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Fungi

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Articles 31 - 56 of 56

Full-Text Articles in Microbiology

Genetic Diversity In The Leucoagaricus Cultivar Fungus Of Trachymyrmex Septentrionalis Fungus-Growing Ants, Lee Deininger Apr 2019

Genetic Diversity In The Leucoagaricus Cultivar Fungus Of Trachymyrmex Septentrionalis Fungus-Growing Ants, Lee Deininger

MCB Articles

No abstract provided.

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The Role And Contribution Of Saprotrophic Fungi During Standing Litter Decomposition Of Two Perennial Grass Species, Schizachyrium Scoparium And Schizachyrium Tenerum, Matthew Lodato May 2018

The Role And Contribution Of Saprotrophic Fungi During Standing Litter Decomposition Of Two Perennial Grass Species, Schizachyrium Scoparium And Schizachyrium Tenerum, Matthew Lodato

Master's Theses

In terrestrial ecosystems, most of the plant biomass produced enters the detrital pool, where microbial decomposers colonize, enzymatically degrade, and assimilate plant litter carbon and nutrients in amounts sufficient to bring about the decomposition of plant litter. Here, I estimated the biomass and production of fungi and microbial respiration associated with decaying Schizachyrium scoparium and Schizachyrium tenerum leaf litter, and constructed a partial organic matter budget estimating C flow into and through fungal decomposers. Significant losses in S. scoparium (57%) and S. tenerum (68%) leaf mass was observed during litter decomposition along with concomitant increases in fungal biomass, which reached …

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Assay Of The Reverse Osmosis Purified Water In The Life Science Building At Bowling Green State University, Ohio, Nicholas Mendenhall, Scott O. Rogers, Neocles B. Leontis Apr 2018

Assay Of The Reverse Osmosis Purified Water In The Life Science Building At Bowling Green State University, Ohio, Nicholas Mendenhall, Scott O. Rogers, Neocles B. Leontis

Honors Projects

Contaminated water sources can cause problems for scientific research and result in costly delays and failures of experiments. At Bowling Green State University, the reverse osmosis supply circulating in the Life Sciences Building has been measurably contaminated for nearly three years, corresponding to a change in servicing of the system. While servicing has been accelerated, the contamination in the system remains. The focus of this research was to identify the species of bacteria and fungi growing inside of the water system so that it might alert those servicing the system, and to begin to eliminate the contamination. Reverse osmosis water …

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Improving The Nutritional Characteristics Of Plant Feedstuff By-Products Using Fungal Metabolism, Jacob Zahler Jan 2018

Improving The Nutritional Characteristics Of Plant Feedstuff By-Products Using Fungal Metabolism, Jacob Zahler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Plant feedstuff by-products such as soy processing wastewater, guar korma meal, and sorghum hominy are very different, however, all possess a rich nutrient profile. Lessening their value is the presence of lignocellulose, plant anti-nutritional factors, and unfavorable protein profiles. Fungal conversion processes are an attractive approach to improving the value of these by-products by degrading detrimental fractions of each while simultaneously creating nutrient-rich cell mass. The aim of this research was to improve the value of each by-product for potential application in monogastric diets such as fish. Fungal organisms, both yeast and filamentous fungi, were examined for their ability to …

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Plasmonic Gold Nanoparticle For Detection Of Fungi And Human Cutaneous Fungal Infections, Tobiloba Sojinrin, Kangze Liu, Joao Conde, Hugh Byrne, James Curtin, Daxiang Cui, Furong Tian Jun 2017

Plasmonic Gold Nanoparticle For Detection Of Fungi And Human Cutaneous Fungal Infections, Tobiloba Sojinrin, Kangze Liu, Joao Conde, Hugh Byrne, James Curtin, Daxiang Cui, Furong Tian

