Most fungi are saprophytic and not pathogenic to plants, animals and humans. However, a relative few fungal species are phytopathogenic, cause disease (e.g., infections, allergies) in man, and produce toxins that affect plants, animals and humans. Among such fungi are members of the Aspergillus and Fusarium genera as well as other genera (e.g., Alternaria, Mucor) comprising the “emerging pathog...

Volume 1 • Issue 5 • 1000e117 J Plant Biochem Physiol ISSN: 2329-9029 JPBP, an open access journal The versatility of fungi allows them to associate with plants in many ways. When interacting with a live organism, a fungus will invade its plant host and manipulate its metabolisms either detrimentally or beneficially, depending on whether the fungus is a pathogen or a symbiote. Many crop disease...

Contact-sensing or thigmotropism is the directional growth response of cells in relation to topographical guidance cues. Thigmotropism is thought to play a major role in the location of infectable sites on plants by phytopathogenic fungi and has recently been shown to be a property of hyphae in the human pathogenic fungus Candida albicans. Here we show that hyphae of the dermatophytes Epidermop...

We present the results of a study testing the response of two saprophytic white-rot fungi species, Pleurotus pulmonarius and Coriolus versicolor, to charred biomass (charcoal) as a growth substrate. We used a combination of optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, elemental abundance measurements, and isotope ratio mass spectrometry ((13)C and (15)N) to investigate fungal colonisation ...

Different conditions of culture medium, incubation time, concentration and surfactant were tested to determine xyloglucanase activity. Trichoderma viride, Paecilomyces farinosus, Wardomyces inflatus and Pleurotus ostreatus showed increased xyloglucanase activities when the fungi grown on microcrystalline cellulose as the sole carbon source. Endoxyloglucanase activity increased with the growth o...

The surfaces of aerial plant parts provide a habitat for epiphytic micro-organisms, many of which also influence the growth of pathogens. Bacteria are generally the predominant initial inhabitants of newly expanded leaves, while yeasts and filamentous fungi dominate later in the growing season (Kinkel et al., 1987). A large body of information has been accumulated regarding antagonism between b...

While terpenoid production is generally associated with plants, a variety of fungi contain operons predicted to lead to such biosynthesis. Notably, fungi contain a number of cyclases characteristic of labdane-related diterpenoid metabolism, which have not been much explored. These also are often found near cytochrome P450 (CYP) mono-oxygenases that presumably further decorate the ensuing diterp...

Paecilomyces Sp. are saprophytic fungi, which have rarely been pathogen for human. Herein, we report a case of cutaneous infection with Paecilomyces lilacinus with unusual presentations in a healthy young woman. A biopsy provided an initial diagnosis of fungal elements in the tissue. Multiple positive fungal cultures were obtained from the biopsied tissue. Microscopic and macroscopic examinatio...

Introduction and objective: Opportunistic fungal infections have been a common cause of morbidity and mortality in the immunosupresed individuals such as AIDS and organ recipients. Treatment of these infections is a great challenge, thus antifungal therapy is playing a greater role in their health care. Traditional plants are a valuable source of novel antifungals. The aim of this study was to ...