Expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from fungal-infected plant tissues are composed of a mixture of plant and fungal sequences. Using freely available software and tools, a novel procedure is described for distinguishing plant and fungal DNA sequences. Although the GenBank non-redundant (NR) database is larger and therefore one would presume that BLASTX analysis of it would be more accurate, superio...

Moniliophthora perniciosa (Stahel) Aime and Phillips-Mora is a hemibiotrophic basidiomycete (Agaricales, Tricholomataceae) that causes witches' broom disease in cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.). This pathogen carries a stable integrated invertron-type linear plasmid in its mitochondrial genome that encodes viral-like DNA and RNA polymerases related to fungal senescence and longevity. After culturing ...

Paracoccidioidomycosis is a systemic fungal infection caused by Paracoccidioides brasiliensis. As infectious diseases can cause DNA damage, the authors aimed at analyzing DNA breakage in peripheral blood cells of patients with paracoccidioidomycosis by using the comet assay. The results suggested that paracoccidioidomycosis does not cause genotoxicity. Key-words: Paracoccidioidomycosis. Paracoc...

Fungi grown in pure cultures produce DNA- or RNA-containing particles smaller than spore size (<1.5 microm). High exposures to fungi and bacteria are observed at biofuel plants. Airborne cultivable bacteria are often described to be present in clusters or associated with larger particles with an aerodynamic diameter (d(ae)) of 2-8 microm. In this study, we investigate whether airborne fungal co...

background gastric cancer is the second most common cause of cancer death worldwide. lentinan was shown to induce apoptosis in gastric cancer cells and could be used for the treatment of gastric cancer. objectives in this study, we analyzed anticancer effect of lentinan, a fungal β-glucan, on the gastric adenocarcinoma cell line (ags). materials and methods we used the dna ladder and tunnel app...

Invasive fungal disease often plays an important role in the morbidity and mortality of immunocompromised patients. The poor sensitivity of current fungal blood culture and histological practices has led to the development of highly sensitive and specific molecular techniques, such as the PCR. Sequence variability of the internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) region of fungi is potentially useful...

background: otitis media with effusion (ome) is common in the children. it is proven that pathogenic bacteria as a causative agent of middle ear effusion, however the role of fungal infection in otitis media with effusion remains unclear. therefore, this study was conducted to assess presence of fungi in ome. methods: from january 2005 to september 2006, a number of 62 children with proven otit...