Evolution of fungal pathogens in domestic environments?

Cene Gostinčar (Author), Martin Grube (Author), Nina Gunde-Cimerman (Author)

Abstract

Specific indoor environments select for certain stress-tolerant fungi and can drive their evolution towards acquiring medically important traits. Here we review the current knowledge in this area of research, focussing on the so-called black yeasts. Many of these melanised stress-tolerant organisms originate in unusual ecological niches in nature, and they have a number of preadaptations that make them particularly suited for growth on human-made surfaces and substrates. Several pathogenic species have been isolated recently from various domestic habitats. We argue that in addition to enriching for - potentially - pathogenic species, the selection pressure and stress acting on microorganisms in indoor environments are driving their evolution towards acquiring the missing virulence factors and further enhancing their stress tolerance and pathogenic potential. Some of the polyextremotolerant fungi are particularly problematicČ they can grow at elevated temperatures, and so they have a higher potential to colonise warm-blooded organisms. As several species of black fungi are already implicated in health problems of various kinds, their selection and possible evolution in human environments are of concern.

Keywords

black fungi;domestic environment;evolution;pathogen;polyextremophilic;polyextremotolerant;

Data

Language:	English
Year of publishing:	2011
Typology:	1.01 - Original Scientific Article
Organization:	UL BF - Biotechnical Faculty
UDC:	579
COBISS:	2441295
ISSN:	1878-6146
Views:	869
Downloads:	310
Average score:	0 (0 votes)
Metadata:

Other data

Secondary language:	English
Type (COBISS):	Not categorized
Pages:	str. 1008-1018
Volume:	ǂVol. ǂ115
Issue:	ǂno. ǂ10
Chronology:	2011
DOI:	10.1016/j.funbio.2011.03.004
ID:	1446668