Filter and export

Publications

What is a Publication?
35 Publications visible to you, out of a total of 35
Proteomic Profiling of Serological Responses to Aspergillus fumigatus Antigens in Patients with Invasive Aspergillosis

Abstract (Expand)

Aspergillus fumigatus is the species that most commonly causes the opportunistic infection invasive aspergillosis (IA) in patients being treated for hematological malignancies. Little is known about … the A. fumigatus proteins that trigger the production of Aspergillus-specific IgG antibodies during the course of IA. To characterize the serological response to A. fumigatus protein antigens, mycelial proteins were separated by 2-D gel electrophoresis. The gels were immunoblotted with sera from patients with probable and proven IA and control patients without IA. We identified 49 different fungal proteins, which gave a positive IgG antibody signal. Most of these antigens play a role in primary metabolism and stress responses. Overall, our analysis identified 18 novel protein antigens from A. fumigatus. To determine whether these antigens can be used as diagnostic or prognostic markers or exhibit a protective activity, we employed supervised machine learning with decision trees. We identified two candidates for further analysis, the protein antigens CpcB and Shm2. Heterologously produced Shm2 induced a strongly proinflammatory response in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells after in vitro stimulation. In contrast, CpcB did not activate the immune response of PBMCs. These findings could serve as the basis for the development of an immunotherapy of IA.

Authors: J. Teutschbein, S. Simon, J. Lother, J. Springer, P. Hortschansky, C. O. Morton, , , E. Conneally, T. R. Rogers, , ,

Date Published: 15th Mar 2016

Publication Type: Not specified

Draft Genome Sequences of Fungus Aspergillus calidoustus

Abstract (Expand)

Here, we report the draft genome sequence of Aspergillus calidoustus (strain SF006504). The functional annotation of A. calidoustus predicts a relatively large number of secondary metabolite gene … clusters. The presented genome sequence builds the basis for further genome mining.

Authors: F. Horn, , D. J. Mattern, G. Walther, , K. Scherlach, K. Martin, , L. Petzke,

Date Published: 12th Mar 2016

Publication Type: Not specified

Network Modeling Reveals Cross Talk of MAP Kinases during Adaptation to Caspofungin Stress in Aspergillus fumigatus

Abstract (Expand)

Mitogen activated protein kinases (MAPKs) are highly conserved in eukaryotic organisms. In pathogenic fungi, their activities were assigned to different physiological functions including drug adaptation … and resistance. Aspergillus fumigatus is a human pathogenic fungus, which causes life-threatening invasive infections. Therapeutic options against invasive mycoses are still limited. One of the clinically used drugs is caspofungin, which specifically targets the fungal cell wall biosynthesis. A systems biology approach, based on comprehensive transcriptome data sets and mathematical modeling, was employed to infer a regulatory network and identify key interactions during adaptation to caspofungin stress in A. fumigatus. Mathematical modeling and experimental validations confirmed an intimate cross talk occurring between the cell wall-integrity and the high osmolarity-glycerol signaling pathways. Specifically, increased concentrations of caspofungin promoted activation of these signalings. Moreover, caspofungin affected the intracellular transport, which caused an additional osmotic stress that is independent of glucan inhibition. High concentrations of caspofungin reduced this osmotic stress, and thus decreased its toxic activity. Our results demonstrated that MAPK signaling pathways play a key role during caspofungin adaptation and are contributing to the paradoxical effect exerted by this drug.

Authors: R. Altwasser, C. Baldin, J. Weber, , O. Kniemeyer, , , V. Valiante

Date Published: 10th Sep 2015

Publication Type: Not specified

Draft Genome Sequence of the Fungus Penicillium brasilianum MG11

Abstract (Expand)

The genus Penicillium belongs to the phylum Ascomycota and includes a variety of fungal species important for food and drug production. We report the draft genome sequence of Penicillium brasilianum … MG11. This strain was isolated from soil, and it was reported to produce different secondary metabolites.

