Black Fungus Research Articles

Novel modified wood ear mushroom sticks biochar aerogel spheres for efficient capture of [formula omitted] and [formula omitted] mix-ions from water

A novel adsorbent was synthesized for the capture of heavy metals mixture in water by encapsulating hydroxyapatite-modified wood ear mushroom sticks biochar in calcium alginate beads (CA-HAPMB). The surface structure and adsorption mechanism of the CA-HAPMB were characterized by Scanning electron microscopy and X-ray energy dispersion spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR), X-ray diffraction patterns (XRD), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Under different conditions, CA-HAPMB for Cd2+ and Pb2+ were investigated for their adsorption properties in water and their competition. The adsorption capacities of Cd2+ and Pb2+ on the aerogel spheres reached 302.2 mg g−1 (2.69 mmol g−1) and 564.5 mg g−1 (2.73 mmol g−1), respectively (based on Langmuir). The aerogel spheres are easier to collect than biochar materials. The results show that CA-HAPMB composite aerogel spheres have a good application prospect in capturing heavy metal ions from water.

Physicochemical Characterization and Antimicrobial Analysis of Vegetal Chitosan Extracted from Distinct Forest Fungi Species.

The main goal of this investigation is to conduct a thorough analysis of the physical, chemical, and morphological characteristics of chitosan derived from various forest fungi. Additionally, the study aims to determine the effectiveness of this vegetal chitosan as an antimicrobial agent. In this study, Auricularia auricula-judae, Hericium erinaceus, Pleurotus ostreatus, Tremella fuciformis, and Lentinula edodes were examined. The fungi samples were subjected to a series of rigorous chemical extraction procedures, including demineralization, deproteinization, discoloration, and deacetylation. Subsequently, the chitosan samples were subjected to a comprehensive physicochemical characterization analysis, encompassing Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), degree of deacetylation determination, ash content determination, moisture content determination, and solubility determination. To evaluate the antimicrobial efficacy of the vegetal chitosan samples, two different sampling parameters were employed, namely human hand and banana, to assess their effectiveness in inhibiting microbial growth. Notably, the percentage of chitin and chitosan varied significantly among the distinct fungal species examined. Moreover, EDX spectroscopy confirmed the extraction of chitosan from H. erinaceus, L. edodes, P. ostreatus, and T. fuciformis. The FTIR spectra of all samples revealed a similar absorbance pattern, albeit with varying peak intensities. Furthermore, the XRD patterns for each sample were nearly identical, with the exception of the A. auricula-judae sample, which exhibited sharp peaks at ~37° and ~51°, while the crystallinity index of this same sample was approximately 17% lower than the others. The moisture content results indicated that the L. edodes sample was the least stable, while the P. ostreatus sample was the most stable, in terms of degradation rate. Similarly, the solubility of the samples showed substantial variation among each species, with the H. erinaceus sample displaying the highest solubility among the rest. Lastly, the antimicrobial activity of the chitosan solutions exhibited different efficacies in inhibiting microbial growth of skin microflora and microbes found on the peel of Musa acuminata × balbisiana.

Survival kinetics of Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella enterica on dehydrated enoki and wood ear mushrooms during long-term storage

Two specialty mushrooms have recently become novel vectors for foodborne outbreaks in the U.S.: fresh enoki and dried wood ear mushrooms were linked to a listeriosis and salmonellosis outbreak, respectively. The aim of this study was to evaluate the survival kinetics of Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella enterica on dehydrated enoki and wood ear mushrooms during long-term storage. Following heat dehydration, mushrooms were inoculated with either L. monocytogenes or S. enterica, allowed to dry for 1 h, and then stored for up to 180 d at 25 °C and 33% relative humidity. Both pathogens were enumerated from the mushrooms at intervals during the storage period. Survival kinetics of both pathogens were modeled using both the Weibull and log-linear with tail models. After inoculation and 1 h drying, both pathogen populations decreased 2.26–2.49 log CFU/g on wood ear mushrooms; no decrease was observed on enoki. Both pathogens survived during storage on both mushroom types. On wood ear mushrooms, a 2-log decrease of both pathogens occurred during storage. On enoki mushrooms, 4-log decreases of both pathogens were modeled to occur after 127.50–156.60 d. The results of this study suggest that L. monocytogenes and S. enterica can persist on dehydrated specialty mushrooms during long-term storage.

