Cunninghamella

Cunninghamella
Cunninghamella echinulata
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Fungi
Division:	Mucoromycota
Class:	Mucoromycetes
Order:	Mucorales
Family:	Cunninghamellaceae
Genus:	Cunninghamella Matr. (1903)
Type species
Cunninghamella africana Matr. 1903
Species
See text
Synonyms [1]
Actinocephalum Saito (1905) Muratella Bainier & Sartory (1913) Saitomyces Ricker (1906)

Cunninghamella is a genus of fungi in the order Mucorales, and the family Cunninghamellaceae. ^[2] The genus was circumscribed by French mycologist Alphonse Louis Paul Matruchot in Ann. Mycol. Vol.1 on page 47 in 1903. ^[3]

The genus name of Cunninghamella is in honour of David Douglas Cunningham (1843–1914), who was a Scottish doctor and researcher who worked extensively in India on various aspects of public health and medicine. ^[4]

Species

As of  2015 ^[update] , Index Fungorum lists 13 valid species of Cunninghamella: ^[5]

• Cunninghamella bertholletiae
• Cunninghamella binarieae R.Y.Zheng 2001
• Cunninghamella blakesleeana
• Cunninghamella candida Yosh.Yamam. 1929
• Cunninghamella clavata R.Y.Zheng & G.Q.Chen 1998
• Cunninghamella echinulata (Thaxt.) Thaxt. ex Blakeslee 1905
• Cunninghamella elegans Lendn. 1905
• Cunninghamella homothallica Komin. & Tubaki 1952
• Cunninghamella intermedia K.B.Deshp. & Mantri 1966
• Cunninghamella multiverticillata R.Y.Zheng & G.Q. Chen 2001
• Cunninghamella phaeospora Boedijn 1959
• Cunninghamella polymorpha Pišpek 1929
• Cunninghamella septata R.Y.Zheng 2001
• Cunninghamella vesiculosa P.C.Misra 1966

Uses

Members of this genus are often used in studies investigating the metabolism of drugs, because these species metabolize a wide range of drugs in manners similar to mammalian enzyme systems. ^[6] Many species are also capable of oxidizing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, a class of stable organic molecules that tends to persist in the environment and contains many known carcinogenic and mutagenic compounds. ^[7]

The presence of a cytochrome P450 has been demonstrated in C. bainieri. ^[8]

References

1. "Synonymy: Cunninghamella Matr". Species Fungorum. CAB International. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
2. Cunninghamella at the U.S. National Library of Medicine Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)
3. Matruchot L. (1903). "Une Mucorinée purement conidienne. Cunninghamella africana". Annales Mycologici (in French). 1: 45–60.
4. Burkhardt, Lotte (2022). Eine Enzyklopädie zu eponymischen Pflanzennamen [Encyclopedia of eponymic plant names](pdf) (in German). Berlin: Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum, Freie Universität Berlin. doi:10.3372/epolist2022. ISBN   978-3-946292-41-8. S2CID   246307410 . Retrieved 27 January 2022.
5. "Species Fungorum (version 26th August 2015). In: Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life" . Retrieved 21 September 2015.
6. Asha S, Vidyavathi M (2009). "Cunninghamella--a microbial model for drug metabolism studies--a review". Biotechnol. Adv. 27 (1): 16–29. doi:10.1016/j.biotechadv.2008.07.005. PMID   18775773.
7. Cerniglia, Carl E. (1992). "Biodegradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons". Biodegradation. 3 (2–3): 351–368. doi:10.1007/BF00129093. S2CID   25516145.
8. Aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase activity in the fungus Cunninghamella bainieri: Evidence for the presence of cytochrome P-450. J.P. Ferris, L.H. MacDonald, M.A. Patrie and M.A. Martin, Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Volume 175, Issue 2, August 1976, pages 443-452, doi : 10.1016/0003-9861(76)90532-4