The amount of soybean agglutinin (SBA) detectable by radioimmunoassay in seeds of resistant cultivars to Phytophthora megasperma var. sojae was approximately twice that of susceptible cultivars. SBA was preferentially released at earlier times (6-9 hours) and in higher amounts in the imbibate from resistant cultivars as compared to susceptible cultivars. The lectin in the imbibate was immunolog...

Several cytoplasmic virulence factors of Candida albicans are altered in the presence of estrogen and this fact may imply the existence of a global virulence regulatory system in this organism. The response of virulence-associated surface markers to estrogen, however, has not been studied. We exploited flow cytometry methods for assessment of the iC3b receptor analog and mannoproteins on 2 clin...

The antifungal activity of extracts of Tinospora cordifolia (leaves), Moringa oleifera (bark) and Trachyspermum ammi (seeds) at three concentrations viz., 25, 50, 75% (v/v) were evaluated in vitro by poisoned food technique against Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici and Fusarium solani causing wilt disease on tomato and brinjal plants. The antifungal activity was assessed in terms of percent...

Natural geranyl compounds are known to exhibit important biological activities. In this work a series of geranylphenols were synthesized to evaluate their effect on the mycelial growth of Botrytis cinerea. Geranyl derivatives were synthesized by direct geranylation reactions between the corresponding phenol derivatives and geraniol, using BF3.OEt2 as catalyst and AgNO3 as secondary catalyst. Pr...

Streptomycetes are filamentous bacteria that produce numerous valuable compounds, including the majority of clinically used antibiotics. At an industrial scale, most of these compounds are produced in bioreactors. Growth of streptomycetes under these conditions is characterized by the formation of complex mycelial particles, whose sizes follow a bimodal distribution. Given the correlation betwe...

The chemotactic response of wild-type Pseudomonas putida and P. tolaasii, and a phenotypic variant of each species, to Agaricus bisporus mycelial exudate was examined. Both P. putida, the bacterium responsible for initiating basidiome development of A. bisporus, and P. tolaasii, the causal organism of bacterial blotch disease of the mushroom, displayed a positive chemotactic response to Casamin...

Edible mushroom species are considered as an adequate source of food in a healthy diet due to high content of protein, fiber, vitamins, and a variety of minerals. The representatives of Pleurotus genus are characterized by distinct gastronomic, nutritional, and medicinal properties among the edible mushrooms commercialized worldwide. In the present study, the growth of mycelial biomass of Pleur...

Mechanical damage can induce fruiting body production in fungi. In this study, the antioxidant kojic acid (KA) was found to enhance injured mycelial regeneration and increase fruiting body production in Hypsizygus marmoreus. KA reduced the level of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which are harmful to mycelia when excessively generated by mechanical damage. Moreover, KA increased catalase and sup...

RNase and DNase activities were studied in seven fungi of the subdivisions Ascomycotina, Zygomycotina and Basidiomycotina during their autolysis, and extracellular and intracellular RNase and DNase were found. RNase specific activity reached higher levels than DNase specific activity in the culture liquid and mycelial extract, except in Aspergillus nidulans. Generally maximal RNase specific act...

BACKGROUND The aim of the current study was to investigate whether the Basidiomycetes fungus Lentinula edodes can biosynthesize Se-methyl-seleno-l-cysteine, a seleno-amino acid with strong anticancer activity, and to optimize the culture conditions for its biosynthesis. We hypothesize that preparations obtained from Se-methyl-seleno-l-cysteine-enriched mycelia from this medicinal mushroom would...