Aspergillus Section Fumigati Pneumonia and Oxalate Nephrosis in a Foal.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Hattab J
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8471827 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:Aspergillus section Fumigati is one of the Aspergillus sections more frequently related to respiratory symptoms and by other health outcomes. This study aimed to characterize Aspergillus section Fumigati distribution in eleven firefighter headquarters (FFHs) to obtain an accurate occupational exposure assessment. A sampling approach protocol was performed using active (impaction method) and passive sampling methods (floor surfaces swabs, electrostatic dust collectors (EDCs), and settled dust). All samples were analysed by culture-based methods and passive sampling was used for molecular detection of Aspergillus section Fumigati. Results: Of all the matrices, the highest counts of Aspergillus sp. were obtained on settled dust filters (3.37% malt extract agar-MEA, 19.09% dichloran glycerol-DG18) followed by cleaning cloths (1.67% MEA; 7.07% DG18). Among the Aspergillus genus, the Fumigati section was predominant in Millipore and EDC samples in MEA (79.77% and 28.57%, respectively), and in swabs and settled dust filters in DG18 (44.76% and 30%, respectively). The Fumigati section was detected more frequently in DG18 (33.01%) compared to MEA (0.33%). The Fumigati section was observed in azole supplemented media (itraconazole and voriconazole) in several passive sampling methods employed and detected by qPCR in almost all passive samples, with EDCs being the matrix with the highest prevalence (n = 61; 67.8%). This study confirms that Aspergillus sp. is widespread and the Fumigati section is present in all FFHs. The presence of fungi potentially resistant to azoles in the FFHs was also observed. Further studies are needed to identify the best corrective and preventive measures to avoid this section contamination in this specific occupational environment.
| S-EPMC8541501 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Three new species of Neosartorya and one new Aspergillus of section Fumigati are proposed using a polyphasic approach based on morphology, extrolite production and partial beta-tubulin, calmodulin, and actin gene sequences. The phylogenetic analyses using the three genes clearly show that the taxa grouped separately from the known species and confirmed the phenotypic differences. Neosartorya denticulata is characterized by its unique denticulate ascospores with a prominent equatorial furrow; N. assulata by well developed flaps on the convex surface of the ascospores which in addition have two distinct equatorial crests and N. galapagensis by a funiculose colony morphology, short and narrow conidiophores and ascospores with two wide equatorial crests with a microtuberculate convex surface. Aspergillus turcosus can be distinguished by velvety, gray turquoise colonies and short, loosely columnar conidial heads. The four new taxa also have unique extrolite profiles, which contain the mycotoxins gliotoxin and viriditoxin in N. denticulate; apolar compounds provisionally named NEPS in N. assulata and gregatins in N. galapagensis. A. turcosus produced kotanins. N. denticulata sp. nov., N. assulata sp. nov., N. galapagensis sp. nov., and A. turcosus sp. nov. are described and illustrated.
| S-EPMC2140094 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BACKGROUND: Microsatellites (or short tandem repeats, STRs) are the genetic markers of choice for studying Aspergillus fumigatus molecular epidemiology due to its reproducibility and high discrimination power. However, the specificity of these markers must be investigated in a group of isolates from closely related species. The aim of this work was to test a microsatellite-based PCR multiplex previously designed for A. fumigatus in a set of species belonging to section Fumigati, namely Aspergillus fumigatiaffinis, Aspergillus lentulus, Aspergillus novofumigatus, Aspergillus unilateralis, Aspergillus viridinutans, Neosartorya fischeri, Neosartorya hiratsukae, Neosartorya pseudofischeri and Neosartorya udagawae. RESULTS: The reference A. fumigatus strain ATCC 46645 was easily genotyped in standard conditions showing a final electrophoretic profile of 8 expected peaks corresponding to each microsatellite locus. Inversely, no peaks were observed for all other species from section Fumigati, with an exception for marker MC6b in A. unilateralis. By screening the genome sequence of Neosartorya fischeri NRRL 181, the results showed that MC3, MC6a and MC7 might be employed for N. fischeri genotyping since these markers present several repeats of each motif. The accumulation of insertions and deletions was frequently observed in the genomic regions surrounding the microsatellites, including those where the A. fumigatus primers are located. The amplification of microsatellite markers in less stringent amplification conditions resulted in a distinct electrophoretic profile for species within section Fumigati. CONCLUSIONS: Therefore, the microsatellite-based PCR multiplex allow simple identification of A. fumigatus and, with a slight modification of temperature conditions, it also allows discriminating other pathogenic species within section Fumigati, particularly A. fumigatiaffinis, N. fischeri and N. udagawae.
