Insect fungus gardens consist of a community of interacting microorganisms that can have either beneficial or detrimental effects to the farmers. In contrast to fungus-farming ants and termites, the fungal communities of ambrosia beetles and the effects of particular fungal species on the farmers are largely unknown. Here, we used a laboratory rearing technique for studying the filamentous fung...

Innate antifungal defense in Drosophila melanogaster relies on the activation of the Toll molecule and the release of drosomycin, a defensin-like molecule with antifungal properties. Ten human homologues of Toll have been described, with central roles in activation of the innate host defense. In the present study, we report a putative human homologue of the Drosophila-derived drosomycin, design...

In persons with structural lung disease, particularly those with cystic fibrosis (CF), chronic airway infections cause progressive loss of lung function. CF airways can be colonized by a variety of microorganisms; the most frequently encountered bacterial and fungal pathogens are Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Aspergillus fumigatus, respectively. Co-infection with P. aeruginosa and A. fumigatus oft...

The bioconversion of lignocellulosic biomass into monomeric sugars is a key economic difficulty hindering the profitable use plant as energy. production cellulase main factor in cellulose hydrolysis. Among producers are filamentous fungi. Therefore, many efforts have been made obtaining new microorganisms with high secretion capacity. secretory capacity 28 isolates Trichoderma was qualitatively...

In the present study, 110 fungal strains of Persian Type Culture Collection (PTCC) including some selected strains isolated in various screening projects were tested for their potentiality to produce lovastatin, a competitive inhibitor of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase (HMG-CoA reduc-tase), the rate-limiting enzyme of cholesterol biosynthesis. The fungal strains were cultivated in a t...

Peritonitis is one of the most frequent complications in peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients. Most of them have a bacterial origin, especially gram-positive microorganisms. Actinomyces peritonitis is rare in PD patients, in spite of being part of the normal flora in the oral cavity, gastrointestinal and genital tracts [1]. Actinomyces is a filamentous gram-positive bacterium that lives in aerobic...

Despite the relative frequency of opportunistic fungal infections among hemodialysis patients, the reservoirs for these microorganisms in the environment remain unknown, although some recent studies have made correlations with the water supply as their source. The objective of the present study was to monitor the mycological quality of the water system of a hemodialysis unit in the interior of ...

Thermobifida fusca is an aerobic, moderately thermophilic, filamentous soil bacterium. Iron is an essential metal involved in the vital metabolic functions in microorganisms. Thermobifida fusca was found to survive in the iron-deficiency condition and produce siderophores which synthesized to acquire iron. The iron transport was regulated by DtxR, a prototypic member of a superfamily of transit...

Insects are the main pest in agricultural systems, causing significant losses crop productivity and storage. During last decades control of insects has been carried out through uncontrolled massive use chemical insecticides, very harmful to environment health, which requires development new efficient safe alternatives. Numerous fungal species have described as entomopathogens insect pests, well...