Isolation, identification, and pathogenic effects of Trichoderma spp. from Auricularia auricula

Auricularia auricula, one of the most important edible mushrooms, is affected heavily by Trichoderma. We collected the diseased samples from the main A. auricula cultivation regions to characterize the pathogen and study the effect of Trichoderma spp. on A. auricula species. We identified one Trichoderma species, T. pleuroticola, based on the internal transcribed spacer and morphology characteristics, and two types of A. auricula strains, Heiwei 15 (HW 15) and Hei 29 (H 29), were tested in this work. The growth rate of T. pleuroticola was 3.26–3.52 times higher than that of A. auricula and advantageously competed for living space and nutrients. In confrontation culture, T. pleuroticola completely inhibited the mycelium growth of A. auricula and grew on it, resulting in a diverse impact on HW 15 and H 29. In addition, T. pleuroticola can produce metabolites with antibacterial activity. The inhibition rate of volatile metabolites to H-29 and HW 15 was 13.46% and 10.44%, and the inhibition rate of nonvolatile metabolites to H-29 and HW 15 was 36.04% and 31.49%, respectively. Further analysis showed that these antifungal activities inhibiting Auricularia auricula growth were mainly attributed to the organic compounds from T. pleuroticola, nonanal, tyrosine, beta-sitosterol, and wortmannin. In short, T. pleuroticola was a highly pathogenic fungi in the production of A. auricula. T. pleuroticola can affect the normal growth of A. auricula hypha, and its metabolites also have inhibitory effects on A. auricula hypha.

Dispersal changes soil bacterial interactions with fungal wood decomposition

Although microbes are the major agent of wood decomposition - a key component of the carbon cycle - the degree to which microbial community dynamics affect this process is unclear. One key knowledge gap is the extent to which stochastic variation in community assembly, e.g. due to historical contingency, can substantively affect decomposition rates. To close this knowledge gap, we manipulated the pool of microbes dispersing into laboratory microcosms using rainwater sampled across a transition zone between two vegetation types with distinct microbial communities. Because the laboratory microcosms were initially identical this allowed us to isolate the effect of changing microbial dispersal directly on community structure, biogeochemical cycles and wood decomposition. Dispersal significantly affected soil fungal and bacterial community composition and diversity, resulting in distinct patterns of soil nitrogen reduction and wood mass loss. Correlation analysis showed that the relationship among soil fungal and bacterial community, soil nitrogen reduction and wood mass loss were tightly connected. These results give empirical support to the notion that dispersal can structure the soil microbial community and through it ecosystem functions. Future biogeochemical models including the links between soil microbial community and wood decomposition may improve their precision in predicting wood decomposition.

Production and optimization of novel Sphorolipids from Candida parapsilosis grown on potato peel and frying oil wastes and their adverse effect on Mucorales fungal strains

Brief introductionMucormycosis disease, which has recently expanded with the Covid 19 pandemic in many countries, endangers patients' lives, and treatment with common drugs is fraught with unfavorable side effects.Aim and objectivesThis study deals with the economic production of sophorolipids (SLs) from different eight fungal isolates strains utilizing potato peels waste (PPW) and frying oil waste (FOW). Then investigate their effect against mucormycetes fungi.ResultsThe screening of the isolates for SLs production revealed the highest yield (39 g/100 g substrate) with most efficiency was related to a yeast that have been identified genetically as Candida parapsilosis. Moreover, the characterizations studies of the produced SLs by FTIR, 1H NMR and LC–MS/MS proved the existence of both acidic and lactonic forms, while their surface activity was confirmed by the surface tension (ST) assessment. The SLs production was optimized utilizing Box-Behnken design resulting in the amelioration of yield by 30% (55.3 g/100 g substrate) and ST by 20.8% (38mN/m) with constant level of the critical micelle concentration (CMC) at 125 mg/L. The studies also revealed the high affinity toward soybean oil (E24 = 50%), in addition to maintaining the emulsions stability against broad range of pH (4–10) and temperature (10–100℃). Furthermore, the antifungal activity against Mucor racemosus, Rhizopus microsporus, and Syncephalastrum racemosum proved a high inhibition efficiency of the produced SLs.ConclusionThe findings demonstrated the potential application of the SLs produced economically from agricultural waste as an effective and safer alternative for the treatment of infection caused by black fungus.

