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Richard A Humber - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

Jørgen Eilenberg - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • Strongwellsea tigrinae and Strongwellsea acerosa (Entomophthorales: Entomophthoraceae), two new species infecting dipteran hosts from the genus Coenosia (Muscidae).
    Journal of invertebrate pathology, 2020
    Co-Authors: Jørgen Eilenberg, Verner Michelsen, Richard A Humber
    Abstract:

    Abstract Two new species from the genus Strongwellsea (Entomophthorales: Entomophthoraceae) are described: Strongwellsea tigrinae from adult Coenosia tigrina (Diptera: Muscidae) and Strongwellsea acerosa from adult Coenosia testacea. The descriptions are based on pathobiological, phenotypical and genotypical characters. Further, the circumscription of the genus Strongwellsea is emended. Our findings suggest that Strongwellsea harbors a high number of species, of which now only five have been described.

  • A new insect pathogenic fungus from Entomophthorales with potential for psyllid control
    2018
    Co-Authors: Annette Jensen Hjorthøj, Jürgen Gross, Annette Bruun, Jannicke Gallinger, Jørgen Eilenberg
    Abstract:

    Psyllid pest in fruit orchards can have major economic consequences as they often cause direct and indirect damage on the trees. Obligate entomopathogenic fungal species from the order Entomophthorales normally have a narrow host range and can cause natural epidemics and have by that a potential for biological control of psyllids. During late summer in 2016, live psyllids were collected from both apple and pear trees mainly in fruit orchards in North Zealand, Denmark, in order to discover natural infections by entomopathogenic fungi. The collected insects were incubated alive in the laboratory, and psyllids infected with Entomophthorales were for the first time documented. Infection was only found in Cacopsylla spp. collected from pear trees and only in one of the fruit orchards. Fungal isolates were successfully isolated and cultivated in vitro from four sporulating cadavers on Sabouraud dextrose agar-medium (SDA) supplemented with egg yolk and milk using the ‘ascending conidia’ showering method. Based on morphological characters of the conidia and DNA sequences of the ITS-region, the fungus proved to be a species from the genus Pandora (Entomophthorales: Entomophthoraceae). The pathogenicity of all strains of the isolated fungi was examined in the laboratory of the Julius- Kuhn Institute (Dossenheim, Germany) on two different psyllid species (Cacopsylla pyri and Cacopsylla pyricola). The results showed that all strains were able to infect both species of psyllids. Our preliminary results indicate the potential of this Pandora sp. as a biological control agent of psyllids pest in fruit orchards.

  • First survey on ecological host range of aphid pathogenic fungi (Phylum Entomophthoromycota) in Tunisia
    Annales de la Société entomologique de France (N.S.), 2015
    Co-Authors: Ibtissem Ben Fekih, Sonia Boukhris-bouhachem, Mohamed Bechir Allagui, Annette Bruun Jensen, Jørgen Eilenberg
    Abstract:

    Summary. The natural occurrence of fungal pathogens of aphids and their ecological host range was investigated in Tunisia from 2009 to 2012. The survey focused on aphid infesting different crops and weeds and included 10 different aphid species. Samples were collected from eight agricultural crops sites belonging to three different bioclimatic zones. Four pathogens from the phylum Entomophthoromycota were found to occur naturally in Tunisian ecosystems: Pandora neoaphidis (Entomophthorales: Entomophthoraceae), Entomophthora planchoniana (Entomophthorales: Entomophthoraceae), Conidiobolus obscurus (Entomophthorales: Ancylistaceae) and Neozygites fresenii (Neozygitales: Neozygitaceae). The occurrence of entomophthoralean fungi depended on the sampling area, the bioclimatic zone, and aphid species. P. neoaphidis and E. planchoniana were the predominant pathogens infecting a wide range of aphid species whereas C. obscurus and N. fresenii were sporadically present on a limited number of aphid species. This stu...

