Although the focus in the context of the hygiene hypothesis in explaining raised atopy prevalences has largely shifted from pathogens to commensals and saprophytes, the role of pathogens cannot be wholly ignored. Many pathogens are able to establish persistent or chronic infections, and have evolved strategies for immune evasion. A common immune subversion strategy used by such pathogens involv...

BACKGROUND Fungi are important players in the turnover of plant biomass because they produce a broad range of degradative enzymes. Aspergillus nidulans, a well-studied saprophyte and close homologue to industrially important species such as A. niger and A. oryzae, was selected for this study. RESULTS A. nidulans was grown on sorghum stover under solid-state culture conditions for 1, 2, 3, 5, ...

Chromobacterium prodigiosum (Serratia marcencens) is an aerobic, motile, Gram-negative rod that produces a red pigment which is insoluble in water. This bacterium has generally been considered to be a saprophyte. It is usually found in water and soil and may contaminate food. There are, however, in the literature reports of cases where Chr. prodigiosum has been isolated from pathological proces...

Streptomycetes are ubiquitous soil-dwelling saprophytes known to produce secondary metabolites, many of which are antibiotics. Secondary metabolism is usually a late growth phase event, brought on by different signals, e.g., nutrient starvation, environmental signals. In order to test whether in situ incubation changes the repertoire of expressed secondary metabolites (mainly antibiotics) compa...

Paecilomyces species are among the most frequent saprophytes. Two species namely Paecilomyces lilacinus and Paecilomyces variotii are the most frequently isolated species from humans. Fungemia, endocarditis peritonitis, osteomyelitis and rarely pneumonia have been reported. We report a 74-year old diabetic woman with Paecilomyces variotii pneumonia. Paecilomyces variotii is a rare cause of pneu...

Melioidosis is a severe systemic infectious disease caused by Burkholderia pseudomallei, gram-negative bacillus with bipolar staining. It an environmental saprophyte endemic to Southeast Asia and Northern Australia. The can have varying manifestations. This retrospective study of the clinical microbiological profile culture-proven cases melioidosis who presented tertiary care hospital in Coasta...

THE ESSENTIAL POINTS OF OUR RESULTS ARE AS FOLLOWS: The saprophytic Bacillus megatherium produced a definite pulmonary lesion which in gross appearance resembled the lesion of lobar pneumonia. The lesion was one of intense leucocytic exudation which, as in some other cases of experimental lobar pneumonia, did not invade the framework of the lung. But the exudate contained no fibrin. There were ...

The evolution of life on Earth has been interrupted by several mass extinction events. The Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) extinction [65 million years ago (Ma)] is associated with the impact of a large bolide (1). On the basis of extensive data (2–4), the K-T boundary is characterized by a palynological extinction horizon coincident with a geochemical marker bed commonly succeeded by a bed rich in f...

Aspergillus flavus is the main causal agent of aflatoxin contamination in several agricultural products, including cottonseed and corn (2,11,15,22). Aflatoxins are toxic fungal metabolites that are limited in food and feed by government regulations throughout most of the world (26,32). A. flavus can be divided into S and L strains based on morphologic, genetic, and physiologic criteria (3,10,16...

Abstract Aspergillus flavus is a ubiquitous saprophyte and opportunistic fungal pathogen with worldwide distribution, which causes diseases commonly in agricultural commodities seriously threatens food security human health. In this study, we try to reveal the mechanisms of A. infection grain from perspective apparent changes physicochemical properties, microscopic structure, ultrastructural at...