Development of an Automatic Wood Ear Mushroom Harvesting System Based on the Collaboration of Robotics, VR, and AI Technologies

Development of an Automatic Wood Ear Mushroom Harvesting System Based on the Collaboration of Robotics, VR, and AI Technologies

Mucormycosis Research: A global outlook through bibliometric approaches

Objective. Mucormycosis is a fungal infection in humans where the causative pathogens belong to the order of Mucorales. The fungal pathogens are also known as black fungi based on morphological characteristics. Mucormycosis is increasingly observed in patients suffering from the COVID-19 virus from different states of India, wherein steroids are being used as standard therapy. The prevalence of coronavirus disease and the infection by the black fungus (Mucormycosis) poses several challenges to its mitigation. The purpose of the study is to analyze the research trends of mucormycosis using bibliometric methods. Design/Methodology/approach. The study utilizes standard bibliometric methods to analyze bibliographic literature on Mucormycosis retrieved from the SCOPUS database. All keywords (MeSH terms) associated with Mucormycosis were used to frame a search query and retrieve bibliographic data from the database. The bibliometric indicators were used to assess research productivity in mucormycosis for publication growth; subject distribution; productive authors, institutes, and countries; journals, highly cited articles; and hot spots and research progress based on the keyword analysis. VOSviewer network visualization tools have been used for mapping research. Results/Discussion. The analysis of 25,251 bibliographic records shows exponential growth in literature during seventy years. Though mucormycosis research is spread across the globe, the prevalence of the study is widespread in the South-East Asian region. Author keyword analysis shows that the research focuses on the medical subject and expands into multidisciplinary research areas. Conclusion. Bibliometrics always provides insight into the research progress in any field or topic of study. This study provides insight into research progress in Mucormycosis. The researcher may use the results to analyze different areas of mucormycosis and utilize the key concepts for further research, especially researching better clinical practices and drug developments. Originality/Value. Through this paper, it is quite clear that the appearance of research contribution on mucormycosis coupled with COVID-19 has opened a new direction of research that clinical researchers take up in future research.

COVID-19 and Mucormycosis of Orofacial Region: A Scoping Review.

During the second wave of coronavirus disease, orCOVID-19, infection due to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus in the year 2021 around the globe, there is a surge in the number of cases of mucormycosis or "Black Fungus" that is directly/indirectly associated with COVID-19. In this review article, mucormycosis of the orofacial region has gained importance from the maximum published literature (45 articles) from various databases like PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus, Web of Science, and Embase. Rhino-orbital cerebral mucormycosis (ROCM) is a fatal condition associated with COVID-19 among categories of mucormycosis such as pulmonary, oral, gastrointestinal, cutaneous, and disseminated. ROCM targets the maxillary sinus, also involving teeth of the maxilla, orbits, and ethmoidal sinus. These are of particular interest to dentists and oral pathologists for proper diagnosis and identification. Co-morbid conditions, especially diabetes mellitus type II, have to be monitored carefully in COVID-19 patients as they have a higher risk of developing mucormycosis. In this review article, various presentations of COVID-19-linked mucormycosis are mentioned having particular emphasis on pathogenesis, signs and symptoms, clinical presentation, various diagnostic modalities including histopathology, radiology like CT and MRI, serology, tissue culture, various laboratory investigations, treatment protocols, management with prognosis, and so on. Any suspected case of mucormycosis needs quick detection and treatment since it progresses quickly due to the destructive course of infection. Long-term follow-up along with proper care is a must to detect any kind of recurrence.

