Fusarium spp.: A Trans-Kingdom Fungus

A special issue of Journal of Fungi (ISSN 2309-608X). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental and Ecological Interactions of Fungi".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 July 2024 | Viewed by 1287

Special Issue Editor

Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC 20057, USA
Interests: antifungals; drug resistance; bioinformatics; mitochondria
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

A number of environmental and pathogenic fungi are collectively referred to as trans-kingdom pathogenic fungi, meaning that they cause both human and plant (crop) diseases. The loss of crop production due to organisms such as Fusarium threatens food security. These environmental organisms likely do not fall into the category of other fungal pathogens such as the Candida species Cryptococcus neoformans, or the endemic fungi, such as Histoplasma capsulatum, causing significant human, but not crop diseases. The Fusarium and Aspergillus species rank among the most important of the trans-kingdom pathogens. Throughout the recent decade, interesting studies have described molecular pathogenesis, azole resistance, soil and plant microbiomes as sources of potential new antifungals and the relationships to human disease, especially regarding patients with life-threatening underlying conditions. Current data describe the azole resistance of the environmental isolates of both fungal groups. These data have posed the possibility of the air-borne transfer of azole-resistant isolates from the environment to patients, since azoles are used to protect crops from fungal diseases.

Prof. Dr. Richard Calderone
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • biology
  • host interactions
  • the microbiome
  • virulence
  • molecular pathogenicity
  • clinical observations
  • azole resistance

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

11 pages, 1440 KiB  
Article
Antifungal Effect of Metabolites from Bacterial Symbionts of Entomopathogenic Nematodes on Fusarium Head Blight of Wheat
by Julius Leumo Kgosiemang, Tshimangadzo Ramakuwela, Sandiswa Figlan and Nicolene Cochrane
J. Fungi 2024, 10(2), 148; https://doi.org/10.3390/jof10020148 - 12 Feb 2024
Viewed by 969
Abstract
Fungal diseases such as Fusarium head blight (FHB) are significant biotic stressors, negatively affecting wheat production and quality. This study explored the antifungal activity of the metabolites produced by the bacterial symbionts of entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) against FHB-causing Fusarium sp. Fusarium graminearum. [...] Read more.
Fungal diseases such as Fusarium head blight (FHB) are significant biotic stressors, negatively affecting wheat production and quality. This study explored the antifungal activity of the metabolites produced by the bacterial symbionts of entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) against FHB-causing Fusarium sp. Fusarium graminearum. To achieve this, the symbiotic bacteria of nine EPN isolates from the EPN collection at the Agricultural Research Council-Small Grains (ARC-SG) were isolated from the cadavers of Galleria mellonella (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) larvae after infection with EPNs. Broth cultures (crude) and their supernatants (filtered and autoclaved) of each bacterial isolate were used as bacterial metabolite treatments to test their inhibitory effect on the mycelial growth and spore germination of F. graminearum. Mycelial growth inhibition rates varied among both bacterial isolates and treatments. Crude metabolite treatments proved to be more effective than filtered and autoclaved metabolite treatments, with an overall inhibition rate of 75.25% compared to 23.93% and 13.32%, respectively. From the crude metabolite treatments, the Xenorhabdus khoisanae SGI 197 bacterial isolate from Steinernema beitlechemi SGI 197 had the highest mean inhibition rate of 96.25%, followed by Photorhabdus luminescens SGI 170 bacteria isolated from Heterorhabditis bacteriophora SGI 170 with a 95.79% mean inhibition rate. The filtered metabolite treatments of all bacterial isolates were tested for their inhibitory activity against Fusarium graminearum spore germination. Mean spore germination inhibition rates from Xenorhabdus spp. bacterial isolates were higher (83.91 to 96.29%) than those from Photorhabdus spp. (6.05 to 14.74%). The results obtained from this study suggest that EPN symbiotic bacterial metabolites have potential use as biological control agents of FHB. Although field efficacy against FHB was not studied, the significant inhibition of mycelial growth and spore germination suggest that the application of these metabolites at the flowering stage may provide protection to plants against infection with or spread of F. graminearum. These metabolites have the potential to be employed as part of integrated pest management (IPM) to inhibit/delay conidia germination until the anthesis (flowering stage) of wheat seedlings has passed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fusarium spp.: A Trans-Kingdom Fungus)
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