New insights concerning the occurrence of fungi in water sources and their potential pathogenicity

Fungi are known to occur ubiquitously in the environment. In the past years, the occurrence of filamentous fungi in the aquatic environment has been a subject of growing interest. This study describes the occurrence of various fungal genera in different drinking water sources being Penicillium and Trichoderma the most representative ones (30% and 17%, respectively). Also, 24 fungal species that have not been previously described in the aquatic environment are reported in this study, being once again the major species from the Penicillium genera. This study therefore contributes to the knowledge on the richness of fungi diversity in water. 68% of the described species were found to be able to grow at 30°C but only Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus viridinutans and Cunninghamella bertholletiae were able to grow at the higher temperature tested (42°C). 66% of the species that were able to grow at 30°C have spore sizes below 5μm which enables them to cause breathing infections. These were therefore identified as potential pathogenic species. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd

Sustainable production of nanoemulsions by membrane-assisted nanoemulsification using novel aroma-based hydrophobic deep eutectic solvents for enhanced antifungal activities

Hydrophobic deep eutectic solvents (DESs), a recent class of green solvents, offer 100% atom economy, low cost, potential biodegradability, negligible toxicity and promising bioactivities. In this work, novel aroma-based therapeutic hydrophobic DESs were prepared and dispersed in aqueous media as nanoemulsions to potentiate biomedical applications, where polar media is encountered. A reusable microengineered stainless-steel isoporous membrane was fabricated by laser drilling technique. Three hydrophobic DESs, namely DES A (menthol and vanillin), DES B (menthol and raspberry ketone), and DES C (thymol and raspberry ketone) were prepared and emulsified in aqueous media by sustainable membrane emulsification technique. The optimised nanoemulsion (DES C-in-water) exhibited a monomodal size distribution with Zavg (size average) of 147 nm and polydispersity index of 0.22. From the application perspective, the formulated DES-in-water nanoemulsions and their constituents were evaluated for their antibacterial properties against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. Additionally, antifungal properties of the DES-based emulsions were reported for the first time by testing them against four fungal strains, Aspergillus fumigatus, Candida albicans, Candida krusei, and Trichophyton mentagrophytes. The nanoemulsions were found to be exhibit antimicrobial effect and lesser quantities of individual compounds were needed in nanoemulsified state to show similar effects. Different 1D and 2D NMR techniques were successfully used to investigate the structural orientation and the inter and intramolecular interactions in the DES and emulsion systems, which revealed a probable cause for higher antimicrobial activity of DES C-based emulsions compared to its peers. Lastly, a synergistic effect of the components in nanoemulsions led to enhanced antimicrobial activities

Quantitative proteomic analysis of ibuprofen-degrading Patulibacter sp. strain I11

Ibuprofen is the third most consumed pharmaceutical drug in the world. Several isolates have been shown to degrade ibuprofen, but very little is known about the biochemistry of this process. This study investigates the degradation of ibuprofen by Patulibacter sp. strain I11 by quantitative proteomics using a metabolic labelling strategy. The whole-genome of Patulibacter sp. strain I11 was sequenced to provide a species-specific protein platform for optimal protein identification. The bacterial proteomes of actively ibuprofen-degrading cells and cells grown in the absence of ibuprofen was identified and quantified by gel based shotgun-proteomics. In total 251 unique proteins were quantitated using this approach. Biological process and pathway analysis indicated a number of proteins that were up-regulated in response to active degradation of ibuprofen, some of them are known to be involved in the degradation of aromatic compounds. Data analysis revealed that several of these proteins are likely involved in ibuprofen degradation by Patulibacter sp. strain I11