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Koalas are iconic mammals indigenous to Australia. These rare animals and their habitats are occasionally associated with pathogenic fungi, including species of Cryptococcus, and consequently, monitoring the mycobiota of areas inhabited by koalas is of considerable importance. In this report, we describe a novel basidiomycetous yeast isolated from a site in Kanazawa Zoo, Japan, associated with captive koalas. Swab samples were collected from koala breeding environments, from which we isolated a novel unencapsulated yeast characterized by ovoid to ellipsoidal cells (3.2-4.9 × 3.5-5 µm). These cells were observed to undergo polar budding and grow as parent bud pairs, with an optimal growth temperature of 28°C. Colonies grown on yeast extract peptone dextrose agar at 28°C have a characteristic coral pink color. On the basis of physiological, morphological, and molecular characters, the new species was placed in the genus Begerowomyces, and the name Begerowomyces aurantius JCM33898T(LSEM1333T=CBS16241T) is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Central nervous system (CNS) infections due to filamentous basidiomycetes are extremely rare. We encountered a case of epidural abscess due to Schizophyllum commune that extended from sinusitis. A 53‐year‐old Japanese man presented at our hospital with a headache. Computed tomography (CT) of the cranium and sinuses showed ethmoid and sphenoid sinusitis with no intracranial abnormalities. The patient was diagnosed with acute sinusitis and underwent antibiotic treatment. However, the symptoms deteriorated, and the patient came to our hospital again with consciousness disturbance. CT scan of the cranium and sinuses showed no improvement of sinusitis after antibiotic therapy and an epidural abscess emerged in the middle cranial fossa. Therefore, emergency craniotomy and endoscopic sinus fenestration were performed. Filamentous fungal elements were observed in both rhinorrhoea and epidural abscess. The symptoms improved after the operation and administration of liposomal amphotericin B. The clinical isolate was identified as S. commune by a molecular‐based method. To our knowledge, this is the first report of epidural abscess due to this fungus. Although rare, clinicians should be aware that S. commune could be a causative agent of CNS infections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Koalas are iconic mammals indigenous to Australia. These rare animals and their habitats are occasionally associated with pathogenic fungi, including species of Cryptococcus, and consequently, monitoring the mycobiota of areas inhabited by koalas is of considerable importance. In this report, we describe a novel basidiomycetous yeast isolated from a site in Kanazawa Zoo, Japan, associated with captive koalas. Swab samples were collected from koala breeding environments, from which we isolated a novel unencapsulated yeast characterized by ovoid to ellipsoidal cells (3.2-4.9 × 3.5-5 μm). These cells were observed to undergo polar budding and grow as parent bud pairs, with an optimal growth temperature of 28°C. Colonies grown on yeast extract peptone dextrose agar at 28°C have a characteristic coral pink color. On the basis of physiological, morphological, and molecular characters, the new species was placed in the genus Begerowomyces, and the name Begerowomyces aurantius JCM33898 T (LSEM1333 T =CBS16241 T ) is proposed.

Background: Filamentous basidiomycetes (f-BMs) are involved in some unexplained chronic cough (UCC) cases that can be improved by the administration of antifungal agents. The disease concept was termed fungus-associated chronic cough (FACC). The current diagnostic criteria warrant environmental fungi isolation from respiratory specimens, which is hardly conceivable for such fungi., Objectives: This study aimed to detect the f-BMs Bjerkandera adusta, the most common pathogen in FACC, from respiratory specimens of patients with UCC using real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). It also evaluated the applicability of the PCR system to detect antifungal agent responders among patients with unexplained cough., Methods: The PCR system specific to B. adusta was developed and its utility was evaluated using sputum samples from 23 patients with chronic cough., Results: B. adusta was detected in 10 out of 14 patients with UCC (71.4%), in contrast to only 2 out of 9 patients with non-UCC (22.2%; p < 0.05 with the Fisher's exact test). The copy number of the samples correlated with the therapeutic impact score for cough symptoms following the oral administration of itraconazole., Conclusion: Development of the real-time PCR system enabled us to demonstrate that many patients with UCC might be influenced by B. adusta, a fact evidenced by the improvement of symptoms with itraconazole administration in most PCR-positive patients. This method would help in detecting itraconazole responders among patients with UCC when the isolation of f-BMs is not achievable., (© 2018 S. Karger AG, Basel.)

Molecular evolution has dominated taxonomic studies for decades, replacing traditional methods for identification and classification. However, there is a need for better markers to resolve the problems that have limited their usefulness. In this report, we introduce the protein tag (Ptag) sequence, a highly polymorphic amino acid sequence within the C-terminal region of the largest subunit of RNA polymerase I, as a new systematic tag sequence for delineating the evolutionary history of medically important fungi. As Ptag sequences are highly polymorphic between species and low within species, 42 fungal species representing the main taxonomic groups in the phyla Ascomycota and Basidiomycota were tested. The phylogenetic tree inferred from the Ptag sequences showed high consistency with the accepted classification of the Assembling the Fungal Tree of Life (AFTOL) project. Moreover, it could resolve the interspecies phylogenetic relationships of the tested taxa. In contrast, the phylogeny inferred from the nucleotide tag (Ntag) sequence, encoding the Ptag peptide, displayed lesser discriminatory power in resolving the phylogenetic relationships among distantly related taxa. In the case of closely related fungal species, the phylogenetic trees for Ptag and Ntag sequences were consistent with the tree for ITS1 sequences of 11 dermatophytic species. Taken together, the Ptag sequences should contribute to inferring phylogeny among species whereas the Ntag sequences should be useful to analyze variations among closely related species to resolve taxonomic issues in fungi., (© The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The International Society for Human and Animal Mycology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Dermatophytes are filamentous fungi that colonize the keratinized layer of human and animal skin. The availability of several selectable markers for dermatophyte gene manipulation would provide important tools to understand the genetic properties of this fungal group. In this study, we report the nourseothricin resistance gene nat1 that confers resistance to the aminoglycoside antibiotic nourseothricin as a dominant marker in Trichophyton mentagrophytes. The NAT cassette was introduced into T. mentagrophytes by the Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation (ATMA) method. Transformation occurred at a frequency of 78 transformants per 1 x 10(7) cells. Molecular analysis showed integration of the NAT cassette into the genomic DNA of T. mentagrophytes. This study presents the nourseothricin resistance gene nat1 as a useful selectable marker for selection of T. mentagrophytes.