Animal Health Department, Facultad de Veterinaria, UCM, Madrid, Spain.
Med Mycol. 2010 Mar;48(2):273-7. doi: 10.1080/13693780903095414.
In recent years, several lines of evidence have questioned the asexual nature of Aspergillus fumigatus, showing that this fungus possesses a fully functional sexual reproductive cycle that leads to the production of cleistothecia and ascospores. The presence of a sexual cycle in A. fumigatus could have significant medical implications, as sexual reproduction might contribute to increased virulence or resistance to antifungal agents. In the present work, we studied the relationship between mating type and invasiveness in A. fumigatus. Statistical analysis of the results showed a significant association between the mating type MAT1-1 and an invasive origin of the isolates. Similarly, when the clinical or environmental origin of isolates was considered instead of their invasive or non-invasive origin, a significant association between the mating type MAT1-1 and clinical origin was observed. Finally, the association between mating type MAT1-1 and pathogenicity, measured by an Elastase Activity Index > or = 1, was significant. Our results suggest a possible association between the MAT1-1 mating type and A. fumigatus invasiveness.
近年来，有几条证据线对烟曲霉的无性性质提出了质疑，表明这种真菌具有完全功能的有性生殖周期，导致产生闭囊壳和子囊孢子。烟曲霉有性周期的存在可能具有重要的医学意义，因为有性繁殖可能导致毒力增加或对抗真菌药物产生耐药性。在本工作中，我们研究了烟曲霉交配型与侵袭性之间的关系。对结果的统计分析表明，交配型 MAT1-1 与分离株的侵袭性起源之间存在显著关联。同样，当考虑分离株的临床或环境起源而不是它们的侵袭性或非侵袭性起源时，也观察到交配型 MAT1-1 与临床起源之间存在显著关联。最后，交配型 MAT1-1 与致病性之间的关联（通过弹性酶活性指数>或= 1 来衡量）也是显著的。我们的结果表明，MAT1-1 交配型与烟曲霉侵袭性之间可能存在关联。