Articles

Fungi, which are common in the environment, can cause a multitude of diseases. Warm, humid conditions allow fungi to grow and infect humans via the respiratory, digestive and reproductive tracts, genital area and other bodily interfaces. Fungi can be detected directly by microscopy, using the potassium hydroxide (KOH) test, which is the gold standard and most popular method for fungal screening. However, this test requires trained personnel operating specialist equipment, including a fluorescent microscope and culture facilities. As most acutely infected patients seek medical attention within the first few days of symptoms, the optimal diagnostic test would be rapid and …

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Diversity And Biocide Susceptibility Of Fungal Assemblages Dwelling In The Art Gallery Of Magura Cave, Bulgaria, Milena M. Mitova, Mihail Iliev, Alena Nováková, Anna A. Gorbushina, Veneta I. Groudeva, Pedro M. Martin-Sanchez Feb 2017

Diversity And Biocide Susceptibility Of Fungal Assemblages Dwelling In The Art Gallery Of Magura Cave, Bulgaria, Milena M. Mitova, Mihail Iliev, Alena Nováková, Anna A. Gorbushina, Veneta I. Groudeva, Pedro M. Martin-Sanchez

International Journal of Speleology

Magura Cave, north-western Bulgaria, possesses valuable rock-art paintings made with bat guano and dated from the period between the Eneolithic and Bronze Ages. Since 2008, the Art Gallery is closed to the general public in order to protect the paintings from vandalism, microclimatic changes caused by visitors and artificial illumination, and the consequent growth of fungi and phototrophs. Nevertheless, some tourist visits are allowed under the supervision of cave managers. This study provides the first scientific report on cultivable fungal assemblages dwelling different substrata in the Art Gallery. A total of 78 strains, belonging to 37 OTUs (Ascomycota 81%, Zygomycota …

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Repurposing Non-Antimicrobial Drugs To Treat Multi-Drug Resistant Bacterial And Fungal Infections, Shankar Thangamani Dec 2016

Repurposing Non-Antimicrobial Drugs To Treat Multi-Drug Resistant Bacterial And Fungal Infections, Shankar Thangamani

Open Access Dissertations

Bacterial and fungal resistance to conventional antimicrobials is a burgeoning global health epidemic that necessitates urgent action. Even more alarming, the development of new antimicrobials to treat these multidrug-resistant pathogens has not kept pace with the rapid emergence of resistance to current antimicrobials. Antimicrobial drug development through the traditional de novo process is a risky venture given the significant financial and time investment required by researchers and limited success rate of translating these compounds to the clinical setting. This has led researchers to mine existing libraries of clinical molecules in order to repurpose old drugs for new applications (as antimicrobials). …

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Characterization Of The Ato Gene Family In Alternative Carbon Metabolism, Heather A. Danhof May 2016

Characterization Of The Ato Gene Family In Alternative Carbon Metabolism, Heather A. Danhof

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

As a commensal colonizer and opportunistic pathogen, Candida albicans is the most clinically important human associated fungus. Systemic infection carries an unacceptably high mortality rate of ~40% in the growing population of immunocompromised individuals. Macrophages are important innate immune cells that limit the niches in the human body in which C. albicans can persist through phagocytic removal. However, following phagocytosis C. albicans readily escapes from the immune cell by differentiating into filamentous hyphae, a process that should be inhibited in the normally acidic phagolysosome. We have shown that C. albicans induces germination by neutralizing the phagolysosome. To better understand this …

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Blastomyces: Why Be Dimorphic?, Dennis J. Baumgardner Apr 2016

Blastomyces: Why Be Dimorphic?, Dennis J. Baumgardner

Journal of Patient-Centered Research and Reviews

In introducing the infectious disease focus for this edition of the Journal of Patient-Centered Research and Reviews, the author describes the unsolved mysteries surrounding the dimorphic fungus Blastomyces and the related pathogenesis of pulmonary blastomycosis.