Mucormycosis: Issues, Pathophysiology, Diagnosis and Treatment

Mucormycosis (Black fungus) is an infection caused by opportunistic fungi of order Mucorales affecting the immune-compromised individuals. Cases of Aspergillus and Candida (White fungus) were also reported. The cases of fungal co-infection in COVID-19 patients are increasing globally affecting mainly diabetic patients and individuals that have undergone corticosteroid therapy. Iron metabolism and hypoxia plays an important role in pathophysiology of this disease. Mucormycosis causes thrombosis of blood vessels hindering the blood circulation causing black discoloration of affected site. Histopathological examination of specimen is the most effective way of its diagnosis. Surgical removal of affected site is the best treatment practice in rhino-orbital and cutaneous cases whereas lipid formulation of Amphotericin B is effective in other forms of fungal infection.

Modified coptisine derivatives as an inhibitor against pathogenic Rhizomucor miehei, Mycolicibacterium smegmatis (Black Fungus), Monkeypox, and Marburg virus by molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulation-based drug design approach.

During the second phase of SARS-CoV-2, an unknown fungal infection, identified as black fungus, was transmitted to numerous people among the hospitalized COVID-19 patients and increased the death rate. The black fungus is associated with the Mycolicibacterium smegmatis, Mucor lusitanicus, and Rhizomucor miehei microorganisms. At the same time, other pathogenic diseases, such as the Monkeypox virus and Marburg virus, impacted global health. Policymakers are concerned about these pathogens due to their severe pathogenic capabilities and rapid spread. However, no standard therapies are available to manage and treat those conditions. Since the coptisine has significant antimicrobial, antiviral, and antifungal properties; therefore, the current investigation has been designed by modifying coptisine to identify an effective drug molecule against Black fungus, Monkeypox, and Marburg virus. After designing the derivatives of coptisine, they have been optimized to get a stable molecular structure. These ligands were then subjected to molecular docking study against two vital proteins obtained from black fungal pathogens: Rhizomucor miehei (PDB ID: 4WTP) and Mycolicibacterium smegmatis (PDB ID 7D6X), and proteins found in Monkeypox virus (PDB ID: 4QWO) and Marburg virus (PDB ID 4OR8). Following molecular docking, other computational investigations, such as ADMET, QSAR, drug-likeness, quantum calculation and molecular dynamics, were also performed to determine their potentiality as antifungal and antiviral inhibitors. The docking score reported that they have strong affinities against Black fungus, Monkeypox virus, and Marburg virus. Then, the molecular dynamic simulation was conducted to determine their stability and durability in the physiological system with water at 100 ns, which documented that the mentioned drugs were stable over the simulated time. Thus, our in silico investigation provides a preliminary report that coptisine derivatives are safe and potentially effective against Black fungus, Monkeypox virus, and Marburg virus. Hence, coptisine derivatives may be a prospective candidate for developing drugs against Black fungus, Monkeypox and Marburg viruses.

The effect of video assisted teaching programme on knowledge regarding prevention and management of black fungus among staff nurse

A dangerous fungal infection that has recently emerged as a hazard for COVID-19 survivors, mucormycosis was first identified in Bangladesh on May 8, 2021, and is now commonly referred to as "black fungus" in the COVID-19 period. During the COVID-19 epidemic, black fungi are eighty times more common in India. The COVID-19 black fungi has spread to numerous nations, including Bangladesh, Pakistan, Russia, Iran, and Brazil. Being physically close to India, Bangladesh is concerned about the worrisome rise in COVID-19-related black fungus infections in India, which have a high fatality rate of about 50%. Pre-experimental design with one-group pre-test and post-test study method was used to examine staff nurses' understanding of black fungus avoidance and control; the participants were chosen through handy sampling. The data collected was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics in terms of frequency, mean, standard deviation, and associated by chi square test. Among 60 staff nurse in pre-test, 29 (48.33%) have poor knowledge, 27 (45%) have average knowledge, 4 (6.67%) having good, and in post-test 44 (33.33%) having good knowledge, 16 (26.67%) having average knowledge.Under Pre-test the Mean of the Scores was 8.3 (55.33%) under the Post- test the Mean was observed as 12.2 (81.33%).

