The fungal community inhabiting large woody roots of healthy conifers has not been well documented. To provide more information about such communities, a survey was conducted using increment cores from the woody roots of symptomless Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) and ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) growing in dry forests on the eastern slope of the Cascade Mountains in Washington state, U...

Fungi are one of the major lineages of eukaryotes and the sister group of animals. We will consider evolutionary relationships among different groups of fungi, their ecology and significance to humans. We will explore fungal lifestyles, their reproduction, and the ways that fungi use to communicate with each other and with their symbiotic partners. In addition to true fungi, we will study sever...

Until recently, epithelial cells have been a largely ignored component of host responses to microbes. However, this has been largely overturned over the last decade as an ever increasing number of studies have highlighted the key role that these cells play in many of our interactions with our microbiota and pathogens. Interactions of these cells with Candida albicans have been shown to be criti...

White-nose syndrome (WNS) is a condition associated with an unprecedented bat mortality event in the northeastern United States. Since the winter of 2006*2007, bat declines exceeding 75% have been observed at surveyed hibernacula. Affected bats often present with visually striking white fungal growth on their muzzles, ears, and/or wing membranes. Direct microscopy and culture analyses demonstra...

Fungal spores from the Lower Devonian Rhynie Chert are known to harbor a wide variety of parasitic and saprotrophic microfungi. However, only a few of these intrusive organisms have been documented in detail. This paper describes a previously unknown microfungus contained in fungal spores from the Rhynie chert; it consists of tenuous branched filaments and terminal, globose, usually apophysate ...

Background and Purpose: Fungal contamination in damp places in buildings has become an increasing problem worldwide. Dampness facilitates the growth of fungi, which can cause adverse effects not only on the buildings but also on their occupants. The aim of this study was to identify indoor mold species in the buildings of Kerman province, Iran. Materials and Methods: In this study, 110 samples...

Distinct fungal species exhibit different cellular morphologies, such as yeast and filamentous (hyphal and pseudohyphal) forms, that are reflected in the macroscopic colony morphology. Dimorphic and multimorphic fungi can switch between these different morphologies, enabling the utilization of different food supplies in the case of saprophytes, and contributing to pathogenesis in the case of pa...

The fungal vacuole is a large acidified organelle that performs a variety of cellular functions. At least a sub-set of these functions are crucial for pathogenic species of fungi, such as Candida albicans, to survive within and invade mammalian tissue as mutants with severe defects in vacuolar biogenesis are avirulent. We therefore sought to identify chemical probes that disrupt the normal func...

The calcineurin pathway is a critical signal transduction pathway in fungi that mediates growth, morphology, stress responses, and pathogenicity. The importance of the calcineurin pathway in fungal physiology creates an opportunity for the development of new antifungal therapies that target this critical signaling pathway. In this study, we examined the role of the zinc finger transcription fac...

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is the second most important cultivated crop next to potato, worldwide. Tomato serves as an important source of antioxidants in human diet. Alternaria solani and Fusarium oxysporum cause early blight and vascular wilt of tomato, respectively, resulting in severe crop losses. The foremost objective of the present study was to generate transgenic tomato plants wit...