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Disease-Causing Fungi In Homes And Yards In The Midwestern United States, Dennis J. Baumgardner Apr 2016

Disease-Causing Fungi In Homes And Yards In The Midwestern United States, Dennis J. Baumgardner

Journal of Patient-Centered Research and Reviews

A number of fungal pathogens that may result in a variety of human diseases are found in residential homes and yards. The growth of these microscopic fungi is often favored by particular characteristics of the dwelling and nearby outdoor environment. Evolved virulence factors or increased ability of specific fungi to grow in diverse, and sometimes harsh, microenvironments presented by the domestic environment may promote growth and pathogenesis. Infection may occur by inhalation or direct inoculation and include endemic fungi in addition to opportunistic or emerging species. Systemic or locally aggressive fungal infections are particularly likely and may be life-threatening in …

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Sequence-Based Methods For Detecting And Evaluating The Human Gut Mycobiome, Mallory J. Suhr, Nabaraj Banjara, Heather E. Hallen-Adams Jan 2016

Sequence-Based Methods For Detecting And Evaluating The Human Gut Mycobiome, Mallory J. Suhr, Nabaraj Banjara, Heather E. Hallen-Adams

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

We surveyed the fungal microbiota in 16 fecal samples from healthy humans with a vegetarian diet. Fungi were identified using molecular cloning, 454 pyrosequencing and a Luminex analyte specific reagent (ASR) assay, all targeting the ITS region of the rRNA genes. Fungi were detected in each fecal sample and at least 46 distinct fungal operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were detected, from two phyla — Ascomycota and Basidiomycota. Fusarium was the most abundant genus, followed by Malassezia, Penicillium, Aspergillus, and Candida. Commonly detected fungi such as Aspergillus and Penicillium, as well as known dietary fungi Agaricus bisporus and …

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Fungal Melanin: What Do We Know About Structure?, Joshua D. Nosanchuk, Ruth E. Stark, Arturo Casadevall Dec 2015

Fungal Melanin: What Do We Know About Structure?, Joshua D. Nosanchuk, Ruth E. Stark, Arturo Casadevall

Publications and Research

The production of melanin significantly enhances the virulence of many important human pathogenic fungi. Despite fungal melanin’s importance in human disease, as well as melanin’s contribution to the ability of fungi to survive in diverse hostile environments, the structure of melanin remains unsolved. Nevertheless, ongoing research efforts have progressively revealed several notable structural characteristics of this enigmatic pigment, which will be the focus of this review. These compositional and organizational insights could further our ability to develop novel therapeutic approaches to combat fungal disease and enhance our understanding of how melanin is inserted into the cell wall.

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N-Acetylglucosamine Regulates Virulence Properties In Microbial Pathogens, Shamoon Naseem, James B. Konopka Jul 2015

N-Acetylglucosamine Regulates Virulence Properties In Microbial Pathogens, Shamoon Naseem, James B. Konopka

Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology Faculty Publications

There is growing evidence that the sugar N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) plays diverse roles in cell signaling pathways that impact the virulence properties of microbes and host cells. GlcNAc is already well known as a ubiquitous structural component at the cell surface that forms part of bacterial cell wall peptidoglycan, cell wall chitin in fungi and parasites, and extracellular matrix glycosaminoglycans of animal cells. Chitin and peptidoglycan have been previously linked to cell signaling as they can stimulate responses in plant and animal host cells [1–3]. Recent studies now indicate that GlcNAc released from these polymers can also …

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Airborne Microorganisms In Lascaux Cave (France), Pedro M Martin-Sanchez, Valme Jurado, Estefania Porca, Fabiola Bastian, Delphine Lacanette, Claude Alabouvette, Cesareo Saiz-Jimenez Jun 2014

Airborne Microorganisms In Lascaux Cave (France), Pedro M Martin-Sanchez, Valme Jurado, Estefania Porca, Fabiola Bastian, Delphine Lacanette, Claude Alabouvette, Cesareo Saiz-Jimenez

