Fungi Commons^™

Reducing Food Scarcity: The Benefits Of Urban Farming, S.A. Claudell, Emilio Mejia

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

Urban farming can enhance the lives of communities and help reduce food scarcity. This paper presents a conceptual prototype of an efficient urban farming community that can be scaled for a single apartment building or an entire community across all global geoeconomics regions, including densely populated cities and rural, developing towns and communities. When deployed in coordination with smart crop choices, local farm support, and efficient transportation then the result isn’t just sustainability, but also increasing fresh produce accessibility, optimizing nutritional value, eliminating the use of ‘forever chemicals’, reducing transportation costs, and fostering global environmental benefits.

Imagine Doris, who is …

Cyclic Peptides With Antifungal Properties Derived From Bacteria, Fungi, Plants, And Synthetic Sources, Naiera M. Helmy, Keykavous Parang

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Fungal infections remain a significant concern for human health. The emergence of microbial resistance, the improper use of antimicrobial drugs, and the need for fewer toxic antifungal treatments in immunocompromised patients have sparked substantial interest in antifungal research. Cyclic peptides, classified as antifungal peptides, have been in development as potential antifungal agents since 1948. In recent years, there has been growing attention from the scientific community to explore cyclic peptides as a promising strategy for combating antifungal infections caused by pathogenic fungi. The identification of antifungal cyclic peptides from various sources has been possible due to the widespread interest in …

Eco-Interoception: What Plants, Fungi And Protista Have Taught My Body, Sara Riley Dotterer

Art Theses and Dissertations

To me, ecology is the relational, full-body awareness that I am made up of and deeply connected to everything around me; and for better or worse, this is reciprocal. I form ecotones, an ecological transitional zone between two ecosystems, with the world around me. I use this ecotonal lens to blur binaries and dissolve boundaries between me and the world “outside my body.” During my Masters of Fine Arts at Southern Methodist University, I have continuously explored and represented the lives of various more-than-human species outside of my body, including plants, fungi and protista through an ecotonal lens. Although these …

Flippase Inhibitors As Antimicrobial Agents, Robert Tancer

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Drug resistant microbes are a considerable challenge for modern medicine to overcome. The research described in this dissertation involved development of lipid flippase inhibitors and investigating their potential as antimicrobial agents against various drug resistant microbes. The microbes primarily investigated were methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) & Cryptococcus neoformans. Chapter 1 reviews the historical perspective and summarizes the current state of the field of research. In Chapter 2, the design space of an antimicrobial peptide known as humimycin was explored and the effects of modifications on its structure were observed against MRSA. Several key observations resulted. Most notably, the …

Integration Of Medicinal Fungi Into The Heber W. Youngken Jr. Medicinal Garden, Anthony Makashov

Senior Honors Projects

The Heber W. Youngken Jr. Medicinal Garden is a one-of-a-kind resource that houses close to 300 medicinal plants and is filled to the brim with educational opportunities. For the College of Pharmacy, this garden has been the centerpiece of many classes taught here at the University of Rhode Island and has roots as a physical teaching space. While the garden contains a plethora of plant species, medicinal fungi have yet to have been included in the garden, despite their relevance as both sources of pharmaceutical drug discovery and as natural products with inherent physiological benefits themselves. The purpose of my …

Microbiological Study In A Gneissic Cave From Sri Lanka, With Special Focus On Potential Antimicrobial Activities, Ethige Isuru P. Silva, Pathmakumara Jayasingha, Saman Senanayake, Anura Dandeniya, Dona Helani Munasinghe

International Journal of Speleology

The emergence of antibiotic resistance is a global health crisis, thus the search for novel antimicrobial compounds has become a continuous necessity. Underexplored and extreme environments, such as cave ecosystems, have been identified as a promising potential source for the discovery of novel microorganisms with novel antimicrobial compounds (AMC). This study presents the first cave microbiological investigation in Sri Lanka, with a special preference for bioprospecting of novel AMC. The cave sediment characterization demonstrated the presence of close to strong acidic conditions (pH 3.1 – 3.3) and thus indicates the possibility of isolating acidophilic microorganisms. Eight cave wall/ceiling fungal strains …

Antifungal Defense Molecules From Bacterial Symbionts Of North American Trachymyrmex Ants, Georgia Scherer

CMC Senior Theses

Defensive symbioses, in which microbes provide molecular defenses for an animal host, hold great potential as untapped sources of therapeutically useful antibiotics. Fungus-growing ants use antifungal defenses from bacterial symbionts to suppress pathogenic fungi in their nests. Preliminary chemical investigations of symbiotic bacteria from this large family of ants have uncovered novel antifungal molecules with therapeutic potential, such as dentigerumycin and selvamicin.

