The Polyporales are an order of about 1800 species of fungi in the division Basidiomycota. The order includes some polypores as well as many corticioid fungi and a few agarics. Many species within the order are saprotrophic, most of them wood-rotters. Some genera, such as Ganoderma and Fomes, contain species that attack living tissues and then continue to degrade the wood of their dead hosts. Those of economic importance include several important pathogens of trees and a few species that cause damage by rotting structural timber. Some of the Polyporales are commercially cultivated and marketed for use as food items or in traditional Chinese medicine.
Aspergillus fumigatus is a species of fungus in the genus Aspergillus, and is one of the most common Aspergillus species to cause disease in individuals with an immunodeficiency.
Obaid Siddiqi FRS was an Indian National Research Professor and the Founder-Director of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) National Center for Biological Sciences. He made seminal contributions to the field of behavioural neurogenetics using the genetics and neurobiology of Drosophila.
Aspergillus is a genus consisting of several hundred mold species found in various climates worldwide.
Mycoremediation is a form of bioremediation in which fungi-based remediation methods are used to decontaminate the environment. Fungi have been proven to be a cheap, effective and environmentally sound way for removing a wide array of contaminants from damaged environments or wastewater. These contaminants include heavy metals, organic pollutants, textile dyes, leather tanning chemicals and wastewater, petroleum fuels, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, pharmaceuticals and personal care products, pesticides and herbicides in land, fresh water, and marine environments.
Aspergillus nidulans is one of many species of filamentous fungi in the phylum Ascomycota. It has been an important research organism for studying eukaryotic cell biology for over 50 years, being used to study a wide range of subjects including recombination, DNA repair, mutation, cell cycle control, tubulin, chromatin, nucleokinesis, pathogenesis, metabolism, and experimental evolution. It is one of the few species in its genus able to form sexual spores through meiosis, allowing crossing of strains in the laboratory. A. nidulans is a homothallic fungus, meaning it is able to self-fertilize and form fruiting bodies in the absence of a mating partner. It has septate hyphae with a woolly colony texture and white mycelia. The green colour of wild-type colonies is due to pigmentation of the spores, while mutations in the pigmentation pathway can produce other spore colours.
Alpha-glucosidase inhibitors (AGIs) are oral anti-diabetic drugs used for diabetes mellitus type 2 that work by preventing the digestion of carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are normally converted into simple sugars (monosaccharides) by alpha-glucosidase enzymes present on cells lining the intestine, enabling monosaccharides to be absorbed through the intestine. Hence, alpha-glucosidase inhibitors reduce the impact of dietary carbohydrates on blood sugar.
Hydrophobins are a group of small cysteine-rich proteins that are expressed only by filamentous fungi that are lichenized or not. They are known for their ability to form a hydrophobic (water-repellent) coating on the surface of an object. They were first discovered and separated in Schizophyllum commune in 1991. Based on differences in hydropathy patterns and biophysical properties, they can be divided into two categories: class I and class II. Hydrophobins can self-assemble into a monolayer on hydrophilic:hydrophobic interfaces such as a water:air interface. Class I monolayer contains the same core structure as amyloid fibrils, and is positive to Congo red and thioflavin T. The monolayer formed by class I hydrophobins has a highly ordered structure, and can only be dissociated by concentrated trifluoroacetate or formic acid. Monolayer assembly involves large structural rearrangements with respect to the monomer.
Gliotoxin is a sulfur-containing mycotoxin that belongs to a class of naturally occurring 2,5-diketopiperazines produced by several species of fungi, especially those of marine origin. It is the most prominent member of the epipolythiopiperazines, a large class of natural products featuring a diketopiperazine with di- or polysulfide linkage. These highly bioactive compounds have been the subject of numerous studies aimed at new therapeutics. Gliotoxin was originally isolated from Gliocladium fimbriatum, and was named accordingly. It is an epipolythiodioxopiperazine metabolite.
Emodin (6-methyl-1,3,8-trihydroxyanthraquinone) is a chemical compound, of the anthraquinone family, that can be isolated from rhubarb, buckthorn, and Japanese knotweed. Emodin is particularly abundant in the roots of the Chinese rhubarb, knotweed and knotgrass as well as Hawaii ‘au‘auko‘i cassia seeds or coffee weed. It is specifically isolated from Rheum palmatum L. It is also produced by many species of fungi, including members of the genera Aspergillus, Pyrenochaeta, and Pestalotiopsis, inter alia. The common name is derived from Rheum emodi, a taxonomic synonym of Rheum australe, and synonyms include emodol, frangula emodin, rheum emodin, 3-methyl-1,6,8-trihydroxyanthraquinone, Schüttgelb (Schuttgelb), and Persian Berry Lake.
