Recent Advances in Mucorales and Mucormycosis, 2nd Edition

A special issue of Journal of Fungi (ISSN 2309-608X). This special issue belongs to the section "Fungal Pathogenesis and Disease Control".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 March 2024 | Viewed by 3952

Special Issue Editor

Departamento de Genética y Microbiología, Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain
Interests: RNA silencing mechanism in fungus; Mucorales; antifungal resistance and virulence; fungal genetics and genomics
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The Special Issue “Mucorales and Mucormycosis” deals with the current status and timeliness of the research in the exciting field of the Mucorales fungi. Mucorales have two essential features making them a thrilling subject of study. The first is the lethal fungal infection known as mucormycosis, caused by many Mucorales species. Mucormycosis is fatal mainly because there are no effective antifungal drugs against Mucorales. The other important feature of Mucorales is their capacity to overproduce lipids (in fact, they are usually known as oleaginous fungi), among many other compounds, which makes them industrially attractive.

Despite these interesting features, Mucorales have been traditionally considered a neglected group of ancient fungi underrepresented in the goals of the scientific fungal community. The main reason constantly exhibited to excuse this underrepresentation is the stubborn reluctance of Mucorales to accept genetic manipulation. However, we believe that the field is seeing the beginning of a paradigm shift related to the whole order of Mucorales. The main reason is that we already have study models among Mucorales that allow most modern genetic tools. These tools include homologous recombination, gene disruption, complementation, amino-acid substitutions, and tag-labeling for protein purification and fluorescent cellular localization. Even more exciting, stable homologous recombination has recently been reported in a causal agent of mucormycosis, becoming the first pathogenic Mucoral to be genetically dissected for functional studies.  

This Special Issue of Journal of Fungi will try to answer basic and more applied questions about Mucorales, focusing on the lethal disease mucormycosis but not limiting other studies on the physiology of these ancient fungi.

Dr. Francisco E. Nicolás
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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19 pages, 3818 KiB  
Article
Blood Serum Stimulates the Virulence Potential of Mucorales through Enhancement in Mitochondrial Oxidative Metabolism and Rhizoferrin Production
by José Alberto Patiño-Medina, Viridiana Alejandre-Castañeda, Marco Iván Valle-Maldonado, Mauro Manuel Martínez-Pacheco, León Francisco Ruiz-Herrera, Joel Ramírez-Emiliano, Oscar Abelardo Ramírez-Marroquín, Karla Viridiana Castro-Cerritos, Jesús Campos-García, Martha Isela Ramírez-Díaz, Victoriano Garre, Ulrike Binder and Víctor Meza-Carmen
J. Fungi 2023, 9(12), 1127; https://doi.org/10.3390/jof9121127 - 22 Nov 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1338
Abstract
This study analyzed the role of blood serum in enhancing the mitochondrial metabolism and virulence of Mucorales through rhizoferrin secretion. We observed that the spores of clinically relevant Mucorales produced in the presence of serum exhibited higher virulence in a heterologous infection model [...] Read more.
This study analyzed the role of blood serum in enhancing the mitochondrial metabolism and virulence of Mucorales through rhizoferrin secretion. We observed that the spores of clinically relevant Mucorales produced in the presence of serum exhibited higher virulence in a heterologous infection model of Galleria mellonella. Cell-free supernatants of the culture broth obtained from spores produced in serum showed increased toxicity against Caenorhabditis elegans, which was linked with the enhanced secretion of rhizoferrin. Spores from Mucoralean species produced or germinated in serum showed increased respiration rates and reactive oxygen species levels. The addition of non-lethal concentrations of potassium cyanide and N-acetylcysteine during the aerobic or anaerobic growth of Mucorales decreased the toxicity of the cell-free supernatants of the culture broth, suggesting that mitochondrial metabolism is important for serum-induced virulence. In support of this hypothesis, a mutant strain of Mucor lusitanicus that lacks fermentation and solely relies on oxidative metabolism exhibited virulence levels comparable to those of the wild-type strain under serum-induced conditions. Contrary to the lower virulence observed, even in the serum, the ADP-ribosylation factor-like 2 deletion strain exhibited decreased mitochondrial activity. Moreover, spores produced in the serum of M. lusitanicus and Rhizopus arrhizus that grew in the presence of a mitophagy inducer showed low virulence. These results suggest that serum-induced mitochondrial activity increases rhizoferrin levels, making Mucorales more virulent. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Mucorales and Mucormycosis, 2nd Edition)
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Review

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26 pages, 1179 KiB  
Review
Epidemiology, Modern Diagnostics, and the Management of Mucorales Infections
by David Pham, Annaleise R. Howard-Jones, Rebecca Sparks, Maurizio Stefani, Varsha Sivalingam, Catriona L. Halliday, Justin Beardsley and Sharon C.-A. Chen
J. Fungi 2023, 9(6), 659; https://doi.org/10.3390/jof9060659 - 12 Jun 2023
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2233
Abstract
Mucormycosis is an uncommon, yet deadly invasive fungal infection caused by the Mucorales moulds. These pathogens are a WHO-assigned high-priority pathogen group, as mucormycosis incidence is increasing, and there is unacceptably high mortality with current antifungal therapies. Current diagnostic methods have inadequate sensitivity [...] Read more.
Mucormycosis is an uncommon, yet deadly invasive fungal infection caused by the Mucorales moulds. These pathogens are a WHO-assigned high-priority pathogen group, as mucormycosis incidence is increasing, and there is unacceptably high mortality with current antifungal therapies. Current diagnostic methods have inadequate sensitivity and specificity and may have issues with accessibility or turnaround time. Patients with diabetes mellitus and immune compromise are predisposed to infection with these environmental fungi, but COVID-19 has established itself as a new risk factor. Mucorales also cause healthcare-associated outbreaks, and clusters associated with natural disasters have also been identified. Robust epidemiological surveillance into burden of disease, at-risk populations, and emerging pathogens is required. Emerging serological and molecular techniques may offer a faster route to diagnosis, while newly developed antifungal agents show promise in preliminary studies. Equitable access to these emerging diagnostic techniques and antifungal therapies will be key in identifying and treating mucormycosis, as delayed initiation of therapy is associated with higher mortality. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Mucorales and Mucormycosis, 2nd Edition)
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