Follow-up of solid-state fungal wood pretreatment by a novel near-infrared spectroscopy-based lignin calibration model

Lignin removal plays a crucial role in the efficient bioconversion of lignocellulose to fermentable sugars. As a delignification process, fungal pretreatment has gained great interest due to its environmental friendliness and low energy consumption. In our previous study, a positive linear correlation between acid-insoluble lignin degradation and the achievable enzymatic saccharification yield has been found, hereby highlighting the importance of the close follow-up of lignin degradation during the solid-state fungal pretreatment process.However, the standard quantification of lignin, which relies on the two-step acid hydrolysis of the biomass, is highly laborious and time-consuming. Vibrational spectroscopy has been proven as a fast and easy alternative; however, it has not been extensively researched on lignocellulose subjected to solid-state fungal pretreatment. Therefore, the present study examined the suitability of near-infrared spectroscopy (NIR) for the rapid and easy assessment of lignin content in poplar wood pretreated with Phanerochaete chrysosporium. Furthermore, the predictive power of the obtained calibration model and the recently published ATR-FTIR spectroscopy-based model were compared for the first time using the same fungus-treated wood data set.PLSR was used to correlate the NIR spectra to the acid-insoluble lignin contents (19.9%–27.1%) of pretreated wood. After normalization and second derivation, a PLSR model with a good coefficient of determination (RCV2 = 0.89) and a low root mean square error (RMSECV = 0.55%) were obtained despite the heterogeneous nature of the fungal solid-state fermentation. The performance of this PLSR model was comparably good to the one obtained by ATR-FTIR (RCV2 = 0.87) while it required more extensive spectral pre-processing. In conclusion, both methods will be highly useful for the high-throughput and user-friendly monitoring of lignin degradation in a solid-state fungal pretreatment-based biorefinery concept.

Black fungus what do we know about it? Knowledge, attitude and practice of health care professionals in Iraq

Black fungus what do we know about it? Knowledge, attitude and practice of health care professionals in Iraq

Ancient Basidiomycota in an extinct conifer-like tree, Xenoxylon utahense, and a brief survey of fungi in the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation, USA

AbstractAlthough the well-known Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation has yielded abundant fossil plants for nearly a century, relatively little is known about fossil fungi and their ecological relationships to the Morrison flora. The first mention of fungal decay in fossil wood was briefly made over three decades ago, and since then, a few more reports of fungal decay associated with Morrison plants have been published. However, up to now, detailed data on the fossil fungi themselves have not been given from the Morrison Formation. Here we describe in detail well-preserved fossil mycelia in a silicified log of Xenoxylon utahense Xie et Gee, 2021 from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation at Miners Draw, Blue Mountain, near Vernal in northeastern Utah, USA. The fungal hyphae are variable in form, ranging from straight to slightly curved to highly coiled to tubular; they measure ~1.53 μm in diameter and possess clamp connections, septa, and occasional bifurcations. The occurrence of clamp connections typical of living Basidiomycota indicates a taxonomic affinity to this division of fungi. On the basis of the patterns of wood decay in the Xenoxylon log, the fossil fungi are interpreted here as pertaining to saprotrophic, white-rot wood fungi. These fossil mycelia represent a new record of ancient Basidiomycota from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation and provide further evidence for plant–fungus interactions in Jurassic terrestrial ecosystems.

Positive fungal interactions are key drivers in Antarctic endolithic microcosms at the boundaries for life sustainability.

