Applied Microbiology: Open Access
Open Access
ISSN: 2471-9315
+44 1300 500008
ISSN: 2471-9315
+44 1300 500008
Ying-Lien Chen
National Taiwan University, Taiwan
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: Appli Micro
The genus Fusarium comprises many species, including F. oxysporum, F. solani, F. graminearum, and F. verticillioides and causes severe infections in plants and humans. In clinical settings, Fusarium is the third most frequent mold to cause invasive fungal infections, after Aspergillus and the mucorales. F. solani and F. oxysporum are the most prevalent Fusarium species to cause clinical disease. However, few effective antifungal drugs are available to treat both human and plant Fusarium infections. The cationic peptide antibiotic Polymyxin B (PMB) exhibits antifungal activity against the human fungal pathogens Candida albicans and Cryptococcus neoformans, but its efficacy against Fusarium species is unknown. In this study, we tested the antifungal activity of PMB against 12 Fusarium strains that infect humans and plants (banana, tomato, melon, pea, wheat and maize). PMB was fungicidal against all 12 Fusarium strains, with minimum fungicidal concentrations of 32 or 64 �?¼g/mL for most strains tested, as evidenced by broth dilution, methylene blue staining and XTT reduction assays. PMB can reduce the germination rates of conidia, but not chlamydospores and can cause defects in cell membrane integrity in Fusarium strains. PMB exhibits synergistic activity with posaconazole and can potentiate the effect of fluconazole, voriconazole or amphotericin B against Fusarium species. However, PMB does not show synergistic effects with fluconazole against Fusarium species as it does against Candida glabrata and C. neoformans, indicating evolutionary divergence of mechanisms between yeast pathogens and the filamentous fungus Fusarium.
Ying-Lien Chen is an assistant professor at National Taiwan University, Taiwan and is interested in research topics like fungal and antifungal activity.