positive results in both methods. To further evaluate the sensitivity of the assays, DNAs from and were utilized, with concentrations ranging from 1 ng/μL to 1 fg/μL. The limit of detection (LoD) for the RPA assay was determined to be 1 pg., with the exception of which had a LoD of 1 ng. The LoD for the qPCR assay varied between 10 fg and 1 pg., depending on the specific species being tested. Sensitivity analysis conducted on simulated clinical samples revealed that the LoD for RPA and qPCR assays were capable of detecting DNA extracted from 10 and 10 colony forming units (CFU) conidia in 200 μL of blood and serum, respectively. Consequently, the real-time RPA and qPCR assays developed in this study exhibited favorable sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of mucormycosis.
PubMed: 37954252
DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1273073 -
BMC Microbiology Mar 2020Daqu, the saccharification, fermentation, and aroma-producing agents for Baijiu brewing, is prepared using a complex process. Aging is important for improving the...
BACKGROUND
Daqu, the saccharification, fermentation, and aroma-producing agents for Baijiu brewing, is prepared using a complex process. Aging is important for improving the quality of Daqu, but its impact has rarely been studied. This study investigated changes in the physicochemical properties, flavor compounds, and microbial communities during aging of Daqu with a roasted sesame-like flavor.
RESULTS
The physicochemical properties changed continuously during aging to provide a high esterifying activity. Aging removed unpleasant flavor compounds and helped to stabilize the flavor compounds in mature Daqu. A high-throughput sequencing approach was used to analyze the changing composition of the microbial communities during aging. Aging helped to modify the microbial population to produce better Baijiu by eliminating low-abundance microbial communities and optimizing the proportion of predominant microbial communities. Nine genera of prokaryotic microbes formed the core microbiota in Daqu after aging. Regarding eukaryotic microbes, Zygomycota, the predominant community, increased in the first 2 months, then decreased in the third month of aging, while Ascomycota, the subdominant community, showed the opposite behavior. Absidia, Trichocomaceae_norank and Rhizopus were the predominant genera in the mature Daqu.
CONCLUSIONS
Significant correlations between microbiota and physicochemical properties or flavor compounds were observed, indicating that optimizing microbial communities is essential for aging Daqu. This study provides detailed information on aging during Daqu preparation.
Topics: Alcoholic Beverages; Ascomycota; Bacteria; Flavoring Agents; Food Industry; Food Microbiology; High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; Phylogeny; Sequence Analysis, DNA
PubMed: 32216749
DOI: 10.1186/s12866-020-01745-3 -
Journal of Fungi (Basel, Switzerland) Apr 2016Fungal pure cultures identified with both classical morphological methods and through barcoding sequences are a basic requirement for reliable reference sequences in...
Fungal pure cultures identified with both classical morphological methods and through barcoding sequences are a basic requirement for reliable reference sequences in public databases. Improved techniques for an accelerated DNA barcode reference library construction will result in considerably improved sequence databases covering a wider taxonomic range. Fast, cheap, and reliable methods for obtaining DNA sequences from fungal isolates are, therefore, a valuable tool for the scientific community. Direct colony PCR was already successfully established for yeasts, but has not been evaluated for a wide range of anamorphic soil fungi up to now, and a direct amplification protocol for hyphomycetes without tissue pre-treatment has not been published so far. Here, we present a colony PCR technique directly from fungal hyphae without previous DNA extraction or other prior manipulation. Seven hundred eighty-eight fungal strains from 48 genera were tested with a success rate of 86%. PCR success varied considerably: DNA of fungi belonging to the genera , , , and could be amplified with high success. DNA of soil-borne yeasts was always successfully amplified. , , , and isolates had noticeably lower PCR success.
PubMed: 29376929
DOI: 10.3390/jof2020012 -
Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy Nov 2006Posaconazole and itraconazole were more potent inhibitors of ergosterol synthesis, in both intact cells and cell extracts from Absidia corymbifera and Rhizopus oryzae,...
Posaconazole and itraconazole were more potent inhibitors of ergosterol synthesis, in both intact cells and cell extracts from Absidia corymbifera and Rhizopus oryzae, than voriconazole and fluconazole. Similarly, expression of CYP51 from R. oryzae in Saccharomyces cerevisiae significantly increased resistance to fluconazole and voriconazole but not to posaconazole and itraconazole.
Topics: Absidia; Amino Acid Sequence; Antifungal Agents; Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme System; Ergosterol; Microbial Sensitivity Tests; Molecular Sequence Data; Oxidoreductases; Rhizopus; Saccharomyces cerevisiae; Sterol 14-Demethylase; Triazoles
PubMed: 16966400
DOI: 10.1128/AAC.00747-06 -
Current Medical Mycology Mar 2016Soil is the main habitat of saprophytic and pathogenic fungi. Mucoromycotina constitutes a large group of soil fungi, with certain opportunistic members causing systemic...
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Soil is the main habitat of saprophytic and pathogenic fungi. Mucoromycotina constitutes a large group of soil fungi, with certain opportunistic members causing systemic infections in immunocompromised hosts. The majority of human and animal infections are caused by the members of the genera , , , (, and . Accordingly, in the present study, we aimed to isolate and identify the main genera of the order Mucorales, using molecular assays and morphological features
MATERIALS AND METHODS
In total, 340 soil samples were collected from seven public parks throughout the city and sidewalk gardens in 14 municipal districts in Isfahan, Iran. All the samples were cultured on the appropriate media, incubated at 27°C for 2- 4 days, and examined daily for visible fungal growth. Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method was applied and macroscopic, microscopic, and physiological characteristics were assessed to identify fungal colonies.