In the ice-free areas of Victoria Land in continental Antarctica, where the conditions reach the limits for life sustainability, highly adapted and extreme-tolerant microbial communities exploit the last habitable niches inside porous rocks (i.e. cryptoendolithic communities). These guilds host the main standing biomass and principal, if not sole, contributors to environmental/biogeochemical cycles, driving ecosystem processes and functionality in these otherwise dead lands. Although knowledge advances on their composition, ecology, genomic and metabolic features, a large-scale perspective of occurring interactions and interconnections within and between endolithic fungal assemblages is still lacking to date. Unravelling the tight relational network among functional guilds in the Antarctic cryptoendolithic communities may represent a main task. Aiming to fill this knowledge gap, we performed a correlation-network analysis based on amplicon-sequencing data of 74 endolithic microbiomes collected throughout Victoria Land. Endolithic communities' compositional pattern was largely dominated by Lichenized fungi group (83.5%), mainly represented by Lecanorales and Lecideales, followed by Saprotrophs (14.2%) and RIF+BY (2.4%) guilds led by Tremellales and Capnodiales respectively. Our findings highlighted that fungal functional guilds' relational spectrum was dominated by cooperative interactions led by lichenised and black fungi, deeply engaged in community trophic sustain and protection, respectively. On the other hand, a few negative correlations found may help in preserving niche boundaries between microbes living in such strict spatial association.

Rhinocerebral Mucormycosis Following COVID-19 Infection in Iran.

Mucormycosis (also called black fungus) is an opportunistic serious fungal infection caused by mucormycetes. It can occur in diabetes mellitus patients and other immunosuppressive conditions with recent predisposing factors such as maxillofacial surgery and corticosteroid usage. In this study, 14 patients were referred to the otorhinolaryngology or ophthalmology ward of Shafa Hospital (Kerman, Iran) with primary symptoms of nasal fullness and facial nerve dysfunction; they were admitted to the hospital to rule out the fungal infection. An endoscopic biopsy was taken from facial sinuses or orbit, and a microscopic evaluation was performed using hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) staining methods to rule out mucormycosis. In the histopathological examination, broad-based nonseptate branching fungal hyphae were found in nasal sinuses through the endoscopic biopsy. Most of the patients had diabetes mellitus with a primary symptom of facial nerve palsy; also, most of them received corticosteroids (intravenous [IV] or intramuscular [IM] injection). All patients have recently been infected with COVID-19 (less than 1 month ago). COVID-19 infection might be a predisposing factor for many opportunistic infections, such as fungal elements); thus, the physician should be aware of the dosage and duration of corticosteroid therapy to prevent the development of these infections.

A Review on Fungal Disease: Mucormycosis

Abstract: As the fight against the deadly Covid 19 pandemic continues worldwide, several complications were being reported in patients who have recovered from Covid. One such deadly complication that has been reported recently in patients in India who were tested positive for Covid-19 and are gradually recovering was a fungal disease called mucormycosis, or black fungus. As hundreds of cases had been reported across the country, this had caused an additional wave of panic among the population. Post-Covid-19 patients who are more susceptible to mucormycosis are those with a history of poorly controlled diabetes mellitus and also those who are immunocompromised and have been treated with steroids and other medications for Covid-19. This brief review briefly discusses the epidemiology of mucormycosis, its potential pathophysiology in the post-Covid scenario, its clinical presentation, and its diagnosis and treatment. This brief review briefly discusses the epidemiology of mucormycosis

Mucormycosis: A Life Threatening Public Health Disease

The alarming Coronavirus which affected the whole world has resulted in various complication affecting majority of population throughout the world. The pandemic COVID 19 has led to surge of potentially life threatening invasive fungal disease (IFD) called Mucormycosis. It is one of the aggressive devasting disease and is considered as oppurtunistic fungal infection affecting immunocompromised individuals. Mucormycosis, so called Black Fungus is caused by mucormycetes group of molds. India has declared mucormycosis as notifiable disease in May 2021 as rate of COVID 19 associated mucormycosis cases has increased tremendously. This review article presents the causes of this infection,the mode of spread ,sign and symptoms in the human body, and its diagnosis with available recent therapies. The diagnosis and identification of the infection were made possible through various latest medical techniques.

Fungi in ant-plant interactions: a key to enhancing plant nutrient-acquisition strategies.

This article is a Commentary on Gegenbauer et al. (2023), 238: 2210–2223.