Cainkrarup3103

408. Fusarium fujikuroi was the most sensitive to cinnamaldehyde.In an effort to standardize practice, the European Confederation of Medical Mycology (ECMM) developed the European Confederation of Medical Mycology Quality of Clinical Candidaemia Management (EQUAL) Candida score. This study investigated the utility of the EQUAL Candida score in predicting mortality in patients with candidemia admitted between January 2004 and July 2019. A total of 142 cases were included in the study, and 43.6% died within 30 days of candidemia diagnosis. There were no significant differences between survivors and non-survivors in terms of comorbidities predisposing to candidemia, except for malignancy (p = 0.021). The overall mean EQUAL score was 11.5 in the total population and 11.8 ± 3.82 and 11.03 ± 4.59 in survivors and non-survivors, respectively. When patients with a central venous catheter (CVC) were considered alone, survivors were found to have significantly higher scores than non-survivors (13.1 ± 3.19 vs. 11.3 ± 4.77, p = 0.025). When assessing components of the EQUAL Score separately, only candida speciation (p = 0.013), susceptibility testing (p = 0.012) and echocardiography results (p = 0.012) were significantly associated with a lower case-fatality rate. A higher EQUAL Candida score was able to predict a lower case-fatality rate in patients with a CVC.Fungal endophytes have been extensively found in most terrestrial plants. This type of plant-microorganism symbiosis generates many benefits for plant growth by promoting nutrient availability, uptake, and resistance to environmental disease or stress. Recent studies have reported that fungal endophytes have a potential impact on plant litter decomposition, but the mechanisms behind its effect are not well understood. We proposed a hypothesis that the impacts of fungal endophytes on litter decomposition are not only due to a shift in the symbiont-induced litter quality but a shift in soil microenvironment. To test this hypothesis, we set-up a field trial by planting three locally dominant grass species (wild barley, drunken horse grass, and perennial ryegrass) with Epichloë endophyte-infected (E+) and -free (E-) status, respectively. The aboveground litter and bulk soil from each plant species were collected. The litter quality and the soil biotic and abiotic parameters were analyzed to identify their changes across E+ and E- status and plant species. While Epichloë endophyte status mainly caused a significant shift in soil microenvironment, plant species had a dominant effect on litter quality. Available nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) as well as soil organic carbon and microbial biomass in most soils with planting E+ plants increased by 17.19%, 14.28%, 23.82%, and 11.54%, respectively, in comparison to soils with planting E- plants. Our results confirm that fungal endophytes have more of an influence on the soil microenvironment than the aboveground litter quality, providing a partial explanation of the home-field advantage of litter decomposition.Sirtuins are a class of histone deacetylases that promote heterochromatin formation to repress transcription. The entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana contains six sirtuin homologs. The class III histone deacetylase, BbSir2, has been previously shown to affect the regulation of carbon/nitrogen metabolism and asexual development, with only moderate effects on virulence. Here, we examine another class III histone deacetylase (BbSirT2) and show that it contributes to deacetylation of lysine residues on histone H4-K16ac. Directed gene-knockout of BbSirT2 dramatically reduced conidiation, the ability of the fungus to metabolize a range of carbon and nitrogen sources, and tolerances to oxidative, heat, and UV stress and significantly attenuated virulence in both intrahemocoel injection and topical bioassays using the Greater wax moth (Galleria mellonella) as the insect host. ΔBbSirT2 cells showed alterations in cell cycle development and hyphal septation and produced morphologically aberrant conidia. Comparative transcriptomic analyses of wild type versus ΔBbSirT2 cells indicated differential expression of 1148 genes. Differentially expressed genes were enriched in pathways involved in cell cycle and rescue, carbon/nitrogen metabolism, and pathogenesis. These included changes in the expression of polyketide synthases (PKSs) and LysM effector proteins that contribute to degradation of host toxins and target host pathways, respectively. These data indicate contributions of BbSirT2 in helping to mediate fungal stress and development, with the identification of affected gene targets that can help account for the observed reduced virulence phenotype.The fungal kingdom comprises ubiquitous forms of life with 1.5 billion years, mostly phytopathogenic and commensals for humans and animals. However, in the presence of immune disorders, fungi may cause disease by intoxicating, infecting or sensitizing with allergy. Species from the genera Alternaria, Aspergillus and Malassezia, as well as dermatophytes from the genera Microsporum, Trichophyton and Epidermophyton, are the most commonly implicated in veterinary medicine. Alternaria and Malassezia stand as the most commonly associated with either allergy or infection in animals, immediately followed by Aspergillus, while dermatophytes are usually associated with the ringworm skin infection. By aiming at the relevance of fungi in veterinary allergy it was concluded that further research is still needed, especially in the veterinary field.Global climate change is altering the amounts of ice and snow in winter, and this could be a major driver of soil microbial