{"title":"Agricultural practices and biological characteristics as determinants of the prevalence of human pathogens A. fumigatus sensu stricto and A. udagawae.","authors":"Freddy Villanueva-Cotrina, Guillermo García-Effron, Soledad Gamarra, Julieta Mariana Rojas, Heli Barron-Pastor, Melina Lorenzini, Gustavo Giusiano","doi":"10.1093/mmy/myaf046","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Aspergillus section Fumigati (ASF) comprise saprophytic moulds that naturally inhabit a wide range of biomes including cultivated soils where climatic factors and agricultural practices can influence the composition of fungal communities. A. fumigatus sensu stricto is the leading cause of invasive aspergillosis in immunocompromised individuals, but closely related species have also emerged as important pathogens. We analyzed 29 soil samples (13 from orchards and 16 from conventional agricultural soils) collected at different times and seasons. Interestingly, the 48 ASF strains isolated matched to only two species, typified as A. fumigatus sensu stricto (28) and A. udagawae (20). Significant differences in the prevalence of both species were observed. A higher recovery of A. fumigatus sensu stricto was obtained in spring and A. udagawae in summer and winter. Considering the agricultural production system, A. fumigatus sensu stricto was more prevalent in agroecological orchards and A. udagawae in conventional agricultural soils. Our results suggest that the presence of only these two species may be attributed to their distinctive biological characteristics and the climatic conditions prevailing in the study area. While the prevalence of A. fumigatus sensu stricto in agroecological orchards and A. udagawae in conventional agriculture, may be a result of the ecological impact of agricultural production systems. Our study provides empirical evidence in support of a potential model whereby the presence and distribution of ASF species in agricultural soils may be driven by two key factors: their biological characteristics and the use of agrochemical compounds for crop production.</p>","PeriodicalId":18586,"journal":{"name":"Medical mycology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7000,"publicationDate":"2025-05-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Medical mycology","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1093/mmy/myaf046","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"INFECTIOUS DISEASES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Aspergillus section Fumigati (ASF) comprise saprophytic moulds that naturally inhabit a wide range of biomes including cultivated soils where climatic factors and agricultural practices can influence the composition of fungal communities. A. fumigatus sensu stricto is the leading cause of invasive aspergillosis in immunocompromised individuals, but closely related species have also emerged as important pathogens. We analyzed 29 soil samples (13 from orchards and 16 from conventional agricultural soils) collected at different times and seasons. Interestingly, the 48 ASF strains isolated matched to only two species, typified as A. fumigatus sensu stricto (28) and A. udagawae (20). Significant differences in the prevalence of both species were observed. A higher recovery of A. fumigatus sensu stricto was obtained in spring and A. udagawae in summer and winter. Considering the agricultural production system, A. fumigatus sensu stricto was more prevalent in agroecological orchards and A. udagawae in conventional agricultural soils. Our results suggest that the presence of only these two species may be attributed to their distinctive biological characteristics and the climatic conditions prevailing in the study area. While the prevalence of A. fumigatus sensu stricto in agroecological orchards and A. udagawae in conventional agriculture, may be a result of the ecological impact of agricultural production systems. Our study provides empirical evidence in support of a potential model whereby the presence and distribution of ASF species in agricultural soils may be driven by two key factors: their biological characteristics and the use of agrochemical compounds for crop production.
期刊介绍:
Medical Mycology is a peer-reviewed international journal that focuses on original and innovative basic and applied studies, as well as learned reviews on all aspects of medical, veterinary and environmental mycology as related to disease. The objective is to present the highest quality scientific reports from throughout the world on divergent topics. These topics include the phylogeny of fungal pathogens, epidemiology and public health mycology themes, new approaches in the diagnosis and treatment of mycoses including clinical trials and guidelines, pharmacology and antifungal susceptibilities, changes in taxonomy, description of new or unusual fungi associated with human or animal disease, immunology of fungal infections, vaccinology for prevention of fungal infections, pathogenesis and virulence, and the molecular biology of pathogenic fungi in vitro and in vivo, including genomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics, and proteomics. Case reports are no longer accepted. In addition, studies of natural products showing inhibitory activity against pathogenic fungi are not accepted without chemical characterization and identification of the compounds responsible for the inhibitory activity.