TY - JOUR A1 - De Hoog, G.S. A1 - Vicente, V.A. A1 - Gorbushina, Anna T1 - The bright future of darkness - the rising power of black fungi: black yeasts, microcolonial fungi, and their relatives N2 - Black fungi are no longer viewed as neglected, rare, or exotic fungi—in fact, we now realize that they are all around us on a daily basis. In the past, we just have been looking at the wrong places, with inadequate detection tools, or with inappropriate isolation methods. In a way, the seemingly ubiquitous presence of black fungi is disturbing, reflecting one of the bright/dark contrasts of our research field: while scientists in the black yeast area all recognize the frustration of projects being rejected because of supposed societal insignificance, the general public tends to be afraid of these dangerous and omnipresent fungi. This fear dates back to 1934 when K. Kano described Hormiscium dermatitidis from a disfiguring facial infection in Japan. Since that time, many more severely mutilating and eventually fatal infections in apparently healthy people have been reported; the present issue of Mycopathologia contains another horrid example. Later, it was realized that these infections are related to diseases like chromoblastomycosis and primary cerebritis, which are already known for more than a century. Thus, severe black yeast diseases occurred long before organ transplantation was even invented, and in times when immune disorders like leukemia inevitably were rapidly followed by death. Black fungi belong to nature’s repertoire of primary pathogens, it seems, because they are able to kill healthy and immunocompetent individuals. PY - 2013 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s11046-013-9666-8 SN - 0369-299X SN - 0301-486X SN - 0027-5530 SN - 1573-0832 VL - 175 IS - 5-6 SP - 365 EP - 368 PB - Springer CY - Dordrecht AN - OPUS4-28869 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Teixeira, M.M. A1 - Moreno, L.F. A1 - Stielow, B.J. A1 - Muszewska, A. A1 - Hainaut, M. A1 - Gonzaga, L. A1 - Abouelleil, A. A1 - Patan, J.S.L. A1 - Priest, M. A1 - Souza, R. A1 - Ferreira, K.S. A1 - Zeng, Q. A1 - da Cunha, M.M.L. A1 - Gladki, A. A1 - Barker, B. A1 - Vicente, V.A. A1 - de Souza, E.M. A1 - Almeida, S. A1 - Henrissat, B. A1 - Vasconelos, A.T.R. A1 - Deng, S. A1 - Vogelmayr, H. A1 - Moussa, T.A.A. A1 - Gorbushina, Anna A1 - Felipe, M.S.S. A1 - Cuomo, C.A. A1 - de Hoog, G.S. T1 - Exploring the genomic diversity of black yeasts and relatives (Chaetothyriales, Ascomycota) N2 - The order Chaetothyriales (Pezizomycotina, Ascomycetes) harbours obligatorily melanised fungi and includes numerous etiologic agents of chromoblastomycosis, phaeohyphomycosis and other diseases of vertebrate hosts. Diseases range from mild cutaneous to fatal cerebral or disseminated infections and affect humans and cold-blooded animals globally. In addition, Chaetothyriales comprise species with aquatic, rock-inhabiting, ant-associated, and mycoparasitic life-styles, as well as species that tolerate toxic compounds, suggesting a high degree of versatile extremotolerance. To understand their biology and divergent niche occupation, we sequenced and annotated a set of 23 genomes of main the human opportunists within the Chaetothyriales as well as related environmental species. Our analyses included fungi with diverse life-styles, namely opportunistic pathogens and closely related saprobes, to identify genomic adaptations related to pathogenesis. Furthermore, ecological preferences of Chaetothyriales were analysed, in conjuncture with the order-level phylogeny based on conserved ribosomal genes. General characteristics, phylogenomic relationships, transposable elements, sex-related genes, protein family evolution, genes related to protein degradation (MEROPS), carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes), melanin synthesis and secondary metabolism were investigated and compared between species. Genome assemblies varied from 25.81 Mb (Capronia coronata) to 43.03 Mb (Cladophialophora immunda). The bantiana-clade contained the highest number of predicted genes (12 817 on average) as well as larger genomes. We found a low content of mobile elements, with DNA transposons from Tc1/Mariner superfamily being the most abundant across analysed species. Additionally, we identified a reduction of carbohydrate degrading enzymes, specifically many of the Glycosyl Hydrolase (GH) class, while most of the Pectin Lyase (PL) genes were lost in etiological agents of chromoblastomycosis and phaeohyphomycosis. An expansion was found in protein degrading peptidase enzyme families S12 (serine-type D-Ala-D-Ala carboxypeptidases) and M38 (isoaspartyl dipeptidases). Based on genomic information, a wide range of abilities of melanin biosynthesis was revealed; genes related to metabolically distinct DHN, DOPA and pyomelanin pathways were identified. The MAT (MAting Type) locus and other sexrelated genes were recognized in all 23 black fungi. Members of the asexual genera Fonsecaea and Cladophialophora appear to be heterothallic with a single copy of either MAT-1-1 or MAT-1-2 in each individual. All Capronia species are homothallic as both MAT1-1 and MAT1-2 genes were found in each single genome. The genomic synteny of the MAT-locus flanking genes (SLA2-APN2-COX13) is not conserved in black fungi as is commonly observed in Eurotiomycetes, indicating a unique genomic context for MAT in those species. The heterokaryon (het) genes expansion associated with the low selective pressure at the MAT-locus suggests that a parasexual cycle may play an important role in generating diversity among those fungi. KW - Black yeast KW - Comparative genomics KW - Chaetothyriales KW - Ecology KW - Evolution KW - Herpotrichiellaceae KW - Phylogeny PY - 2017 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-408720 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.simyco.2017.01.001 SN - 1872-9797 VL - 86 IS - 1 SP - 1 EP - 28 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam AN - OPUS4-40872 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -