Seventy-three fungal species belonging to forty-three genera were isolated from 40 samples of Saccharrum officinarum (collected from Naage-Hamadi canal in Qena Governorate, Egypt). Aspergillus, Trichoderma, Mucor and Pythium were the most common genera on the two isolation media. The dominant species of Aspergillus were A. niger, A. flavus, A. ustus, A. terreus and A. wentii. Some species were dominant on 40 g/l sucrose such as Aspergillus niger, A. flavus, Emericella nidulans, Trichoderma viride, Torula herbarum and Mamaria echinoeotryoides, while the dominant species on 10 g/l glucose were Mucor circinelloides, Aspergillus niger, Torula herbarum and Trichoderma viride. Mycotoxins including aflatoxins B1, B2, G1 and G2, zearalenone and diacetoxyscirpenol were detected in the examined samples of Saccharrum officinarum. The mycelial growth of A. flavus, A. niger, Fusarium moniliforme and Torula herbarum decreased with the increase in Dimethoate concentrations, although 25 ppm was less effective than the higher levels of the insecticide (75~200 ppm). Dimethoate stimulated the activity of Go-T in A. niger, F. moniliforme and T. harbarum, while the Go-T activity was inhibited in A. flavus with the Dimethoate treatments.
Aflatoxins ; Aspergillus ; Aspergillus niger ; Cryptococcus ; Dimethoate ; Egypt* ; Emericella ; Fusarium ; Glucose ; Mucor ; Mycotoxins* ; Niger ; Pythium ; Saccharum* ; Sucrose ; Trichoderma ; Zearalenone

In the search for novel potent fungi-derived bioactive compounds for bioinsecticide applications, crude ethyl acetate culture filtrate extracts from 110 mangrove fungal endophytes were screened for their toxicity. Toxicity tests of all extracts against brine shrimp (Artemia salina) larvae were performed. The extracts with the highest toxicity were further examined for insecticidal activity against Spodoptera litura larvae and acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibition activity. The results showed that the extracts of five isolates exhibited the highest toxicity to brine shrimp at 50% lethal concentration (LC50) values of 7.45 to 10.24 ppm. These five fungal isolates that obtained from Rhizophora mucronata were identified based on sequence data analysis of the internal transcribed spacer region of rDNA as Aspergillus oryzae (strain BPPTCC 6036), Emericella nidulans (strains BPPTCC 6035 and BPPTCC 6038), A. tamarii (strain BPPTCC 6037), and A. versicolor (strain BPPTCC 6039). The mean percentage of S. litura larval mortality following topical application of the five extracts ranged from 16.7% to 43.3%. In the AChE inhibition assay, the inhibition rates of the five extracts ranged from 40.7% to 48.9%, while eserine (positive control) had an inhibition rate of 96.8%, at a concentration of 100 ppm. The extracts used were crude extracts, so their potential as sources of AChE inhibition compounds makes them likely candidates as neurotoxins. The high-performance liquid chromatography profiles of the five extracts differed, indicating variations in their chemical constituents. This study highlights the potential of culture filtrate ethyl acetate extracts of mangrove fungal endophytes as a source of new potential bioactive compounds for bioinsecticide applications.
Acetylcholinesterase ; Artemia ; Aspergillus oryzae ; Chromatography, Liquid ; Complex Mixtures ; DNA, Ribosomal ; Emericella ; Endophytes* ; Larva ; Mortality ; Neurotoxins ; Physostigmine ; Rhizophoraceae ; Spodoptera ; Statistics as Topic ; Toxicity Tests

Many aspergilli that belongs to ascomycetes have sexuality. In a homothallic or self-fertile fungus, a number of fruiting bodies or cleistothecia are formed in a thallus grown from a single haploid conidia or ascospores. Genome-sequencing project revealed that two mating genes (MAT) encoding the regulatory proteins that are necessary for controlling partner recognition in heterothallic fungi were conserved in most aspergilli. The MAT gene products in some self-fertile species were not required for recognition of mating partner at pheromone-signaling stage but required at later stages of sexual development. Various environmental factors such as nutritional status, culture conditions and several stresses, influence the decision or progression of sexual reproduction. A large number of genes are expected to be involved in sexual development of Emericella nidulans (anamorph: Aspergillus nidulans), a genetic and biological model organism in aspergilli. The sexual development process can be grouped into several development stages, including the decision of sexual reproductive cycle, mating process, growth of fruiting body, karyogamy followed by meiosis, and sporulation process. Complicated regulatory networks, such as signal transduction pathways and gene expression controls, may work in each stage and stage-to-stage linkages. In this review, the components joining in the regulatory pathways of sexual development, although they constitute only a small part of the whole regulatory networks, are briefly mentioned. Some of them control sexual development positively and some do negatively. Regarding the difficulties for studying sexual differentiation compare to asexual one, recent progresses in molecular genetics of E. nidulans enlarge the boundaries of understanding sexual development in the non-fertile species as well as in fertile fungi.
Ascomycota ; Aspergillus ; Emericella ; Fruit ; Fungi ; Gene Expression ; Haploidy ; Meiosis ; Models, Biological ; Molecular Biology ; Nutritional Status ; Proteins ; Reproduction ; Sex Differentiation ; Sexual Development ; Sexuality ; Signal Transduction ; Spores, Fungal

