Project description:A case of allergic fungal sinusitis (AFS) due to Schizophyllum commune was reported. The pathogen was identified using molecular bioanalysis. The patient underwent the functional endoscopic sinus surgery followed by the radical maxillary sinusotomy with canine fossa trephine. This case suggested that complete surgery allowed optimal disease clearance for AFS caused by Schizophyllum commune.
Project description:This report describes the first isolation of Schizophyllum commune from a granulomatous lesion on the neck of a dog. The biopsy specimen from the lesion disclosed granulomatous inflammation with branching fungal hyphae without clamp connections. The clinical isolate was identified as S. commune by mycological examination and analysis of ribosomal DNA sequences.
Project description:Intracellular signaling is conserved in eukaryotes to allow for response to extracellular signals and to regulate development and cellular functions. In fungi, inositol phosphate signaling has been shown to be involved in growth, sexual reproduction, and metabolic adaptation. However, reports on mushroom-forming fungi are lacking so far. In Schizophyllum commune, an inositol monophosphatase has been found up-regulated during sexual development. The enzyme is crucial for inositol cycling, where it catalyzes the last step of inositol phosphate metabolism, restoring the inositol pool from the monophosphorylated inositol monophosphate. We overexpressed the gene in this model basidiomycete and verified its involvement in cell wall integrity and intracellular trafficking. Strong phenotypes in mushroom formation and cell metabolism were evidenced by proteome analyses. In addition, altered inositol signaling was shown to be involved in tolerance towards cesium and zinc, and increased metal tolerance towards cadmium, associated with induced expression of kinases and repression of phosphatases within the inositol cycle. The presence of the heavy metals Sr, Cs, Cd, and Zn lowered intracellular calcium levels. We could develop a model integrating inositol signaling in the known signal transduction pathways governed by Ras, G-protein coupled receptors, and cAMP, and elucidate their different roles in development.
Project description:Wood is a habitat for a variety of organisms, including saprophytic fungi and bacteria, playing an important role in wood decomposition. Wood inhabiting fungi release a diversity of volatiles used as signaling compounds to attract or repel other organisms. Here, we show that volatiles of Schizophyllum commune are active against wood-decay fungi and bacteria found in its mycosphere. We identified sesquiterpenes as the biologically active compounds, that inhibit fungal growth and modify bacterial motility. The low number of cultivable wood inhabiting bacteria prompted us to analyze the microbial community in the mycosphere of S. commune using a culture-independent approach. Most bacteria belong to Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria, including Pseudomonadaceae, Sphingomonadaceae, Erwiniaceae, Yersiniaceae and Mariprofundacea as the dominating families. In the fungal community, the phyla of ascomycetes and basidiomycetes were well represented. We propose that fungal volatiles might have an important function in the wood mycosphere and could meditate interactions between microorganisms across domains and within the fungal kingdom.
Project description:A novel cellobiohydrolase (CBH)-generating fungi have been isolated and categorized as Schizophyllum commune KMJ820 based on morphology and rDNA gene sequence. Cellulose powder was used as carbon source, the total enzyme activity was 11.51 U/ml is noted; which is among the highest amounts of CBH-generating microbes studied. CBH have been purified to homogenize, with pursual of serial chromatography using S. commune supernatants and two different CBHs were found; CBH 1 and 2. The filtered CBHs showed greater activity (V max = 51.4 and 20.8 U/mg) in contrast to CBHs from earlier studies. The MW (molecular weights) of S. commune CBH 1 and 2 were verified to be approximately 50 kDa and 150 kDa, respectively, by size exclusion chromatography. Even though CBHs have been evaluated from other sources, but S. commune CBH is prominent in comparison to other CBHs by its high enzyme activity.
Project description:Schizophyllum commune is a causative agent of allergic bronchopulmonary mycosis, allergic fungal rhinosinusitis, and basidiomycosis. Diagnosis of these diseases remains difficult because no commercially available tool exists to identify the pathogen. Unique volatile organic compounds produced by a pathogen might be useful for non-invasive diagnosis. Here, we explored microbial volatile organic compounds produced by S. commune. Volatile sulfur compounds, dimethyl disulfide (48 of 49 strains) and methyl ethyl disulfide (49 of 49 strains), diethyl disulfide (34 of 49 strains), dimethyl trisulfide (40 of 49 strains), and dimethyl tetrasulfide (32 of 49 strains) were detected from headspace air in S. commune cultured vials. Every S. commune strain produced at least one volatile sulfur compound analyzed in this study. Those volatile sulfur compounds were not detected from the cultures of Aspergillus spp. (A. fumigatus, A. flavus, A. niger, and A. terreus), which are other major causative agents of allergic bronchopulmonary mycosis. The last, we examined H2S detection using lead acetate paper. Headspace air from S. commune rapidly turned the lead acetate paper black. These results suggest that those volatile sulfur compounds are potent targets for the diagnosis of S. commune and infectious diseases.