Authors: F. Horn, , D. J. Mattern, G. Walther, , , V. Valiante

Date Published: 5th Sep 2015

Publication Type: Not specified

Automated quantification of the phagocytosis of Aspergillus fumigatus conidia by a novel image analysis algorithm

Abstract (Expand)

Studying the pathobiology of the fungus Aspergillus fumigatus has gained a lot of attention in recent years. This is due to the fact that this fungus is a human pathogen that can cause severe diseases, … like invasive pulmonary aspergillosis in immunocompromised patients. Because alveolar macrophages belong to the first line of defense against the fungus, here, we conduct an image-based study on the host-pathogen interaction between murine alveolar macrophages and A. fumigatus. This is achieved by an automated image analysis approach that uses a combination of thresholding, watershed segmentation and feature-based object classification. In contrast to previous approaches, our algorithm allows for the segmentation of individual macrophages in the images and this enables us to compute the distribution of phagocytosed and macrophage-adherent conidia over all macrophages. The novel automated image-based analysis provides access to all cell-cell interactions in the assay and thereby represents a framework that enables comprehensive computation of diverse characteristic parameters and comparative investigation for different strains. We here apply automated image analysis to confocal laser scanning microscopy images of the two wild-type strains ATCC 46645 and CEA10 of A. fumigatus and investigate the ability of macrophages to phagocytose the respective conidia. It is found that the CEA10 strain triggers a stronger response of the macrophages as revealed by a higher phagocytosis ratio and a larger portion of the macrophages being active in the phagocytosis process.

Authors: K. Kraibooj, , C. M. Svensson, ,

Date Published: 9th Jun 2015

Publication Type: Not specified

Hitting the caspofungin salvage pathway of human-pathogenic fungi with the novel lasso peptide humidimycin (MDN-0010)

Abstract (Expand)

Fungal infections have increased dramatically in the last 2 decades, and fighting infectious diseases requires innovative approaches such as the combination of two drugs acting on different targets or … even targeting a salvage pathway of one of the drugs. The fungal cell wall biosynthesis is inhibited by the clinically used antifungal drug caspofungin. This antifungal activity has been found to be potentiated by humidimycin, a new natural product identified from the screening of a collection of 20,000 microbial extracts, which has no major effect when used alone. An analysis of transcriptomes and selected Aspergillus fumigatus mutants indicated that humidimycin affects the high osmolarity glycerol response pathway. By combining humidimycin and caspofungin, a strong increase in caspofungin efficacy was achieved, demonstrating that targeting different signaling pathways provides an excellent basis to develop novel anti-infective strategies.

Authors: , M. C. Monteiro, J. Martin, R. Altwasser, N. El Aouad, I. Gonzalez, , E. Mellado, S. Palomo, N. de Pedro, I. Perez-Victoria, J. R. Tormo, F. Vicente, F. Reyes, O. Genilloud,

Date Published: 8th Jun 2015

Publication Type: Not specified

Comparative proteomics of a tor inducible Aspergillus fumigatus mutant reveals involvement of the Tor kinase in iron regulation

Abstract (Expand)

The Tor (target of rapamycin) kinase is one of the major regulatory nodes in eukaryotes. Here, we analyzed the Tor kinase in Aspergillus fumigatus, which is the most important airborne fungal pathogen … of humans. Because deletion of the single tor gene was apparently lethal, we generated a conditional lethal tor mutant by replacing the endogenous tor gene by the inducible xylp-tor gene cassette. By both 2DE and gel-free LC-MS/MS, we found that Tor controls a variety of proteins involved in nutrient sensing, stress response, cell cycle progression, protein biosynthesis and degradation, but also processes in mitochondria, such as respiration and ornithine metabolism, which is required for siderophore formation. qRT-PCR analyses indicated that mRNA levels of ornithine biosynthesis genes were increased under iron limitation. When tor was repressed, iron regulation was lost. In a deletion mutant of the iron regulator HapX also carrying the xylp-tor cassette, the regulation upon iron deprivation was similar to that of the single tor inducible mutant strain. In line, hapX expression was significantly reduced when tor was repressed. Thus, Tor acts either upstream of HapX or independently of HapX as a repressor of the ornithine biosynthesis genes and thereby regulates the production of siderophores.