International Journal of Speleology

Lascaux Cave in France contains valuable Palaeolithic paintings. The importance of the paintings, one of the finest examples of European rock art paintings, was recognized shortly after their discovery in 1940. In the 60’s of the past century the cave received a huge number of visitors and suffered a microbial crisis due to the impact of massive tourism and the previous adaptation works carried out to facilitate visits. In 1963, the cave was closed due to the damage produced by visitors’ breath, lighting and algal growth on the paintings. In 2001, an outbreak of the fungus Fusarium solani covered the …

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Microbial Communities In A Coastal Cave: Cova Des Pas De Vallgornera (Mallorca, Western Mediterranean), Antoni Busquets, Joan J. Fornós, Freddy Zafra, Jorge Lalucat, Antoni Merino May 2014

Microbial Communities In A Coastal Cave: Cova Des Pas De Vallgornera (Mallorca, Western Mediterranean), Antoni Busquets, Joan J. Fornós, Freddy Zafra, Jorge Lalucat, Antoni Merino

International Journal of Speleology

As a part of an ongoing project on the role of microbes in the biogeochemistry of Majorcan caves, the species diversity of microbial communities present in cave pools of anchialine waters in the Cova des Pas de Vallgornera (Mallorca, western Mediterranean) is investigated by a culture-dependent method. Two-hundred and forty-eight strains isolated from this characteristic cave environment of the littoral karst are identified by whole-cell-MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry and phylogeneticaly by 16S rRNA gene sequences. Total cell counts and species diversity of the bacterial communities decreas with the distance to the entrance of the cave and to the sea. Strains are …

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A World Review Of Fungi, Yeasts, And Slime Molds In Caves, Karen J. Vanderwolf, David Malloch, Donald F. Mcalpine, Graham J. Forbes Jan 2013

A World Review Of Fungi, Yeasts, And Slime Molds In Caves, Karen J. Vanderwolf, David Malloch, Donald F. Mcalpine, Graham J. Forbes

International Journal of Speleology

We provide a review of fungi, yeasts, and slime molds that have been found in natural solution caves and mines worldwide. Such habitats provide frequent roost sites for bats, and in eastern North America the environmental conditions that support white-nose syndrome, a lethal fungal disease currently devastating bat populations. A list of 1029 species of fungi, slime moulds, and yeasts in 518 genera have been documented from caves and mines worldwide in 225 articles. Ascomycota dominate the cave environment. Most research has been conducted in temperate climates, especially in Europe. A mean of 17.9±24.4SD fungal species are reported per study. …

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Microbial Ecology And Functional Genomics Of Deep-Water Coral-Associated Microbes, Julia Parker Galkiewicz Jan 2011

Microbial Ecology And Functional Genomics Of Deep-Water Coral-Associated Microbes, Julia Parker Galkiewicz

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Lophelia pertusa is a cosmopolitan cold-water coral, often found in aphotic waters (>200m). Aggregations of L. pertusa (reefs) provide important habitat to many invertebrate and fish species and act as biodiversity hotspots in the deep sea. The health and diversity of these reefs is of vital importance to deep-sea ecosystems, and the microbial consortia associated with L. pertusa form the most basic ecological level. Deciphering the diversity and function of these microbes provides insight into the roles they play in maintaining reef health. This dissertation takes microbiological techniques that are used in shallow-water coral microbial research and applies them …

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Genome Sequence Of The Model Mushroom Schizophyllum Commune, Robin A. Ohm, Jan F. De Jong, Luis G. Lugones, Andrea Aerts, Erika Kothe, Jason E. Stajich, Ronald P. De Vries, Eric Record, Anthony Levasseur, Scott E. Baker, Kirk A. Bartholomew, Pedro M. Coutinho, Susann Erdmann, Thomas J. Fowler, Allen C. Gathmen, Vincent Lombard, Bernard Henrissat, Nicole Knabe, Ursula Kues, Walt W. Lily Sep 2010