| S-EPMC3438126 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundNew fungal species that are morphologically similar to Aspergillus fumigatus were recently described and included in section Fumigati. Misidentification of such fungal species, particularly of the human pathogens, Aspergillus lentulus, Neosartorya fischeri, Neosartorya hiratsukae, Neosartorya pseudofischeri and Neosartorya udagawae, has been increasingly reported by numerous clinical labs. Nevertheless, A. fumigatus still accounts for more than 90% of all invasive aspergillosis cases. The purpose of the present study was to develop a rapid method for the molecular identification of A. fumigatus to distinguish it from other species within the section Fumigati.ResultsA multiplex PCR was developed using prior information based on ?-tubulin (?tub) and rodlet A (rodA) partial gene sequences. PCR amplification of ?tub and rodA fragments resulted in a distinctive electrophoretic pattern in A. fumigatus and N. udagawae. The polymorphisms found in the smallest amplified sequence of ?tub (153 bp) and rodA (103 bp) genes were then compared among and within species of this taxonomic section. ?tub was able to differentiate among 13 individual species and two groups of species that included the pathogenic fungus A. lentulus. A more limited number of sequences were available for rodA; nevertheless, we were able to distinguish Aspergillus viridinutans, N. hiratsukae and N. udagawae.ConclusionsThe assay described in the present study proved to be specific and highly reproducible, representing a fast and economic way of targeting molecular identification of the relevant mould, A. fumigatus, in clinical laboratories.
| S-EPMC3102036 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Recent studies have shown that there are multiple clinically important members of the Aspergillus section Fumigati that are difficult to distinguish on the basis of morphological features (e.g., Aspergillus fumigatus, A. lentulus, and Neosartorya udagawae). Identification of these organisms may be clinically important, as some species vary in their susceptibilities to antifungal agents. In a prior study, we utilized multilocus sequence typing to describe A. lentulus as a species distinct from A. fumigatus. The sequence data show that the gene encoding beta-tubulin, benA, has high interspecies variability at intronic regions but is conserved among isolates of the same species. These data were used to develop a PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method that rapidly and accurately distinguishes A. fumigatus, A. lentulus, and N. udagawae, three major species within the section Fumigati that have previously been implicated in disease. Digestion of the benA amplicon with BccI generated unique banding patterns; the results were validated by screening a collection of clinical strains and by in silico analysis of the benA sequences of Aspergillus spp. deposited in the GenBank database. PCR-RFLP of benA is a simple method for the identification of clinically important, similar morphotypes of Aspergillus spp. within the section Fumigati.
| S-EPMC2708504 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The taxonomy of Aspergillus section Fumigati with its teleomorph genus Neosartorya is revised. The species concept is based on phenotypic (morphology and extrolite profiles) and molecular (beta-tubulin and calmodulin gene sequences) characters in a polyphasic approach. Four new taxa are proposed: N. australensis N. ferenczii, N. papuaensis and N. warcupii. All newly described and accepted species are illustrated. The section consists of 33 taxa: 10 strictly anamorphic Aspergillus species and 23 Neosartorya species. Four other Neosartorya species described previously were not available for this monograph, and consequently are relegated to the category of doubtful species.
| S-EPMC2275200 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Aspergillus fungi in section Fumigati include important human pathogens. Here, we sequenced the genomes of two strains of Aspergillus hiratsukae and two strains of Aspergillus felis The average genome sizes are 29.5?Mb for A. hiratsukae and 31.8?Mb for A. felis.