Authors: C. Baldin, V. Valiante, T. Kruger, L. Schafferer, H. Haas, O. Kniemeyer,

Date Published: 26th May 2015

Publication Type: Not specified

Draft Genome Sequence and Gene Annotation of the Entomopathogenic Fungus Verticillium hemipterigenum

Abstract (Expand)

Verticillium hemipterigenum (anamorph Torrubiella hemipterigena) is an entomopathogenic fungus and produces a broad range of secondary metabolites. Here, we present the draft genome sequence of the … fungus, including gene structure and functional annotation. Genes were predicted incorporating RNA-Seq data and functionally annotated to provide the basis for further genome studies.

Authors: F. Horn, A. Habel, D. H. Scharf, J. Dworschak, , , C. Hertweck,

Date Published: 24th Jan 2015

Publication Type: Not specified

Interference of Aspergillus fumigatus with the immune response

Abstract (Expand)

Aspergillus fumigatus is a saprotrophic filamentous fungus and also the most prevalent airborne fungal pathogen of humans. Depending on the host's immune status, the variety of diseases caused by … A. fumigatus ranges from allergies in immunocompetent hosts to life-threatening invasive infections in patients with impaired immunity. In contrast to the majority of other Aspergillus species, which are in most cases nonpathogenic, A. fumigatus features an armory of virulence determinants to establish an infection. For example, A. fumigatus is able to evade the human complement system by binding or degrading complement regulators. Furthermore, the fungus interferes with lung epithelial cells, alveolar macrophages, and neutrophil granulocytes to prevent killing by these immune cells. This chapter summarizes the different strategies of A. fumigatus to manipulate the immune response. We also discuss the potential impact of recent advances in immunoproteomics to improve diagnosis and therapy of an A. fumigatus infection.

Authors: T. Heinekamp, H. Schmidt, K. Lapp, V. Pahtz, , N. Koster-Eiserfunke, T. Kruger, O. Kniemeyer,

Date Published: 18th Nov 2014

Publication Type: Not specified

Characterization of the Aspergillus fumigatus detoxification systems for reactive nitrogen intermediates and their impact on virulence

Abstract (Expand)

Aspergillus fumigatus is a saprophytic mold that can cause life-threatening infections in immunocompromised patients. In the lung, inhaled conidia are confronted with immune effector cells that attack … the fungus by various mechanisms such as phagocytosis, production of antimicrobial proteins or generation of reactive oxygen intermediates. Macrophages and neutrophils can also form nitric oxide (NO) and other reactive nitrogen intermediates (RNI) that potentially also contribute to killing of the fungus. However, fungi can produce several enzymes involved in RNI detoxification. Based on genome analysis of A. fumigatus, we identified two genes encoding flavohemoglobins, FhpA, and FhpB, which have been shown to convert NO to nitrate in other fungi, and a gene encoding S-nitrosoglutathione reductase GnoA reducing S-nitrosoglutathione to ammonium and glutathione disulphide. To elucidate the role of these enzymes in detoxification of RNI, single and double deletion mutants of FhpA, FhpB, and GnoA encoding genes were generated. The analysis of mutant strains using the NO donor DETA-NO indicated that FhpA and GnoA play the major role in defense against RNI. By generating fusions with the green fluorescence protein, we showed that both FhpA-eGFP and GnoA-eGFP were located in the cytoplasm of all A. fumigatus morphotypes, from conidia to hyphae, whereas FhpB-eGFP was localized in mitochondria. Because fhpA and gnoA mRNA was also detected in the lungs of infected mice, we investigated the role of these genes in fungal pathogenicity by using a murine infection model for invasive pulmonary aspergillosis. Remarkably, all mutant strains tested displayed wild-type pathogenicity, indicating that the ability to detoxify host-derived RNI is not essential for virulence of A. fumigatus in the applied mouse infection model. Consistently, no significant differences in killing of DeltafhpA, DeltafhpB, or DeltagnoA conidia by cells of the macrophage cell line MH-S were observed when compared to the wild type.

Authors: K. Lapp, M. Vodisch, K. Kroll, M. Strassburger, O. Kniemeyer, T. Heinekamp,

Date Published: 11th Sep 2014

Publication Type: Not specified

Powered by
 (v.1.14.2)
About INF | About FungiNet | Funding and Programmes | Credits | Imprint
Copyright © 2008 - 2023 The University of Manchester and HITS gGmbH