Accurate exposure assessment to airborne fungi in agricultural environments is essential for estimating the associated occupational health hazards of workers. The objective of this pilot study was to compare personal and stationary sampling for assessing farmers' exposure to airborne fungi in 3 different agricultural confinements located in Ohio, USA (hog farm, dairy farm, and grain farm), usin...

The Ustilago maydis-maize pathosystem has emerged as the current model for plant pathogenic basidiomycetes and as one of the few models for a true biotrophic interaction that persists throughout fungal development inside the host plant. This is based on the highly advanced genetic system for both the pathogen and its host, the ability to propagate U. maydis in axenic culture, and its unique cap...

The MAT region of Ustilago hordei, a bipolar barley pathogen, harbors distinct mating functions (a and b loci). Here, we show that the b locus is essential for mating and pathogenicity, and can induce pathogenicity when introduced into a strain carrying a b locus of opposite specificity. Transformation experiments using components of the a1 locus and analysis of resulting dual mating phenotypes...

Host sterilization is a common feature of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Because host reproductive failure may free up resources for pathogen reproduction and transmission, theory predicts that selection on sterilizing pathogens will favour maximum virulence (i.e. complete sterilization). We examined patterns of infection in sexually transmitted anther-smut fungi (Microbotryum) on four o...

Fungi are eukaryotes that play essential roles in ecosystems. Among fungi, Basidiomycota is one of the major phyla with more than 40,000 described species. We review species diversity from five groups different lifestyles or habitats: saprobic grass/forest litter, wood-decaying, yeast-like, ectomycorrhizal, and plant parasitic. Case studies Agaricus, Cantharellus, Ganoderma, Gyroporus, Russula,...

The capacity for pathogenic fungi to change morphology during their lifecycle is widespread. However, relatively few fungi are considered dimorphic, which refers to the ability to switch between two morphologies, yeast and hyphae (Table 1). These pathogens can be roughly subdivided into thermal (morphologic switch induced by temperature) and non-thermal dimorphic fungi (Table 1). Worldwide, the...

More than 2,000 C. elegans genes are targeted for RNA silencing by the mutator complex, a specialized small interfering RNA (siRNA) amplification module which is nucleated by the Q/N-rich protein MUT-16. The mutator complex localizes to Mutator foci adjacent to P granules at the nuclear periphery in germ cells. Here, we show that the DEAD box RNA helicase smut-1 functions redundantly in the mut...

Abstract Quambalaria are fungal pathogens of Corymbia , Eucalyptus and related genera Myrtaceae. They smut fungi (Ustilaginomycota) described from structures that resemble conidia conidiophores. Whether these spore forms have asexual or sexual roles in life cycles is unknown. An epidemic Q. pitereka destroyed plantations New South Wales Queensland (Australia) 2008. We sampled 177 individuals th...

Fungi, as every living organism, interact with the external world and have to adapt to its fluctuations. For pathogenic fungi, such interaction involves adapting to the hostile environment of their host. Survival depends on the capacity of fungi to detect and respond to external stimuli, which is achieved through a tight and efficient genetic control. Chromatin modifications represent a well-kn...