Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Indiana University School of Medicine - Terre Haute, Terre Haute, Indiana, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2014 Jun 19;9(6):e100430. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0100430. eCollection 2014.
The ubiquitous fungal pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus is a mediator of allergic sensitization and invasive disease in susceptible individuals. The significant genetic and phenotypic variability between and among clinical and environmental isolates are important considerations in host-pathogen studies of A. fumigatus-mediated disease. We observed decreased radial growth, rate of germination, and ability to establish colony growth in a single environmental isolate of A. fumigatus, Af5517, when compared to other clinical and environmental isolates. Af5517 also exhibited increased hyphal diameter and cell wall β-glucan and chitin content, with chitin most significantly increased. Morbidity, mortality, lung fungal burden, and tissue pathology were decreased in neutropenic Af5517-infected mice when compared to the clinical isolate Af293. Our results support previous findings that suggest a correlation between in vitro growth rates and in vivo virulence, and we propose that changes in cell wall composition may contribute to this phenotype.
无处不在的真菌病原体烟曲霉是易感个体中过敏致敏和侵袭性疾病的介质。临床和环境分离株之间以及它们之间存在显著的遗传和表型变异性，这是烟曲霉介导疾病的宿主-病原体研究中的重要考虑因素。与其他临床和环境分离株相比，我们观察到单一环境分离株 Af5517 的径向生长、发芽率和建立菌落生长的能力下降。Af5517 还表现出菌丝直径增加和细胞壁β-葡聚糖和几丁质含量增加，其中几丁质增加最为明显。与临床分离株 Af293 相比，中性粒细胞减少的 Af5517 感染小鼠的发病率、死亡率、肺部真菌负荷和组织病理学均降低。我们的结果支持先前的研究结果，表明体外生长速率与体内毒力之间存在相关性，我们提出细胞壁组成的变化可能导致这种表型。