OBJECTIVETo characterize, identify and investigate the anticancer properties of two new soil fungal isolates, Emericella nidulans and Fusarium solani isolated from Wady El-Natron in Egypt against colon cancer Caco-2 (ATCC) cell line.

METHODSSoil sample was cultured and two strains were chosen for morphological and phenotypical characterization. Partial sequences of the 18s rRNA gene and the internal transcribed spacer region ITS of the two isolates were amplified by PCR. Phylogenetic tree construction and analysis of the resulted multiple sequences from the two fugal isolates were also carried out. In vitro anticancer activity of the two strains was done against colon Caco-2 cancer cell line. Reverse transcription - PCR was carried out to detect level of expression of p53 in Caco-2 cell line.

RESULTSHF.1 displayed morphological and genotypic characteristics most similar to that of Fusarium solani while HF.2 was most similar to Emericella nidulans with high similarity of 99% and 97% respectively. The multiple sequence alignment of the two fungal isolates showed that, the maximum identical conserved domains in the 18s rRNA genes were identified with the nucleotide regions of 51st to 399th base pairs, 88th to 525th base pairs respectively. While those in the ITS genes were identified with the nucleotide regions of 88th to 463rd and 51st to 274th. The two isolates showed IC50 value with (6.24±5.21) and (9.84±0.36) µg/mL) concentrations respectively at 28h. Reverse transcription - PCR indicated that these cells showed high level of expression for p53 mRNA.

CONCLUSIONSThe morphology and molecular analysis identified HF.1 and HF.2 to be Fusarium solani and Emericella nidulans; new isolates of anticancer producing fungi from Wady El-Natroon city in Egypt. Treatment with the two isolates caused P53 expression in Caco-2 cell line. These two isolates can be used as an anticancer agents.

Antineoplastic Agents ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Caco-2 Cells ; Complex Mixtures ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Egypt ; Emericella ; chemistry ; classification ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Fusarium ; chemistry ; classification ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Gene Expression ; drug effects ; Humans ; Phylogeny ; Soil Microbiology ; Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 ; genetics ; metabolism

Beef luncheon meat is one of the most popular meals in several countries in the world including Egypt. Thirty one fungal species and 3 species varieties were recovered from 30 samples of beef luncheon meat collected from different supermarkets in Qena. Alternaria, Aspergillus, Emericella, Mucor, Mycosphaerella, Penicillium and Rhizopus were the most common genera on the two types of media. From the above genera, the most prevalent species were Alternaria alternate, Aspergillus flavus, A. fumigatus, A. niger, A. terreus, Emericella nidulans, Mucor racemosus, Mycosphaerella tassiana, Penicillium chrysogenum and Rhizopus stolonifer. Screening of fungi for their abilities to produce lipase enzyme showed that, ten isolates represented 32.26% of total isolates appeared high lipase production, while sixteen isolates (51.61%) were moderate and 5 isolates (16.13%) were low producers. Aspergillus niger, Fusarium oxysporum and Nectria haematococca produced the highest amount of lipase enzyme, so these fungi were used in further studies. The incorporation of five food preservatives (Disodium phosphate, sodium benzoate, citric acid, potassium sorbate and sodium citrate) individually in the culture medium of lipase production exhibited an inhibitive effect on the mycelial growth and enzyme production by Aspergillus niger, Fusarium oxysporum and Nectria haematococca.
Alternaria ; Aspergillus ; Aspergillus flavus ; Aspergillus niger ; Citric Acid ; Egypt ; Emericella ; Food Preservatives ; Fungi ; Fusarium ; Lipase ; Mass Screening ; Meals ; Meat ; Mucor ; Nectria ; Niger ; Penicillium ; Penicillium chrysogenum ; Rhizopus ; Sodium ; Sodium Benzoate ; Sorbic Acid