Food-borne pathogens are ongoing problems, and new pathogens are emerging. The impact of fungi, however, is largely underestimated. Recently, commercial yogurts contaminated with Mucor circinelloides were sold, and >200 consumers became ill with nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Mucoralean fungi cause the fatal fungal infection mucormycosis, whose incidence has been continuously increasing. In th...

Regulation of siderophore production in response to iron concentration in the medium was examined. Threshold concentration was recorded for twenty fungi and three rhizobacterial pseudomonads. Organisms showed difference in threshold values at which they stopped siderophore elaboration. In nine fungi (3 aspergilli, 1 penicillium, N. crassa, F. dimerum and 3 mucors) siderophore production was rep...

A variety of cultural conditions were examined to determine the relationship between pyruvate kinase isozyme patterns and morphology in Mucor racemosus. The results indicate that M. racemosus has two isozymes of pyruvate kinase, form A and form B, which are clearly separable on ion-exchange columns (diethylaminoethyl-cellulose). Addition of glucose to cultures growing on amino acids in air resu...

Background and Purpose: Soil is the main habitat of saprophytic and pathogenic fungi. Mucormycetes are one of the most parts of soil fungi and certain members are among opportunistic fungi and can cause systemic fungal infections in immunocompromised patients. The majority of human and animal infections are caused by members of the genera Rhizopus, Mucor, Rhizomucor, Lichtheimia (Absidia), Cunn...

Solid organ transplant recipients are at risk for invasive fungal diseases, and are also exposed to healthcare-associated mucormycosis. Mainly causing localized cutaneous mucormycosis, Mucor irregularis infection is reported for the first time in a kidney-transplant recipient. A healthcare-associated origin was highly suspected in this case. We performed a literature review and highlight the ch...

We herein report a case of slowly progressive cutaneous, rhinofacial, and pulmonary mucormycosis caused by Mucor irregularis in an immunocompetent woman who was successfully managed by combined surgical debridement and antifungal therapy. Slow progression, pulmonary involvement, occurrence in an immunocompetent patient, and good prognosis are unusual features of our case.

The preparation of some ring A and B epoxy steroids derived from testosterone, pregnenolone and epiandrosterone using m-chloroperbenzoic acid is described. The biotransformation of the epoxy products by the fungus Mucor plumbeus are performed. The introduction of the epoxy group into the steroids moiety has affected the biotransformation results and gave only hydrolyzed products.

A case of primary cutaneous zygomycosis caused by Mucor circinelloides is described. Histopathology showed typical hyphae along with chlamydospores. The isolate was identified by molecular and phenotypic methods. The utility of sequence analysis of the internal transcribed spacer region is highlighted; however, further studies are needed to assess species genetic heterogeneity.

Several asco-, basidio-, and zygomycetes isolated from an agricultural field were shown to be able to hydroxylate the phenylurea herbicide isoproturon [N-(4-isopropylphenyl)-N',N'-dimethylurea] to N-(4-(2-hydroxy-1-methylethyl)phenyl)-N',N'-dimethylurea and N-(4-(1-hydroxy-1-methylethyl)phenyl)-N',N'-dimethylurea. Bacterial metabolism of isoproturon has previously been shown to proceed by an in...