This study examined fungal diversity and composition in conventional (CM) and desert farming (DE) systems in Oman. Fungal diversity in the rhizosphere of tomato was assessed using 454-pyrosequencing and culture-based techniques. Both techniques produced variable results in terms of fungal diversity, with 25% of the fungal classes shared between the two techniques. In addition, pyrosequencing re...

Studies by Western blot analyses have shown that antibodies in the sera of host species infected by Pythium insidiosum recognized several prominent proteins expressed by this fungus-like pathogen. Although these studies have utilized sera from infected patients and relevant local strains of P. insidiosum, the results are difficult to compare because of the lack of method standardization. In an ...

Pythium species are morphologically polymorphic, physiologically unique and ecologically versatile, which make them significant both theoretically and practically. They are ubiquitous in soil and in water, distributed worldwide, and with very diverse host ranges. They include some of the most important and destructive plant pathogens, causing losses of seeds, pre-emergence and post-emergence da...

Pythium insidiosum, the only species in the genus that infects mammals, is the etiological agent of pythiosis, a granulomatous disease characterized by cutaneous and subcutaneous lesions and vascular diseases. Accurate diagnosis of pythiosis and identification of its causal agent are often inconsistent with current immunological diagnostic methods. A species-specific DNA probe was constructed b...

Pythiosis is an infectious disease caused by Pythium insidiosum, a fungus-like organism. Due to the lack of ergosterol on its cell membrane, antibiotic therapy is ineffective. The conventional treatment is surgery, but lesion recurrence is frequent, requiring several resections or limb amputation. Photodynamic therapy uses photo-activation of drugs and has the potential to be an attractive alte...

Pythium insidiosum is a protoctista and causes diseases in plants and animals. In Thailand it can cause a unique human infection of three types. The first type is a subcutaneous lesion in thalassaemic patients, with the pathological findings of a granulomatous reaction, diffuse infiltration, and oedema of the vessel walls. The patients responded to a saturated solution of potassium iodide. The ...

Recent studies have revealed an unexpectedly high, cryptic diversity of fungi associated with boreal forest bryophytes. Forestry practices heavily influence the boreal forest and fundamentally transform the landscape. However, little is known about how bryophyte-associated fungal communities are affected by these large-scale habitat transformations. This study assesses to what degree bryophyte-...