In this study, the bacterial symbionts of North American Trachymyrmex fungus-growing ants are investigated for antifungal molecules. Plate-based bioassays using ecologically-relevant fungal pathogens confirmed that these bacteria have antifungal activity. In order to purify and identify the antifungal …

Evaluating Volatile Organic Compounds For Contact-Independent Antagonism Of Pseudogymnoascus Destructans

Symposium of Student Scholars

White-nose syndrome (WNS), a disease caused by the fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans, is responsible for the extensive mortality of bats in the United States. In an effort to develop tools to reduce bat mortality attributed to WNS, an in vitro experiment was conducted to quantify the inhibitory effects of select volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as well as explore potential synergistic activities. The experiment involved exposing mycelial plugs of P. destructans to various concentrations of B23 as well as B23 and decanal together at equimolar ratios. Measurements of the plugs were taken over the course of the 13 day experiment allowing …

Amphotercin Washout Of Fungal Peritonitis In Liver Transplant Recipient: A Novel Approach, Ann Thompson Do, Mara Piltin Do, Alyssa Imperatore Do, Ely Sebastian Md, Sandra Paluzzi Md

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

Invasive fungal infection has a significant prevalence among organ transplant patients and is associated with high rates of morbidity and mortality. Fungal infection is difficult to identify early and subsequently difficult to effectively treat. In this case presentation we have a 45 y/o orthotopic liver transplant recipient who was profoundly sick from fungal peritonitis and due to the appearance of her abdomen and intestines, with the help of infectious disease, decided to proceed with direct amphotercin washout of the abdomen in the operating room. The patient had complete resolution of her fungal peritonitis and is doing well.

Modification Of The Ribosome As Part Of The Adaptive Response To Oxidative Stress In Yeast, Jessica A Zinskie, Daniel Shedlovskiy, Ethan Gardner, Dimitri G Pestov, Natalia Shcherbik

Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine Faculty Scholarship

Living organisms are constantly exposed to a variety of environmental and internal stressors tha tare detrimental to their cellular physiology and viability. One such condition, oxidativestress, is caused by abnormal amounts of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) that can lead to damage to proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids. Although the mechanisms to neutralize ROS have been widely studied, the understanding of ROS‐mediated signaling for these mechanisms is rather incomplete and sparse. We have uncovered a previously undescribed phenomenon of yeast ribosomes to respond to elevated levels of ROS through a specific endonucleolytic cleavage of the 25S rRNA in the c‐loop of …

Mamba Juice: Expression Of Exogenous Mambalgin Peptide Using The Pgapzα Vector System, Lydia Studdard, Kristin Vanmouwerik, Merhawi Yigzaw, Reza Alavi

Georgia State Undergraduate Research Conference

No abstract provided.

Erg11-Mediated Azole Resistance In Candida Albicans, Stephanie Ann Flowers

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Although many medically important Candida species are commensal to the gut or colonizers of the skin, these organisms have the propensity to cause disease in the event of a waning immune system. Clinical manifestations of infections with Candida species can range from superficial mucosal infections to deep organ involvement usually resulting from haematogenous spread of infection. Despite significant progress made in the management of patients with fungal infections, the emergence of antifungal resistant clinical isolates creates significant problem in regards to antifungal prophylaxis and empirical treatment strategies. Antifungal resistance is associated with high mortality rates and hefty medical costs. The …

The First Total Synthesis Of (±)-4-Methoxydecanoic Acid: A Novel Antifungal Fatty Acid, Nestor Carballeira, Carlos Miranda, Keykavous Parang

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

The hitherto unknown (±)-4-methoxydecanoic acid was synthesized in six steps and in 25% overall yield starting from commercially available 4-penten-1-ol. The title compound demonstrated 17-fold higher antifungal activity (MIC = 1.5 mM) against Candida albicans ATCC 60193 and Cryptococcus neoformans ATCC 66031 when compared to unsubstituted n-decanoic acid. Our results demonstrate that mid-chain methoxylation appears to be a viable strategy for increasing the fungitoxicity of fatty acids.

