Simon Fraser University, Biological Sciences, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada.
Med Mycol. 2011 Feb;49(2):202-7. doi: 10.3109/13693786.2010.512301. Epub 2010 Sep 6.
Aspergillus fumigatus is an opportunistic fungal pathogen that has recently been found to undergo sexual reproduction. Previous work suggested that invasiveness differs between mating types, and in the present study we tested whether virulence differs between mating types in an in vivo model, i.e., larvae of the wax moth Galleria mellonella. We measured virulence of 20 A. fumigatus isolates; three MAT1-1 isolates of environmental origin, five MAT1-1 isolates of clinical origin, seven MAT1-2 isolates of environmental origin and five MAT1-2 isolates of clinical origin. For each isolate, we measured virulence in six replicates and for each replicate, conidia were grown, harvested, and counted independently, and 2,500 colony forming units were injected into each of 10 G. mellonella larvae. Virulence differed between mating types, with lower survival in larvae injected with MAT1-1 isolates. Virulence also differed between clinical and environmental isolates, but surprisingly larvae injected with environmental isolates had lower survival. Identification of the mechanisms underlying variation in virulence may identify novel targets for the treatment of Aspergillus infections.
烟曲霉是一种机会性真菌病原体，最近发现它可以进行有性繁殖。之前的研究表明，交配型之间的侵袭性不同，在本研究中，我们在体内模型（即蜜蜡蛾幼虫）中测试了不同交配型之间的毒力是否存在差异。我们测量了 20 株烟曲霉分离株的毒力；三个来自环境的 MAT1-1 分离株、五个来自临床的 MAT1-1 分离株、七个来自环境的 MAT1-2 分离株和五个来自临床的 MAT1-2 分离株。对于每个分离株，我们在六个重复中测量了毒力，对于每个重复，我们独立地培养、收获和计数了孢子，并将 2500 个菌落形成单位注射到 10 个蜜蜡蛾幼虫中。毒力在交配型之间存在差异，MAT1-1 分离株注射的幼虫存活率较低。临床和环境分离株之间的毒力也存在差异，但令人惊讶的是，注射环境分离株的幼虫存活率较低。鉴定毒力变异的机制可能为治疗曲霉菌感染提供新的靶点。
