Mycoceros antennatissimus gen. et sp. nov.: a mitosporic fungus capturing pollen grains

Mycoceros antennatissimus gen. et sp. nov. is described and illustrated from pollen grains deposited on the bark of Elaeagnus angustifolia and Platanus × acerifolia in Hungary. This fungus is shown to capture pollen grains by its three-dimensional shape. It clearly shows seasonality and appears to be rare. The following factors determine its ecological niche: (1) the availability of fresh Pinaceae pollen grains deposited from the air on the bark of a nearby standing angiosperm tree with (2) water-retaining spongious bark, and (3) rainy weather. Conidia are mainly dispersed by stemflow rainwater, while they hardly become airborne. Direct polymerase chain reaction (PCR) from single conidia made it possible to perform molecular phylogenetic investigation in order to clarify its taxonomic relationship within the Ascomycota

Higher airborne pollen concentrations correlated with increased SARS-CoV-2 infection rates, as evidenced from 31 countries across the globe

Pollen exposure weakens the immunity against certain seasonal respiratory viruses by diminishing the antiviral interferon response. Here we investigate whether the same applies to the pandemic severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which is sensitive to antiviral interferons, if infection waves coincide with high airborne pollen concentrations. Our original hypothesis was that more airborne pollen would lead to increases in infection rates. To examine this, we performed a cross-sectional and longitudinal data analysis on SARS-CoV-2 infection, airborne pollen, and meteorological factors. Our dataset is the most comprehensive, largest possible worldwide from 130 stations, across 31 countries and five continents. To explicitly investigate the effects of social contact, we additionally considered population density of each study area, as well as lockdown effects, in all possible combinations: without any lockdown, with mixed lockdown−no lockdown regime, and under complete lockdown. We found that airborne pollen, sometimes in synergy with humidity and temperature, explained, on average, 44% of the infection rate variability. Infection rates increased after higher pollen concentrations most frequently during the four previous days. Without lockdown, an increase of pollen abundance by 100 pollen/m3 resulted in a 4% average increase of infection rates. Lockdown halved infection rates under similar pollen concentrations. As there can be no preventive measures against airborne pollen exposure, we suggest wide dissemination of pollen−virus coexposure dire effect information to encourage high-risk individuals to wear particle filter masks during high springtime pollen concentrations