| S-EPMC7530925 | biostudies-literature
Project description:This study analyzed 28 Aspergillus strains belonging to the section Fumigati that were isolated from clinical samples in Spain. All isolates sporulated slowly and were unable to grow at 48 degrees C. Phylogenetic analysis based on sequencing of partial sequences of the beta-tubulin and rodlet A genes was used to classify the 28 strains into six different clades (Neosartorya hiratsukae, Neosartorya pseudofischeri, Aspergillus viridinutans, Aspergillus lentulus, Aspergillus fumigatiaffinis, and Aspergillus fumisynnematus). Antifungal susceptibility testing showed heterogeneous patterns and grouped the strains together by species. Most A. lentulus and A. fumigatiaffinis isolates showed high MICs of amphotericin B (geometric mean [GM] MICs, >or=4.5 microg/ml), itraconazole (GM MICs, >or=6 microg/ml), voriconazole (GM MICs, >or=3 microg/ml), and ravuconazole (GM MICs, >or=3 microg/ml); N pseudofischeri and A. viridinutans showed high MICs of itraconazole (GM MICs, >or=8 microg/ml), voriconazole (GM MICs, >or=3.33 microg/ml), and ravuconazole (GM MICs, >or=2 microg/ml); and N. hiratsukae and A. fumisynnematus were susceptible to all the antifungals tested. In conclusion, a number of different species whose morphological features resemble those of Aspergillus fumigatus could succeed in producing invasive infections in the susceptible host. In addition, some of them showed high MICs for most of the antifungals available for the treatment of patients infected with these organisms. The epidemiology and clinical relevance of these species should therefore be addressed.
| S-EPMC2292508 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Safe working conditions must be guaranteed during waste sorting, which is crucial to maximizing recycling and reuse, in order to minimize workers' exposure to chemical and biological hazards. This study determines the contribution of Aspergillus section Fumigati to the overall cytotoxicity of filtering respiratory protection devices (FRPD) and mechanic protection gloves (MPG) collected in 2019 from different workstations in one waste sorting industry in Portugal. The cytotoxicity of 133 Aspergillus section Fumigati isolates was determined as IC50 in human A549 epithelial lung cells and swine kidney cells, using the MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) assay. Aspergillus section Fumigati cytotoxicity results were compared with previous total cytotoxicity data from FRPD and MPG samples. A significant correlation was detected between the total cytotoxicity of samples and cytotoxicity of Aspergillus section Fumigati isolates in A549 cells (rS = -0.339, p = 0.030). The cytotoxicity of Aspergillus section Fumigati isolates explained 10.7% of the total cytotoxicity of the sample. On the basis of the comparison of cytotoxicity levels, it was possible to determine the contribution of Aspergillus section Fumigati isolates for the total cytotoxicity of protection devices used in the waste sorting industry. The results support in vitro toxicology as a relevant approach in risk assessments regarding cytotoxicity in passive sampling, and thus, useful in determining the contribution of relevant microbial contaminants to overall cytotoxicity. This approach can provide valuable answers in dose/response studies, and support innovations in risk characterization and their translation into occupational policies.
| S-EPMC8879639 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Filamentous fungi produce various bioactive compounds that are biosynthesized by sets of proteins encoded in biosynthesis gene clusters (BGCs). For an unknown reason, many BGCs are transcriptionally silent in laboratory conditions, which has hampered the discovery of novel fungal compounds. The transcriptional reactiveness of fungal secondary metabolism is not fully understood. To gain the comprehensive view, we conducted comparative genomic and transcriptomic analyses of nine closely-related species of Aspergillus section Fumigati (A. fumigatus, A. fumigatiaffinis, A. novofumigatus, A. thermomutatus, A. viridinutans, A. pseudoviridinutans, A. lentulus, A. udagawae, and Neosartorya fischeri). For expanding our knowledge, we newly sequenced genomes of A. viridinutans and A. pseudoviridinutans, and reassembled and reannotated the previously released genomes of A. lentulus and A. udagawae. Between 34 and 84 secondary metabolite (SM) backbone genes were identified in the genomes of these nine respective species, with 8.7-51.2% being unique to the species. A total of 247 SM backbone gene types were identified in the nine fungi. Ten BGCs are shared by all nine species. Transcriptomic analysis using A. fumigatus, A. lentulus, A. udagawae, A. viridinutans, and N. fischeri was conducted to compare expression levels of all SM backbone genes in four different culture conditions; 32-83% of SM backbone genes in these species were not expressed in the tested conditions, which reconfirmed that large part of fungal SM genes are hard to be expressed. The species-unique SM genes of the five species were expressed with lower frequency (18.8% in total) than the SM genes that are conserved in all five species (56%). These results suggest that the expression tendency of BGCs is correlated with their interspecies distribution pattern. Our findings increase understanding of the evolutionary processes associated with the regulation of fungal secondary metabolism.
| S-EPMC10512231 | biostudies-literature