Genome Sequence Of The Model Mushroom Schizophyllum Commune, Robin A. Ohm, Jan F. De Jong, Luis G. Lugones, Andrea Aerts, Erika Kothe, Jason E. Stajich, Ronald P. De Vries, Eric Record, Anthony Levasseur, Scott E. Baker, Kirk A. Bartholomew, Pedro M. Coutinho, Susann Erdmann, Thomas J. Fowler, Allen C. Gathmen, Vincent Lombard, Bernard Henrissat, Nicole Knabe, Ursula Kues, Walt W. Lily

Biology Faculty Publications

Much remains to be learned about the biology of mushroom-forming fungi, which are an important source of food, secondary metabolites and industrial enzymes. The wood-degrading fungus Schizophyllum commune is both a genetically tractable model for studying mushroom development and a likely source of enzymes capable of efficient degradation of lignocellulosic biomass. Comparative analyses of its 38.5-megabase genome, which encodes 13,210 predicted genes, reveal the species's unique wood-degrading machinery. One-third of the 471 genes predicted to encode transcription factors are differentially expressed during sexual development of S. commune. Whereas inactivation of one of these, fst4, prevented mushroom formation, inactivation of another, …

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Farnesol Signaling In Candida Albicans, Melanie L. Langford May 2010

Farnesol Signaling In Candida Albicans, Melanie L. Langford

School of Biological Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Candida albicans is a polymorphic fungus that causes a range of disease in humans, from mucosal infections to systemic disease. Its ability to cause disease is linked to conversion between yeast and filamentous forms of growth, and the first quorum-sensing molecule discovered in an eukaryote, farnesol, blocks this transition. In C. albicans, farnesol also kills mating-competent opaque cells, inhibits biofilm formation, protects the cells from oxidative stress, and can be a virulence factor or protective agent in disseminated and mucosal mouse models of infection, respectively. While much emphasis has been placed on determining its effect on C. albicans morphology, …

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Pseudomonas Aeruginosa-Candida Albicans Interactions: Localization And Fungal Toxicity Of A Phenazine Derivative, Jane Gibson, Arpanah Sood, Deborah A. Hogan Nov 2008

Pseudomonas Aeruginosa-Candida Albicans Interactions: Localization And Fungal Toxicity Of A Phenazine Derivative, Jane Gibson, Arpanah Sood, Deborah A. Hogan

Dartmouth Scholarship

Phenazines are redox-active small molecules that play significant roles in the interactions between pseudomonads and diverse eukaryotes, including fungi. When Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Candida albicans were cocultured on solid medium, a red pigmentation developed that was dependent on P. aeruginosa phenazine biosynthetic genes. Through a genetic screen in combination with biochemical experiments, it was found that a P. aeruginosa-produced precursor to pyocyanin, proposed to be 5-methyl-phenazinium-1-carboxylate (5MPCA), was necessary for the formation of the red pigmentation. The 5MPCA-derived pigment was found to accumulate exclusively within fungal cells, where it retained the ability to be reversibly oxidized and reduced, and its …

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Methods Used By Dr. R. K. Benjamin, And Other Mycologists, To Isolate Zygomycetes, Gerald L. Benny Aug 2008

Methods Used By Dr. R. K. Benjamin, And Other Mycologists, To Isolate Zygomycetes, Gerald L. Benny

Aliso: A Journal of Systematic and Floristic Botany

The methods that Dr. Richard K. Benjamin used to isolate Zygomycetes are discussed. These processes involved the following five steps: (1) collection, (2) plating, (3) isolation, (4) culture, and (5) maintenance. Additional methods, materials, and modifications used to isolate Zygomycetes are summarized. The author considers the flattening of the aerial hyphae onto the substrate of the faster- and higher-growing Mucorales for several consecutive days to be the critical step in isolating species of Coemansia, Piptocephalis, Syncephalis, and Dimargaritales. The methods used by other scholars to isolate, culture, and study many taxa in Zygomycetes also are discussed.

