Possible Role of Fungal Hemolysins in Sick Building Syndrome

Abstract

Publisher Summary The chapter first reviews fungal hemolysins and compares them with bacterial hemolysins. Hemolysins are molecules that have the ability to lyse red blood cells (RBCs). There are primarily two types of hemolysins: alpha (α) and beta (β). Alpha hemolysins cause a partial lysis of the RBCs, resulting in a darkening of the media around a colony on sheep's blood agar (SBA). Beta hemolysins produce a complete lysis of the RBCs, resulting in a clearing around the colony growing on SBA. The chapter discusses the biochemistry of hemolysins. Hemolysins are produced by many of the common indoor fungi. Fungal hemolysins might be useful as biomarkers of exposure to indoor fungi because they can be measured in bodily fluids and environmental samples. Fungal hemolysins are generally composed of smaller-molecular-weight monomers than most bacterial hemolysins. They usually have more acidic isoelectric points and contain more cysteine amino acids than bacterial hemolysins. Fungal hemolysins are remarkably slow acting as compared with bacterial hemolysins. However, like most bacterial hemolysins, fungal hemolysins are aggregating proteins that create pores in membranes.