The fungus Rhizopus oryzae which belong to the order Mucorales is a unique test agent to study the effects of metabolic alterations on infection since it behaves differently in the metabolically normal and abnormal host. This fungus was originally isolated at autopsy from a diabetic patient who died with cerebral mucormycosis.' We have shown in previously reported experiments that inoculation o...

A multicenter study was conducted to expand the generation and analysis of data that supports the proposal of a reference method for the antifungal susceptibility testing of filamentous fungi. Broth microdilution MICs of amphotericin B and itraconazole were determined in 11 centers against 30 coded duplicate pairs of Aspergillus spp., Fusarium spp., Pseudallescheria boydii, and Rhizopus arrhizu...

Quorum sensing (QS) is a chemical communication process that Pseudomonas aeruginosa uses to regulate virulence and biofilm formation. Disabling of QS is an emerging approach for combating its pathogenicity. Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have been widely applied as antimicrobial agents against human pathogenic bacteria and fungi, but not for the attenuation of bacterial QS. Here we mycofabricated...

Lipase-catalyzed ethanolysis of triolein was studied as a model for biodiesel production. Four lipases were immobilized on porous polypropylene, and ethanolysis reactions were carried out in methyl t-butyl ether. The reaction products were analyzed using gas chromatography. Three of the four lipases studied were efficient in the conversion of triolein to 2-monoolein, but slow in the final step ...

Mucormycosis is a fungus infection which generally occurs in association with metabolic disorders, most frequently diabetes mellitus. The fungus has only recently been identified in culture when the phycomycetes Rhizopus oryzae and Rhizopus arrhizus were recovered from two diabetic patients with cerebral mucormycosis."'0 With these and other species of Mucorales, lesions closely resembling cere...

Sarcophytol A (1) and B (2) (see Chart 1) are cembrane-type diterpenes known to inhibit tumor promotion. Indicative of this inhibitory response, we currently report sarcophytol A (1) mediates dose-dependent diminution of 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate (TPA)-induced transformation of JB6 cells. Moreover, a structurally related furanocembrane diterpene, sarcophine (3), isolated in good yiel...