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Talking To Themselves: Autoregulation And Quorum Sensing In Fungi, Deborah A. Hogan Apr 2006

Talking To Themselves: Autoregulation And Quorum Sensing In Fungi, Deborah A. Hogan

Dartmouth Scholarship

Extracellular autoinducing compounds in the supernatants of microbial cultures were first recognized for their roles in the induction of genetic competence in gram-positive bacteria and in the regulation of light production in marine vibrios. In 1994, this form of population-level regulation in microbes was dubbed “quorum sensing” since it enabled bacterial cells to chemically measure the density of the surrounding population. Subsequently, many examples of cell density-dependent regulation by extracellular factors have been found in diverse microorganisms. The widespread incidence of diverse quorum-sensing systems strongly suggests that regulation in accordance with cell density is important for the success of microbes …

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Lipids Of Fungal Spores, Identification And Metabolism, Jim L. Bushnell Aug 1972

Lipids Of Fungal Spores, Identification And Metabolism, Jim L. Bushnell

Theses and Dissertations

The lipids of the spores of the Basidiomycetes: Ustilago bullata, Lycoperdon perlatum and Calvatia gigantea were investigated. The spores of U. bullata were found to have hydrocarbons ranging from C_9 to C_24, methyl esters of fatty acids ranging from C_14 to C_24, and free fatty acids from C_14 to C_24. The spores of L. perlatum were found to have few hydrocarbons (C_22 being the predominent one); no methyl esters were detected and the fatty acids were from C_15 to C_18. Long chain aldehydes (C_30) were also detected in low concentration. At the ultrastructural level the Lycoperdon spores were found to …

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A Comparative Survey Of Soil Microfungi From Three Vegetation Types In Cedar Valley, Utah, Brent T. Wahlquist May 1969

A Comparative Survey Of Soil Microfungi From Three Vegetation Types In Cedar Valley, Utah, Brent T. Wahlquist

Theses and Dissertations

Microfungi were isolated from soil samples by the soil plate method. Soil samples were collected at depths of 0-1", 1-4", and 4-8" both between and beneath the canopy of the dominant vegetation in stands of greasewood, sagebrush, and pinyon-juniper. Salinity, pH, and percent organic matter were measured for each soil sample. A total of 148 strains of fungi representing 141 species and 46 genera were isolated and identified from these alkaline soils, Few strains, including some Aspergilli, occurred only in the more saline greasewood soils, while many strains, including several Penicillia, occurred in both sagebrush and piny-on-juniper soils but were …

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A Study Of The Fleshy Fungi Of Utah, Kent Howell Mcknight Aug 1952

A Study Of The Fleshy Fungi Of Utah, Kent Howell Mcknight

Theses and Dissertations

It is the purpose of this study to further the ends of Mycology by presenting the fleshy fungi which are known to grow in Utah. The term fleshy fungi as used here shall include those Ascomycetes and Basidiomycetes which produce large or otherwise conspicuous sporocarps and their closely related forms. This includes portions of the sub-classes Pyrenomycetes and Discomycetes of the Ascomycetes; and portions of the Heterobasidiao and Eubasidiae of the Basidiomycetes (4). The sporocarps may be fleshy, woody, papery, leathery, carbonous or waxy in texture. This would exclude the Myxomycetes. However, since there have been no extensive studies of …

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Distribution Of Microorganisms In The Soil As Affected By Plowing And Subtilling Crop Residues, Roy C. Dawson, Virginia T. Dawson, T. M. Mccalla May 1948

Distribution Of Microorganisms In The Soil As Affected By Plowing And Subtilling Crop Residues, Roy C. Dawson, Virginia T. Dawson, T. M. Mccalla

Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station: Historical Research Bulletins

The purpose of this investigation was primarily to determine what effects rate and method of application of residues have on the distribution of microorganisms within the plow-depth layer of soil.

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