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The section Aspergillus includes xerophilic fungi that are economically significant and broadly distributed in natural settings as well as human habitats and are recognized for their sustenance on substrates with low water activity. Accurate identification of fungal species is essential for any reliable advances in mycological research. In this study, 108 strains from the section Aspergillus, originating from Korea and conserved at the Korean Agricultural Culture Collection, were subjected to re-identification using a combined dataset that included partial sequences of β-tubulin (BenA), Calmodulin (CaM), and RNA polymerase II second largest subunit (RPB2) genes, along with their morphological characteristics. We confirmed the presence of 12 species among the 108 strains originally isolated from Korea. Of them, nine species have been formerly reported in Korea (Aspergillus chevalieri, Aspergillus cibarius, Aspergillus cumulatus, Aspergillus glaucus, Aspergillus montevidensis, Aspergillus proliferans, Aspergillus pseudoglaucus, Aspergillus ruber, and Aspergillus tonophilus), and 3 species (Aspergillus aurantiacoflavus, Aspergillus intermedius, and Aspergillus niveoglaucus) were found to be previously unreported to be isolated from Korea. Here, the detailed characteristic features of these three unexplored species are presented, including specific morphological traits, genetic variations, and ecological niches in Korea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microbes are critical contributors in main areas of biotechnology, including green, red, and white biotechnology. This is why the importance of the preservation of microbial resources cannot be emphasized enough. Culture collections are repositories not only for the preservation and maintenance of a large variety of microbial resources and the associated data but also for their distribution in a quality-controlled manner. The mission of culture collections facilitates and supports utilization of microbial resources for research, education, and industrial purposes. Led by the World Federation for Culture Collections, an international organization committed to fostering the activities of culture collections of microorganisms and cell lines, more than 850 culture collections from 80 countries and regions work together to ensure the perpetuation of microbial resources. In addition, domestic networks, such as Japan Society for Culture Collections and United States Culture Collection Network along with regional networks for Europe, Latin America, and Asia thrive to ensure the long-term viability of microbial resources. The Republic of Korea recently took the first step in networking through the coordination of six ministries which house nine national microbial culture collections. With an explosion in microbiome research and a dramatic increase in the number of microbiome samples, the considerable challenge of culture collections will therefore be implementing the biobanking infrastructure of microbiome samples. Creating a domestic network of national culture collections is a key factor in efficiently and comprehensively managing nation-led microbiome research projects, particularly resulting microbiome samples. In this context, this review aims to provide an overview of microbial culture collection network and their future role to address the challenge in the microbiome era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spontaneous pneumothoraces due to lung cyst rupture afflict patients with the rare disease Birt-Hogg-Dubé (BHD) syndrome, which is caused by mutations of the tumor suppressor gene folliculin (FLCN). The underlying mechanism of the lung manifestations in BHD is unclear. We show that BHD lungs exhibit increased alveolar epithelial cell apoptosis and that Flcn deletion in mouse lung epithelium leads to cell apoptosis, alveolar enlargement, and an impairment of both epithelial barrier and overall lung function. We find that Flcn-null epithelial cell apoptosis is the result of impaired AMPK activation and increased cleaved caspase-3. AMPK activator LKB1 and E-cadherin are downregulated by Flcn loss and restored by its expression. Correspondingly, Flcn-null cell survival is rescued by the AMPK activator AICAR or constitutively active AMPK. AICAR also improves lung condition of Flcn(f/f):SP-C-Cre mice. Our data suggest that lung cysts in BHD may result from an underlying defect in alveolar epithelial cell survival, attributable to FLCN regulation of the E-cadherin-LKB1-AMPK axis.

We evaluated the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics and antitumor activity of barecetamab monotherapy and combination cetuximab therapy in patients with advanced solid cancers, especially head and neck cancer (HNC). Part 1 was a 3 + 3 dose‐escalation study in which 15 patients received barecetamab at 1, 3, 5, 10 and 20 mg/kg intravenously (IV) on days 1 and 28 and weekly in patients with advanced solid cancer. Part 2 was a dose‐expansion study including two patient groups with advanced HNC, including six patients receiving barecetamab at 20 mg/kg IV every 3 weeks and 12 patients receiving barecetamab and cetuximab (400 mg/m2 on day 1 followed by 250 mg/m2 every week). No dose‐limiting toxicities (DLTs) were observed. Maximum serum target engagement was reached with trough levels of doses ≥3 mg/kg IV weekly. Common adverse drug reactions were diarrhea, stomatitis, dermatitis acneiform and decreased appetite. One durable complete response of more than 17 months was observed, and the overall response and disease control rates were 36.4% (4/11) and 81.1% (9/11), respectively, in the combination therapy group. In conclusion, DLT was not observed in barecetamab at 1 to 20 mg/kg. The recommended phase II dose was determined to be 20 mg/kg triweekly. Barecetamab and in cetuximab combination was well tolerated and demonstrated meaningful antitumor effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]