RESULTS
400 pure colonies, belonging to the orders Mucorales and Mortierellales, including the genera , and were identified The genus (35.5%) was the most frequent isolate, followed by (32.25%) and (27.5%).
CONCLUSION
The results emphasize the importance of opportunistic fungi in public areas and indicate the risk of exposure for immunocompromised individuals.
PubMed: 28681007
DOI: 10.18869/acadpub.cmm.2.1.13 -
International Journal of Molecular... Apr 2023The microbial transformations of lactones with a halogenoethylocyclohexane moiety were performed in a filamentous fungi culture. The selected, effective biocatalyst for...
The microbial transformations of lactones with a halogenoethylocyclohexane moiety were performed in a filamentous fungi culture. The selected, effective biocatalyst for this process was the AM177 strain. The lactones were transformed into the hydroxy derivative, regardless of the type of halogen atom in the substrate structure. For all lactones, the antiproliferative activity was determined toward several cancer cell lines. The antiproliferative potential of halolactones was much broader than that observed for the hydroxyderivative. According to the presented results, the most potent was chlorolactone, which exhibited significant activity toward the T-cell lymphoma line (CL-1) cell line. The hydroxyderivative obtained through biotransformation was not previously described in the literature.
Topics: Humans; Fungi; Lactones; Biotransformation; Cell Line; Lymphoma, T-Cell
PubMed: 37108750
DOI: 10.3390/ijms24087587 -
Mycobiology Mar 2016During a biodiversity survey of undiscovered taxa in Korea, two zygomycetous fungal strains were isolated. The first strain, EML-FSDY6-1 was isolated from a soil sample...
During a biodiversity survey of undiscovered taxa in Korea, two zygomycetous fungal strains were isolated. The first strain, EML-FSDY6-1 was isolated from a soil sample collected at Dokdo Island in the East Sea of Korea in 2013, and the second strain, EML-DG-NH3-1 was isolated from a rat dung sample collected at Chonnam National University garden, Gwangju, Korea in 2014. Based on the morphological characteristics and phylogenetic analysis of the internal transcribed spacer, 18S and 28S rDNA, actin and translation elongation factor-1α genes. EML-FSDY6-1 and EML-DG-NH3-1 isolates were confirmed as zygomycete species, Absidia pseudocylindrospora and Absidia glauca, respectively. Neither species has previously been described in Korea.
PubMed: 27103852
DOI: 10.5941/MYCO.2016.44.1.29 -
Dental Research Journal 2022Saprophytic molds such as , , and cause mucormycosis, a fungal infection. These saprophytic fungi are common in the environment and have a strong proclivity for...
Saprophytic molds such as , , and cause mucormycosis, a fungal infection. These saprophytic fungi are common in the environment and have a strong proclivity for invading major blood arteries, causing tissue ischemia, necrosis, and infarction. They have been linked to immunocompromised individuals with a history of diabetic ketoacidosis, corticosteroid medication, HIV infection, malignant lymphomas, and patients currently receiving and recovering from COVID-19 treatment. The foregoing is the case of a 78-year-old COVID-19 recovered male who presented with a primary complaint of upper tooth movement for 1 month and maxillary segmental mobility. The maxillary alveolar process was resected, and histopathological reports revealed mucormycosis, which was treated with antifungal medication and nasolabial flap surgery. For the past 6 months, he has been disease-free. Early detection and treatment may offer a higher chance of successfully minimizing this debilitating condition.
PubMed: 36159045
DOI: No ID Found -
Journal of Clinical Microbiology Apr 2011Rapid detection and differentiation of Aspergillus and Mucorales species in fungal rhinosinusitis diagnosis are desirable, since the clinical management and prognosis...
Rapid detection and differentiation of Aspergillus and Mucorales species in fungal rhinosinusitis diagnosis are desirable, since the clinical management and prognosis associated with the two taxa are fundamentally different. We describe an assay based on a combination of broad-range PCR amplification and reverse line blot hybridization (PCR/RLB) to detect and differentiate the pathogens causing fungal rhinosinusitis, which include five Aspergillus species (A. fumigatus, A. flavus, A. niger, A. terreus, and A. nidulans) and seven Mucorales species (Mucor heimalis, Mucor racemosus, Mucor cercinelloidea, Rhizopus arrhizus, Rhizopus microsporus, Rhizomucor pusillus, and Absidia corymbifera). The assay was validated with 98 well-characterized clinical isolates and 41 clinical tissue specimens. PCR/RLB showed high sensitivity and specificity, with 100% correct identifications of 98 clinical isolates and no cross-hybridization between the species-specific probes. Results for five control isolates, Candida albicans, Fusarium solani, Scedosporium apiospermum, Penicillium marneffei, and Exophiala verrucosa, were negative as judged by PCR/RLB. The analytical sensitivity of PCR/RLB was found to be 1.8 × 10(-3) ng/μl by 10-fold serial dilution of Aspergillus genomic DNA. The assay identified 35 of 41 (85.4%) clinical specimens, exhibiting a higher sensitivity than fungal culture (22 of 41; 53.7%) and direct sequencing (18 of 41; 43.9%). PCR/RLB similarly showed high specificity, with correct identification 16 of 18 specimens detected by internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequencing and 16 of 22 detected by fungal culture, but it also has the additional advantage of being able to detect mixed infection in a single clinical specimen. The PCR/RLB assay thus provides a rapid and reliable option for laboratory diagnosis of fungal rhinosinusitis.
Topics: Aspergillus; Humans; Molecular Diagnostic Techniques; Mucorales; Mycology; Mycoses; Rhinitis; Sensitivity and Specificity; Sinusitis
PubMed: 21325541
DOI: 10.1128/JCM.02262-10