Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0038187 (starvation)
 24,951 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Differences in the carbohydrate composition were revealed among spores of fungi belonging to Zygomycetes, Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, and Oomycota, part of the novel kingdom Chromista. It was shown for the first time that Phytophthora infestans contains arabitol in addition to glucose and trehalose. Sucrose was detected in Pleurotus ostreatus basidiospores. It was established that Blakeslea trispora stylospores contain inositol. The dependence of the spore carbohydrate composition on the temperature of the habitat of the corresponding species is discussed. It was shown that the cytosol of the conidia is dominated by trehalose and inositol under hypothermic conditions and by mannitol and glucose under hyperthermic conditions. Neomycota and Eomycota were shown to differ in their responses to stress (starvation), which correlated with the differences in the carbohydrate composition of the spore cytosols. Assuming that cytosol carbohydrates perform a protective function, we explain the higher viability of conidia compared to stylo- and sporangiospores.
 ...
PMID:[Changes in the carbohydrate composition of cytosol from fungal spores in connection with environmental temperature and during storage]. 1100 88

Zygomycosis is an emerging frequently fatal opportunistic mycosis whose immunopathogenesis is poorly understood. We developed a zygomycosis model by injecting Drosophila melanogaster flies with a standardized amount of fungal spores from clinical Zygomycetes isolates to study virulence and host defense mechanisms. We found that, as opposed to most other fungi, which are nonpathogenic in D. melanogaster (e.g., Aspergillus fumigatus), Zygomycetes rapidly infect and kill wild-type flies. Toll-deficient flies exhibited increased susceptibility to Zygomycetes, whereas constitutive overexpression of the antifungal peptide Drosomycin in transgenic flies partially restored resistance to zygomycosis. D. melanogaster Schneider 2 phagocytic cells displayed decreased phagocytosis and caused less hyphal damage to Zygomycetes compared with that to A. fumigatus. Furthermore, phagocytosis-defective eater mutant flies displayed increased susceptibility to Zygomycetes infection. Classic enhancers of Zygomycetes virulence in humans, such as corticosteroids, increased iron supply, and iron availability through treatment with deferoxamine dramatically increased Zygomycetes pathogenicity in our model. In contrast, iron starvation induced by treatment with the iron chelator deferasirox significantly protected flies infected with Zygomycetes. Whole-genome expression profiling in wild-type flies after infection with Zygomycetes vs. A. fumigatus identified genes selectively down-regulated by Zygomycetes, which act in pathogen recognition, immune defense, stress response, detoxification, steroid metabolism, or tissue repair or have unknown functions. Our results provide insights into the factors that mediate host-pathogen interactions in zygomycosis and establish D. melanogaster as a promising model to study this important mycosis.
 ...
PMID:Drosophila melanogaster as a model host to dissect the immunopathogenesis of zygomycosis. 1858 79

Zygomycetes are increasingly reported as a cause of life-threatening invasive fungal infections in profoundly immunocompromised patients and in those with diabetic ketoacidosis. Zygomycosis, typically presents as soft tissue, rhino-orbitocerebral, pulmonary or disseminated disease and is characterized by rapid clinical progression and high mortality rates. Treatment with amphotericin B lipid formulations in combination with surgery and, perhaps, the addition of caspofungin offers the best chance for survival; posaconazole, a new antifungal triazole, is increasingly used for consolidation or maintenance therapy. Because of the poor prognosis of zygomycosis, particularly in immunocompromised cancer patients, adjunctive treatments such as hyperbaric oxygen therapy, use of immunomodulatory cytokines, and in vivo iron starvation continue to be explored. However, although each of these modalities is based on a plausible scientific rationale and has been helpful in the management of individual patients, there is no clinical evidence for their general effectiveness as adjunctive treatments in patients with zygomycosis. Further experimental and clinical investigations are necessary to determine whether and how these treatments can impact on outcome and to determine which patients and which types of infection may benefit from them.
 ...
PMID:Hyperbaric oxygen therapy and other adjunctive treatments for zygomycosis. 1975 64