processes. However, it is not known how bacterial and fungal communities will respond to changes in the snow cover. We conducted a snow manipulation experiment to study the effects of snow removal on the diversity and composition of soil bacterial and fungal communities. A snow manipulation experiment was carried out on the meadow steppe in Hulunbuir, Inner Mongolia, China, during the winter period October 2019-March 2020. Soil samples were collected from the topsoil (0-10 cm) in mid-March 2020 (spring snowmelt period). Snow removal significantly reduced soil moisture and soil ammonium concentration. Lower snow cover also significantly changed the fungal community structure and beta diversity. Snow removal did not affect the bacterial community, indicating that fungal communities are more sensitive to snow exclusion than bacterial communities. The relative importance analysis (using the Lindeman-Merenda-Gold method) showed that available nitrogen (AN), soil water content (SWC), total organic carbon (TOC), microbial biomass carbon (MBC), and microbial biomass nitrogen (MBN) together explained 94.59% of the variation in soil fungal beta diversity, where AN was identified as the most important predictor. VH298 order These finding provide insights into potential impacts of climate warming and associated reduced snow cover on soil microbial communities and processes.We have previously identified Candida albicans GPH1 (orf19.7021) whose protein product was associated with C. albicans Cdc4. The GPH1 gene is a putative glycogen phosphorylase because its Saccharomyces cerevisiae homolog participates in glycogen catabolism, which involves the synthesis of β-glucan of the fungal cell wall. We made a strain whose CaCDC4 expression is repressed, and GPH1 is constitutively expressed. We established a GPH1 null mutant strain and used it to conduct the in vitro virulence assays that detect cell wall function. The in vitro virulence assay is centered on biofilm formation in which analytic procedures are implemented to evaluate cell surface hydrophobicity; competence, either in stress resistance, germ tube formation, or fibronection association; and the XTT-based adhesion and biofilm formation. We showed that the constitutively expressed GPH1 partially suppresses filamentation when the CaCDC4 expression is repressed. The C. albicans Gph1 protein is reduced in the presence of CaCdc4 in comparison with the absence of CaCdc4. Compared with the wild-type strain, the gph1Δ/gph1Δ mutant displayed a reduction in the capability to form germ tubes and the cell surface hydrophobicity but an increase in binding with fibronectin. Compared with the wild-type strain, the gph1Δ/gph1Δ mutant showed a rise in adhesion, the initial stage of biofilm formation, but displayed a similar capacity to form a mature biofilm. There was no major impact on the gph1Δ/gph1Δ mutant regarding the conditions of cell wall damaging and TOR pathway-associated nutrient depletion. We conclude that GPH1, adversely regulated by the filament suppressor CDC4, contributes to cell wall function in C. albicans.The secondary metabolites of Phaeosphaeria sp. LF5, an endophytic fungus with acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitory activity isolated from Huperzia serrata, were investigated. Their structures and absolute configurations were elucidated by means of extensive spectroscopic data, including one- and two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), high-resolution electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (HR-ESI-MS) analyses, and calculations of electronic circular dichroism (ECD). A chemical study on the solid-cultured fungus LF5 resulted in 11 polyketide derivatives, which included three previously undescribed derivatives aspilactonol I (4), 2-(1-hydroxyethyl)-6-methylisonicotinic acid (7), and 6,8-dihydroxy-3-(1'R, 2'R-dihydroxypropyl)-isocoumarin (9), and two new natural-source-derived aspilactonols (G, H) (2, 3). Moreover, the absolute configuration of de-O-methyldiaporthin (11) was identified for the first time. Compounds 4 and 11 exhibited inhibitory activity against AChE with half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) values of 6.26 and 21.18 µM, respectively. Aspilactonol I (4) is the first reported furanone AChE inhibitor (AChEI). The results indicated that Phaeosphaeria is a good source of polyketide derivatives. This study identified intriguing lead compounds for further research and development of new AChEIs.Ambrosia beetles are insect vectors of important plant diseases and have been considered as a threat to forest ecosystems, agriculture, and the timber industry. Several factors have been suggested as promoters of the pathogenic behavior of ambrosia beetles; one of them is the nature of the fungal mutualist and its ability to establish an infectious process. In Mexico, Xylosandrus morigerus is an invasive ambrosia beetle that damages many agroecosystems. Herein, two different isolates from the X. morigerus ambrosia beetle belonging to the Fusarium genus are reported. Both isolates belong to the Fusarium solani species complex (FSSC) but not to the Ambrosia Fusarium clade (AFC). The two closely related Fusarium isolates are pathogenic to different forest and agronomic species, and the morphological differences between them and the extracellular protease profile suggest intraspecific variability. This study shows the importance of considering these beetles as vectors of different species of fungal plant pathogens, with some of them even being phylogenetically closely related and having different pathogenic abilities, highlighting the relevance of the fungal mutualist as a factor for the ambrosia complex becoming a pest.