International Society of Human and Animal Mycology (ISHAM)-ITS reference DNA barcoding database - the quality controlled standard tool for routine identification of human and animal pathogenic fungi

Human and animal fungal pathogens are a growing threat worldwide leading to emerging infections and creating new risks for established ones. There is a growing need for a rapid and accurate identification of pathogens to enable early diagnosis and targeted antifungal therapy. Morphological and biochemical identification methods are time-consuming and require trained experts. Alternatively, molecular methods, such as DNA barcoding, a powerful and easy tool for rapid monophasic identification, offer a practical approach for species identification and less demanding in terms of taxonomical expertise. However, its wide-spread use is still limited by a lack of quality-controlled reference databases and the evolving recognition and definition of new fungal species/complexes. An international consortium of medical mycology laboratories was formed aiming to establish a quality controlled ITS database under the umbrella of the ISHAM working group on "DNA barcoding of human and animal pathogenic fungi." A new database, containing 2800 ITS sequences representing 421 fungal species, providing the medical community with a freely accessible tool at http://www.isham.org and http://its.mycologylab.org/ to rapidly and reliably identify most agents of mycoses, was established. The generated sequences included in the new database were used to evaluate the variation and overall utility of the ITS region for the identification of pathogenic fungi at intra-and interspecies level. The average intraspecies variation ranged from 0 to 2.25%. This highlighted selected pathogenic fungal species, such as the dermatophytes and emerging yeast, for which additional molecular methods/genetic markers are required for their reliable identification from clinical and veterinary specimens.This study was supported by an National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (NH&MRC) grant [#APP1031952] to W Meyer, S Chen, V Robert, and D Ellis; CNPq [350338/2000-0] and FAPERJ [E-26/103.157/2011] grants to RM Zancope-Oliveira; CNPq [308011/2010-4] and FAPESP [2007/08575-1] Fundacao de Amparo Pesquisa do Estado de So Paulo (FAPESP) grants to AL Colombo; PEst-OE/BIA/UI4050/2014 from Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT) to C Pais; the Belgian Science Policy Office (Belspo) to BCCM/IHEM; the MEXBOL program of CONACyT-Mexico, [ref. number: 1228961 to ML Taylor and [122481] to C Toriello; the Institut Pasteur and Institut de Veil le Sanitaire to F Dromer and D Garcia-Hermoso; and the grants from the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPq) and the Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Goias (FAPEG) to CM de Almeida Soares and JA Parente Rocha. I Arthur would like to thank G Cherian, A Higgins and the staff of the Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory, Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Path West, QEII Medial Centre. Dromer would like to thank for the technical help of the sequencing facility and specifically that of I, Diancourt, A-S Delannoy-Vieillard, J-M Thiberge (Genotyping of Pathogens and Public Health, Institut Pasteur). RM Zancope-Oliveira would like to thank the Genomic/DNA Sequencing Platform at Fundacao Oswaldo Cruz-PDTIS/FIOCRUZ [RPT01A], Brazil for the sequencing. B Robbertse and CL Schoch acknowledge support from the Intramural Research Program of the NIH, National Library of Medicine. T Sorrell's work is funded by the NH&MRC of Australia; she is a Sydney Medical School Foundation Fellow.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Fluorimetric determination of iron using 5-(4-methoxyphenylazo)-8-(4-toluenesulfonamido)quinoline

A highly sensitive and relatively interference-free fluorimetric method for the determination of iron(III) is described. The method is based on the reaction between iron(III) and 5-(4-methoxyphenylazo)-8- (4-toluenesulfonamido)quinoline in the presence of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide. The fluorescence intensity (ex = 317 nm, em = 534 nm) is linear up to 3 µM (170 ng ml–1) iron(III) in aqueous solution with a repeatability (RSD) of 3.2% at a concentration of 180 nM (10 ng ml–1) and a detection limit (3s) of 2 nM (0.12 ng ml–1). The influence of reaction variables and the effect of interfering ions are reported. The proposed procedure was applied to the determination of trace amounts of iron(III) and total iron in tap water, canal water and wine samples without the need for preconcentration, pre-separation or organic solvent extractio

Anion control of the formation of geometric isomers in a triple helical array

The amide-substituted unsymmetrical ligand L1 upon coordination to Co2+ forms the dinuclear triple helicate [Co2(L1)3]4+ which exists as both possible C1 and C3 symmetric geometric isomers in solution, however, upon addition of nitrate ions, the formation of an anion binding cavity is favoured and hence the sole product is the C3 symmetric isomer in which all three amide substituents are hydrogen bonded to the nitrate anion

Anion control of ligand self-recognition in a triple helical array

Self-assembly of the ligand L1 with Co2+ into a dinuclear triple helicate [Co2(L1)3]4+ produces an anion binding pocket which encapsulates perchlorate anions. Furthermore we demonstrate how this ability to bind anions can control ligand self-recognition properties