Transcriptional Regulation Of Azole Antifungal Resistance In Candida Albicans, Teresa T. Liu

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Candida albicans is a pathogenic fungi found in the mucosa, gastrointestinal, and urogenital tracts of humans. Oropharyngeal candidiasis (OPC), an opportunistic mucosal infection caused by C. albicans, occurs most frequently in patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). OPC is usually treated with azole antifungals, a class of antifungals that target ergosterol biosynthesis, at low doses over long periods of time. This course of treatment allows for the development of azole resistance.

Two major mechanisms of azole resistance exist in C. albicans, the up-regulation of genes encoding efflux pumps and the up-regulation of ERG11, a gene encoding the azole drug …

Synthesis And Antifungal Properties Of Alpha-Methoxy And Alpha-Hydroxyl Substituted 4-Thiatetradecanoic Acids, Nestor Carballeira, Rosann O'Neill, Keykavous Parang

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

4-Thiatetradecanoic acid exhibited weak antifungal activities against Candida albicans (ATCC 60193), Cryptococcus neoformans (ATCC 6603 1), and Aspergillus niger (ATCC 16404) (MIC = 4.8-12.7 mM). It has been demonstrated that alpha-methoxylation efficiently blocks P-oxidation and significantly improve the antifungal activities of fatty acids. We examined whether antifungal activity of 4-thiatetradecanoic acid can be improved by a-substitution. The unprecedented (+/-)-2-tiydroxy-4-thiatetradecanoic acid was synthesized in four steps (20% overall yield), while the (+/-)-2-methoxy-4-thiatetradecanoic acid was synthesized in five steps (14% overall yield) starting from 1-decanethiol. The key step in the synthesis was the hydrolysis of a trimethylsilyloxynitrile. In general, the novel (+/-)-2-methoxy-4-thiatetradecanoic …

2,6-Hexadecadiynoic Acid And 2,6-Nonadecadiynoic Acid - Novel Synthesized Acetylenic Fatty Acids As Potent Antifungal Agents, Nestor Carballeira, David Sanabria, Clarisa Cruz, Keykavous Parang, Baojie Wan, Scott Franzblau

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

The hitherto unknown 2,6-hexadecadiynoic acid, 2,6-nonadecadiynoic acid, and 2,9-hexadecadiynoic acid were synthesized in two steps and in 11–18% overall yields starting from either 1,5-hexadiyne or 1,8-nonadiyne. Among all the compounds 2,6-hexadecadiynoic acid displayed the best overall antifungal activity against both the fluconazole resistant Candida albicans strains ATCC 14053 and ATCC 60193 (MIC = 11 μM) and against Cryptococcus neoformans ATCC 66031 (MIC < 5.7 μM). The 2,9-hexadecadiynoic acid did not display any significant cytotoxicity against the fluconazole resistant C. albicans strains, but it showed fungitoxicity against C. neoformans ATCC 66031 with a MIC value of <5.8 μM. Other fatty acids, such as 2-hexadecynoic acid, 5-hexadecynoic acid, 9-hexadecynoic acid, and 6-nonadecynoic acid were also synthesized and their antifungal activities compared. The 2-hexadecynoic acid, a known antifungal fatty acid, exhibited the best antifungal activity (MIC = 9.4 μM) against the fluconazole resistant C. albicans ATCC 14053 strain, but it showed a MIC value of only 100 μM against C. albicans ATCC 60193. The fatty acids 2,6-hexadecadiynoic acid and 2-hexadecynoic acid also displayed a MIC of 140–145 μM towards Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv in Middlebrook 7H12 medium. In conclusion, 2,6-hexadecadiynoic acid exhibited the best fungitoxicity profile compared to other analogues. This diynoic fatty acid has the potential to be further evaluated for use in topical antifungal formulations.