TEAD2, together with TEAD1, defines a novel family of transcription factors, the TEAD family, highly conserved through evolution. TEAD proteins were notably found in Drosophila (Scalloped), C. elegans, S. cerevisiae and A. nidulans. TEAD2 has been less studied than TEAD1 but a few studies revealed its role during development.
Sulfite reductases (EC 1.8.99.1) are enzymes that participate in sulfur metabolism. They catalyze the reduction of sulfite to hydrogen sulfide and water. Electrons for the reaction are provided by a dissociable molecule of either NADPH, bound flavins, or ferredoxins.
Homothallic refers to the possession, within a single organism, of the resources to reproduce sexually; i.e., having male and female reproductive structures on the same thallus. The opposite sexual functions are performed by different cells of a single mycelium.
Podospora anserina is a filamentous ascomycete fungus from the order Sordariales. It is considered a model organism for the study of molecular biology of senescence (aging), prions, sexual reproduction, and meiotic drive. It has an obligate sexual and pseudohomothallic life cycle. It is a non-pathogenic coprophilous fungus that colonizes the dung of herbivorous animals such as horses, rabbits, cows and sheep.
Unspecific peroxygenase (EC 1.11.2.1, aromatic peroxygenase, mushroom peroxygenase, haloperoxidase-peroxygenase, Agrocybe aegerita peroxidase) is an enzyme with systematic name substrate:hydrogen peroxide oxidoreductase (RH-hydroxylating or -epoxidising). This enzyme catalyses the following chemical reaction
Fellutamides are tripeptide derivatives from Penicillium fellutanum and other fungi. They are potent proteasome inhibitor that stimulates nerve growth factor synthesis in vitro.
Medicinal fungi are fungi that contain metabolites or can be induced to produce metabolites through biotechnology to develop prescription drugs. Compounds successfully developed into drugs or under research include antibiotics, anti-cancer drugs, cholesterol and ergosterol synthesis inhibitors, psychotropic drugs, immunosuppressants and fungicides.
L-ornithine N5 monooxygenase (EC 1.14.13.195 or EC 1.14.13.196) is an enzyme which catalyzes one of the following chemical reactions:
L-ornithine + NADPH + O2 N(5)-hydroxy-L-ornithine + NADP+ + H2O L-ornithine + NAD(P)H + O2 N(5)-hydroxy-L-ornithine + NAD(P)+ + H2O
Eduard Eidam first described Hülle cells in 1883 where he termed Hülle cells as a “Blasenhülle” or bubble envelope. In different species, Hülle cell like structures are known such as in Candida albicans which produce at the very end of the hyphae globose blisters named chlamydospores. Eidam suggested that Hülle cells originate from the tip of “secondary hyphae” which in turn emerge from “primary hyphae” and develop as a consequence of a swelling process. Hülle cells and the subtending hyphae are connected via two distinct types of septa. The inner one is a single perforate septum where woronin bodies can be observed and represents a typical ascomycetous septum. The second septum which separates Hülle cells from the subtending hyphae is unique and named basal septum. At the basal septum vesicle fusion is observable. Consequently, to this fusion so called lomasome-like accumulations are visible. These lomasome-like structures are membrane-invaginations. In Hülle cells several nuclei, mitochondria, lipid bodies and storage products can be observed. During initial Hülle cell formation, it was shown that several nuclei fuse to form a marcronucleus. Different species of the genus Aspergillus produce Hülle cells, including Aspergillus nidulans and Aspergillus heterothallicus. Hülle cells have an average size of 12-20 μm, are of globose shape with an unusual thick cell wall and are mainly associated with the sexual developmental program. Hülle cells are known for all species in the section Nidulantes. In different species, Hülle cells vary in shape between the more elongated such as in Aspergillus ustus and the globose version like in Aspergillus nidulans. In Aspergillus nidulans and Aspergillus heterothallicus Hülle cells associate with the cleistothecia, whereas in Aspergillus protuberus and Aspergillus ustus Hülle cells are not in direct contact with the cleistothecia and are formed in masses.
Fumonisin B4 is a fumonisin mycotoxin produced mainly by the fungi Fusarium proliferatum, Fusarium verticillioides. Recently FB4 has been detected in fungi Aspergillus niger and in several Tolypocladium species.
