Filamentous fungi are ubiquitous and ecologically important organisms with rich and varied life histories, however, there is no consensus on how to identify or measure their fitness. In the first part of this study we adapt a general epidemiological model to identify the appropriate fitness metric for a saprophytic filamentous fungus. We find that fungal fitness is inversely proportional to the...

Spore formation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae involves the sequential deposition of multiple spore wall layers between the prospore membranes that surround each meiotic product. The Smk1p mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase plays a critical role in spore formation, but the proteins that interact with Smk1p to regulate spore morphogenesis have not been described. Using mass spectrometry, we ide...

Spore formation in Bacillus coagulans has been studied by electron microscopy using an epoxy resin (Araldite) embedding technique. The developmental stages from the origin of the initial spore septum to the mature spore were investigated. The two forespore membranes developed from the double layer of cytoplasmic membrane. The cortex was progressively deposited between these two membranes. The i...

Virulence in pathogens may be increased or decreased in order to maximize reproduction and transmission. We investigated how reproduction and virulence in the entomopathogen Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) changed with bacterial density. We predicted that virulence would be moderated at high pathogen densities because extended time to death allows more growth in hosts. We found that pathogen reprod...

BACKGROUND Clostridium difficile is the main cause of nosocomial infections including antibiotic associated diarrhea, pseudomembranous colitis and toxic megacolon. During the course of Clostridium difficile infections (CDI), C. difficile undergoes sporulation and releases spores to the colonic environment. The elevated relapse rates of CDI suggest that C. difficile spores has a mechanism(s) to ...

this study was conducted to determine soil properties that correlate with the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal (amf) spore numbers in semiarid calcareous soils of hamadan province in northwestern of iran. soil samples from six sites managed differently were collected from a 0 to 30 cm depth. the results showed that land use and management systems had a significant effect on amf spore number in soi...

Electron microscopy of thin sections of dormant and germinating spores of Bacillus subtilis 168 revealed a progressive change in the structure of the cortex, outer spore coat, and inner spore coat. The initial changes were observed in the cortex region, which showed a loose fibrous network within 10 min of germination, and in the outer spore coat, which began to be sloughed off. The permeabilit...

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) establish beneficial symbiotic associations with plants, enhancing their nutrient uptake, growth, and stress tolerance. The present study was aimed to investigate AMF spore density, species composition, colonization patterns, correlation of these indices soil physicochemical parameters at four vineyards located in one the most important grape-producing regions...

Objective(s): Silver nanostructures have gathered remarkable attention due to their applications in diversefields. Researchers have recently demonstrated that bacterial spores are capable of reducing silver ions toelemental silver leading to formation of nanoparticles.Materials and Methods: In this study, spores of Bacillus subtilis and Geobacillus stearothermophilus wereemployed to produce sil...

Disinfection was investigated in high-density ozone produced by dielectric barrier discharge under atmospheric pressure. Disinfection was studied on three-dimensional carriers made of hydrophilic vinyl-polysiloxane impression material and granular acrylic resin used for oral surgery. Experimental results indicate disinfection of spore-forming bacteria: Geobacillus stearothermophilus and Bacillu...