The genus Monascus was described by van Tieghem (1884) to accommodate M. ruber and M. mucoroides, two species with non-ostiolate ascomata. Species delimitation in the genus is still mainly based on phenotypic characters, and taxonomic studies that include sequence data are limited. The genus is of economic importance. Species are used in fermented Asian foods as food colourants (e.g. 'red rice'...

Cholera is a life-threatening diarrhoeal disease, which mainly affects inhabitants of developing countries due to poor socio-economic conditions and lack of access to potable water and sanitation. Toxigenic Vibrio cholerae are the aetiological agents of cholera. These bacteria are autochthonous to aquatic environments, hence water plays a central role both in the epidemiology and transmission o...

Title of Document: A STUDY OF UNUSUAL METABOLIC VARIANTS OF AEROMONAS CAVIAE AND AEROMONAS HYDROPHILA USING A POLYPHASIC TAXONOMIC APPROACH Zenas Chang, MS, 2010 Directed By: Professor Sam W. Joseph, CBMG Variation in acid production from carbohydrate metabolism has been identified in Aeromonas as a potential indicator for new subspecies. Therefore, pure cultures of non-lactose fermenting Aerom...

Microorganisms constitute more than half of the Earth's biomass and in addition to quantity,they represent great diversity. In January 2013, the number of officially registered names forprokaryotic microorganisms at the genus and species levels were, respectively, approximately2100 and 12000. Current authorized methods for classification and identification of newmicrobial taxa are polyphasic ap...

BACKGROUND The Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTC) comprises closely related species responsible for strictly human and zoonotic tuberculosis. Accurate species determination is useful for the identification of outbreaks and epidemiological links. Mycobacterium africanum and Mycobacterium canettii are typically restricted to Africa and M. bovis is a re-emerging pathogen. Identification of t...

Background: The spectrum of MOG-associated disorders (MOGAD) comprises monophasic diseases such as ADEM, ON and TM, polyphasic courses these presentations. Persistently high MOG-antibodies (MOG-IgG) are suggested to be associated with a relapsing disease course.

Fungal taxonomists routinely encounter problems when dealing with asexual fungal species due to poly- and paraphyletic generic phylogenies, and unclear species boundaries. These problems are aptly illustrated in the genus Phoma. This phytopathologically significant fungal genus is currently subdivided into nine sections which are mainly based on a single or just a few morphological characters. ...