Secrets of the antibiotic resistant Candida auris

Most fossils from the Pre-Cambrian that were claimed to perhaps be fungal have proved to be artefacts or otherwise dubious (Hawksworth 2015, Taylor et al. 2015). Some more convincing remains of mycelium-like structures have, however, now been reported from a 2.4 billion-year-old basalt from the Palaeoproterozoic of the Pre-Cambrian in South Africa (Bengston et al. 2017). The basalts were submarine and have vesicles often connected by veins evident in thin sections, and the detailed structures have been elucidated by tomographic microscopy (SRXTM) surface/volume renderings. Networks of hyphal-like threads are visualized, some with anastomoses, branches, and loops; measurements are given as 2–12 μm wide. No definite spore-like structures were discovered, but it is speculated that some bulbous protrusions of 5–10 μm diam might actually be spores. It cannot be categorically asserted or denied that these structures are fungal, but there can be little doubt that they are mycelium-like. No reference is made to septa, but none are evident in the photographs. The jury is likely to remain out for some time as to the nature of these remains, and the possibility that they could represent extinct lineages has to be borne in mind. Nevertheless, the presence of some early fungi or fungal ancestor was to be expected in Cambrian or Pre-Cambrian rocks if it is assumed that the principal fungal phyla had all become wellseparated by the Devonian.