Global collection of mushroom pathogens

In many places in the world, increasingly less chemical crop protection agents are available for use in mushroom cultivation. As a consequence, mushroom cultivation will loose the ability to use crop protection agents. As a consequence, good hygiene management, early detection and monitoring of pathogens (diagnostics), alternative crop protection agents and disease resistant mushroom varieties have to play an important role. The number of researchers in several mushroom producing countries is decreasing already for a number of years. For an effective use of research funds, international collaboration on topics of mutual interest is important. At the workshop of the Global Mushroom Disease Diagnostic Initiative, held in 2008 just before the ISMS conference in Cape Town, it was decided to try and build a collection of reference pathogen strains for the white button mushroom diseases present world wide. This collection will play a vital role in the development of diagnostic methods for mushroom diseases. This project was funded in part by the ISMS and in part by the Dutch Horticultural Board

Combining in vitro protein detection and in vivo antibody detection identifies potential vaccine targets against Staphylococcus aureus during osteomyelitis

Currently, little is known about the in vivo human immune response against Staphylococcus aureus during a biofilm-associated infection, such as osteomyelitis, and how this relates to protein production in biofilms in vitro. Therefore, we characterized IgG responses in 10 patients with chronic osteomyelitis against 50 proteins of S. aureus, analyzed the presence of these proteins in biofilms of the infecting isolates on polystyrene (PS) and human bone in vitro, and explored the relation between in vivo and in vitro data. IgG levels against 15 different proteins were significantly increased in patients compared to healthy controls. Using a novel competitive Luminex-based assay, eight of these proteins [alpha toxin, Staphylococcus aureus formyl peptide receptor-like 1 inhibitor (FlipR), glucosaminidase, iron-responsive surface determinants A and H, the putative ABC transporter SACOL0688, staphylococcal complement inhibitor (SCIN), and serine–aspartate repeat-containing protein E (SdrE)] were also detected in a majority of the infecting isolates during biofilm formation in vitro. However, 4 other proteins were detected in only a minority of isolates in vitro while, vice versa, 7 proteins were detected in multiple isolates in vitro but not associated with significantly increased IgG levels in patients. Detection of proteins was largely confirmed using a transcriptomic approach. Our data provide further insights into potential therapeutic targets, such as for vaccination, to reduce S. aureus virulence and biofilm formation. At the same time, our data suggest that either in vitro or immunological in vivo data alone should be interpreted cautiously and that combined studies are necessary to identify potential targets

Stammen identificeren met vingerafdrukken

PPO-databank met stammencollectie wordt middels genetische fingerprint geidentificeert op soortechthei

Genotyping and evaluation of Pleurotus ostreatus (oyster mushroom) strains

Oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus) represent one of the most popular mushroom species grown in Indonesia. There is a need for strains that are better adapted to the climate conditions at Java, where most mushrooms in Indonesia are produced. Strains that can produce mushrooms at 22 to 28 oC and have a good yield and quality would improve the profit of mushroom growers substantially. In order to find strains that can be used for Indonesian growing conditions a large number of available strains were genetically examined