Project description:BACKGROUND: Fusarium species are among the most common fungi present in the environment and some species have emerged as major opportunistic fungal infection in human. However, in immunocompromised hosts they can be virulent pathogens and can cause death. The pathogenesis of this infection relies on three factors: colonization, tissue damage, and immunosuppression. A novel Fusarium species is reported for the first time from keratitis in an agriculture worker who acquired the infection from plant material of maize. Maize plants are the natural host of this fungus where it causes stalk rot and seeding malformation under temperate and humid climatic conditions. The clinical manifestation, microbiological morphology, physiological features and molecular data are described. METHODS: Diagnosis was established by using polymerase chain reaction of fungal DNA followed by sequencing portions of translation elongation factor 1 alpha (TEF1 ?) and beta-tubulin (BT2) genes. Susceptibility profiles of this fungus were evaluated using CLSI broth microdilution method. RESULTS: The analyses of these two genes sequences support a novel opportunist with the designation Fusarium temperatum. Phylogenetic analyses showed that the reported clinical isolate was nested within the Fusarium fujikuroi species complex. Antifungal susceptibility testing demonstrated that the fungus had low MICs of micafungin (0.031 ?g/ml), posaconazole (0.25 ?g/ml) and amphotericin B (0.5 ?g/ml). CONCLUSION: The present case extends the significance of the genus Fusarium as agents of keratitis and underscores the utility of molecular verification of these emerging fungi in the human host.
Project description:Fusarium head blight (FHB) is a major disease of cereal crops caused by the fungus Fusarium graminearum (Fg). FHB affects the flowering heads (or spikes) and developing seeds. This study compare the gene expression profile in wheat spikelets (spk 2) inoculated with either water (mock treatment) or a pathogenic strain of Fusarium graminearum (WT); spikelets 2 were inoculated 24 hrs after a neighbour spikelet (spk 0) was treated with either water or F. graminerum mutant strain Tri6Δ or NoxABΔ. Spikelets 2 were sampled 8 and 24 hrs after the second treatment.