  • Methods for study of the Entomophthorales
    Manual of Techniques in Invertebrate Pathology, 2012
    Co-Authors: Ann E. Hajek, Bernard Papierok, Jørgen Eilenberg
    Abstract:

    Most of the members of the fungal order Entomophthorales are obligate pathogens which can have complicated life-cycles, including several types of spores. First, this chapter provides methods for isolating Entomophthorales and growing them in vitro and in vivo . Many of these obligate pathogens require rich media and special care must be taken during isolation to prevent contamination. The life stages of entomophthoralean species used most frequently of isolation (conidia, hyphal bodies, mycelium and protoplasts) are not long-lived so rapid means of isolation are described. Information about a diversity of media and methods is provided to help the reader make the most appropriate choices given that different stages of various entomophthoralean species display different requirements for in vitro growth. Methods for in vitro isolation of some species have not been developed but when host colonies are available, in vivo production can be possible. Both laboratory-scale and larger-scale methods for growth and production of Entomophthorales are presented. Diverse methods are provided for conducting bioassays to study interactions between the pathogens and hosts as well as for studying spores. The most commonly used infection bioassay method, conidial showering, can be complicated because this depends on conidia being actively ejected. Insects can also be exposed to resting spores that are ready to germinate, although most entomophthoralean resting spores have obligate dormancies of unknown lengths and requirements. Although this group of fungal pathogens can present some challenges to researchers, the detailed methods provided should enable scientists to work with this fascinating group of pathogens, leading to advances in our understanding.

  • Relationships of the Insect-Pathogenic Order Entomophthorales (Zygomycota, Fungi) Based on Phylogenetic Analyses of Nuclear Small Subunit Ribosomal DNA Sequences (SSU rDNA)
    Fungal genetics and biology : FG & B, 1998
    Co-Authors: Annette Bruun Jensen, Jørgen Eilenberg, Andrea Gargas, Søren Rosendahl
    Abstract:

    Abstract We sequenced the nuclear small subunit of ribosomal DNA (SSU rDNA) from seven species within the insect-pathogenic order Entomophthorales. These sequences were aligned with other published SSU rDNA sequences and phylogenies were inferred using phenetic and cladistic methods. Based on three different phylogenetic methods the Entomophthorales (excluding Basidiobolus ranarum ) is monophyletic; B. ranarum was more closely related to chytrids from Chytridiales and Neocallimasticales than to Entomophthorales, as was proposed by Nagahama et al. ( Mycologia 87: 203–209, 1995). Nuclear characters (large nuclei containing conspicuous condensed chromatin and lack of a prominent nucleolus) were of predictive value for the monophyly of the family Entomophthoraceae. Conidial characters separate the Entomophthoraceae, which only includes obligate pathogens, into at least two lineages: one lineage with uninucleate conidia and another with multinucleate conidia. The two species of Conidiobolus studied were paraphyletic in our analyses and only distantly related to each other. This information may prove to be important in the use of these fungi as biocontrol agents.

Phillip A. Pizzo - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • invasive zygomycosis due to conidiobolus incongruus
    Clinical Infectious Diseases, 1994
    Co-Authors: Thomas J. Walsh, Gary Renshaw, Janet Andrews, June Kwonchung, Robert C Cunnion, Jeffery K Taubenberger, Harvey I. Pass, Wyndham H Wilson, Phillip A. Pizzo
    Abstract:

    During the past decade, an increasing spectrum of pathogenic Zygomycetes fungi have caused infections in humans. The preponderance of these deeply invasive infections have been caused by members of the order Mucorales. However, deeply invasive zygomycoses due to genera of the order Entomophthorales (Conidiobolus species and Basidiobolus species) have seldom been reported. We describe a granulocytopenic patient with pulmonary and pericardial zygomycosis due to Conidiobolus incongruus, describe this organism's susceptibility to antifungal agents, characterize its diagnostic microbiological characteristics, and review previously reported cases of deeply invasive zygomycosis due to Conidiobolis species

D.c. Steinkraus - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

Kerstin Voigt - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • early diverging insect pathogenic fungi of the order Entomophthorales possess diverse and unique subtilisin like serine proteases
    bioRxiv, 2018
    Co-Authors: Jonathan A Arnesen, Andrii P Gryganskyi, Joanna Malagocka, Jason E Stajich, Kerstin Voigt, Igor V Grigoriev, Henrik H De Fine Licht
    Abstract:

    Insect-pathogenic fungi use subtilisin-like serine proteases (SLSPs) to degrade chitin-associated proteins in the insect procuticle. Most insect-pathogenic fungi in the order Hypocreales (Ascomycota) are generalist species with a broad host-range, and most species possess a high number of SLSPs. The other major clade of insect-pathogenic fungi is part of the subphylum Entomophthoromycotina (Zoopagomycota, formerly Zygomycota) which consists of high host-specificity insect-pathogenic fungi that naturally only infect a single or very few host species. The extent to which insect-pathogenic fungi in the order Entomophthorales rely on SLSPs is unknown. Here we take advantage of recently available transcriptomic and genomic datasets from four genera within Entomophthoromycotina: the saprobic or opportunistic pathogens Basidiobolus meristosporus, Conidiobolus coronatus, C. thromboides, C. incongruus, and the host-specific insect pathogens Entomphthora muscae and Pandora formicae, specific pathogens of house flies (Muscae domestica) and wood ants (Formica polyctena), respectively. We use phylogenetics and protein domain analysis to show that the obligate biotrophic fungi E. muscae, P. formicae and the saprobic human pathogen C. incongruus all contain "classical" fungal SLSPs and a unique group of SLSPs that loosely resembles bacillopeptidase F-like SLSPs. This novel group of SLSPs is found in the genomes of obligate insect pathogens and a generalist saprobic opportunistic pathogen why they are unlikely to be responsible for the host specificity of Entomophthorales. However, this class represent a unique group of SLSPs so far only observed among Bacteria, Oomycetes and early diverging fungi such as Cryptomycota, Microsporidia, and Entomophthoromycotina and missing in the sister fungal lineages of Kickxellomycotina or the fungal phyla Mucoromyocta, Ascomycota and Basidiomycota fungi suggesting interesting gene loss patterns.

  • Supplemental Material for Arnesen et al., 2018
    2018
    Co-Authors: Jonathan A Arnesen, Andrii P Gryganskyi, Joanna Malagocka, Jason E Stajich, Kerstin Voigt, Igor V Grigoriev, Henrik H De Fine Licht
    Abstract:

    Protein sequences and results of MCL clustering analyses for the paper "Early diverging insect pathogenic fungi of the order Entomophthorales possess diverse and unique subtilisin-like serine proteases"

  • Human Fungal Pathogens of Mucorales and Entomophthorales
    Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Medicine, 2014
    Co-Authors: Leonel Mendoza, Raquel Vilela, Kerstin Voelz, Ashraf S. Ibrahim, Kerstin Voigt
    Abstract:

    : In recent years, we have seen an increase in the number of immunocompromised cohorts as a result of infections and/or medical conditions, which has resulted in an increased incidence of fungal infections. Although rare, the incidence of infections caused by fungi belonging to basal fungal lineages is also continuously increasing. Basal fungal lineages diverged at an early point during the evolution of the fungal lineage, in which, in a simplified four-phylum fungal kingdom, Zygomycota and Chytridiomycota belong to the basal fungi, distinguishing them from Ascomycota and Basidiomycota. Currently there are no known human infections caused by fungi in Chytridiomycota; only Zygomycotan fungi are known to infect humans. Hence, infections caused by zygomycetes have been called zygomycosis, and the term "zygomycosis" is often used as a synonym for "mucormycosis." In the four-phylum fungal kingdom system, Zygomycota is classified mainly based on morphology, including the ability to form coenocytic (aseptated) hyphae and zygospores (sexual spores). In the Zygomycota, there are 10 known orders, two of which, the Mucorales and Entomophthorales, contain species that can infect humans, and the infection has historically been known as zygomycosis. However, recent multilocus sequence typing analyses (the fungal tree of life [AFTOL] project) revealed that the Zygomycota forms not a monophyletic clade but instead a polyphyletic clade, whereas Ascomycota and Basidiomycota are monophyletic. Thus, the term "zygomycosis" needed to be further specified, resulting in the terms "mucormycosis" and "entomophthoramycosis." This review covers these two different types of fungal infections.

  • Interaction of Zygomycetes with innate immune cells reconsidered with respect to ecology, morphology, evolution and infection biology: a mini-review.
    Mycoses, 2014
    Co-Authors: Hea-reung Park, Kerstin Voigt
    Abstract:

    Zygomycetes are saprophytic fungi found ubiquitously in nature. Generally, fungi are considered as the most common microbes encountered by mammalian hosts due to its ubiquity in nature. Among the fungi, the Zygomycetes represent the most basal terrestrial lineage which can cause infections in humans. They comprise two orders, the Mucorales and the Entomophthorales, which contain human pathogenic species. Members of the Mucorales are responsible for mucormycosis; the second most common mould fungi infection in the world and infection with members of the Entomophthorales can result in basidiobolomycosis and conidiobolomycosis. However, the infection does not occur frequently as we have efficient barriers from immune system against the fungal invasion. In this review, a summary is provided on the current literature available on innate immune cells such as polymorphonuclear leucocytes, macrophages, etc. and their interaction with zygomycetes.