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Different types of pots and growing and casing media, including biodegradable materials, are used for plant and mushroom production. The fungus Peziza ostracoderma has gained attention for its visible growth on growing media for plants and casing media for mushrooms. Through a review of the literature we aim to evaluate whether exposure to fungi from recyclable pots and different growing and casing media occurs and causes occupational health effects. Based on the published papers, specific fungal species were not related to a specific medium. Thus P. ostracoderma has been found on paper pots, peat, sterilized soil, vermiculite, and rockwool with plants, and on peat, pumice, and paper casing for mushrooms. It has been found in high concentrations in the air in mushroom farms. Also Acremonium spp., Aspergillus niger, A. fumigatus, Athelia turficola, Aureobasidium pullulans, Chaetomium globosum, Chrysonilia sitophila, Cladosporium spp., Cryptostroma corticale, Lecanicillium aphanocladii, Sporothrix schenckii, Stachybotrys chartarum, and Trichoderma spp. have been found on different types of growing or casing media. Most of the fungi have also been found in the air in greenhouses, but the knowledge about airborne fungal species in mushroom farms is very limited. Eight publications describe cases of health effects associated directly with exposure to fungi from pots or growing or casing media. These include cases of hypersensitivity pneumonitis caused by exposure to: A. fumigatus, A. niger, Au. pullulans, Cr. corticale, P. ostracoderma, and a mixture of fungi growing on different media. Different approaches have been used to avoid growth of saprophytes including: chemical fungicides, the formulation of biodegradable pots and growing media and types of peat. To increase the sustainability of growing media different types of media are tested for their use and with the present study we highlight the importance of also considering the occupational health of the growers who may be exposed to fungi from the media and pots., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The fungal clock, especially that in Neurospora crassa , is composed of several proteins, notably FRQ, WC-1, and WC-2, which interact at the protein level and at the level of transcription. It is shown here that regions of the FRQ that are highly conserved in many fungal species show significant similarity to regions of proteins found in the amoebae Capsaspora and Acanthamoebae. These 2 amoebae were specifically explored because they have been suggested, based on extensive evidence, to be related to precursors of the modern fungi. Those proteins in Capsaspora/Acanthamoebae with some similarity to FRQ are LARP (an RNA-binding protein), ARNT (which has a PAS motif), and heat shock factor (HSF). These regions of LARP and HSF that show similarity to FRQ are highly conserved between plants, animals, and amoeba. This suggests that these regions were present at the time of the divergence of plants, fungi, insects, and animals, and therefore, they could be plausible precursors to regions of the fungal FRQ. These particular regions of FRQ that show similarity to LARP and HSF are also of functional significance since mutations in these regions of the Neurospora FRQ led to changes in the rhythm. The FRQ proteins from 13 different species of fungi were analyzed via motif analysis (MEME), and 11 different motifs were found. This provides some understanding as to the minimum requirements for an FRQ protein. Many of these FRQ motifs can be matched up with known domains in FRQ. In addition, these 13 different species of fungi were screened for the presence/absence of 7 additional genes/proteins that play some role in fungal clocks.

The regulation of metabolism by circadian systems is believed to be a key reason for the extensive representation of circadian rhythms within the tree of life. Despite this, surprisingly little work has focused on the link between metabolism and the clock in Neurospora, a key model system in circadian research. The analysis that has been performed has focused on the unidirectional control from the clock to metabolism and largely ignored the feedback from metabolism on the clock. Recent efforts to understand these links have broken new ground, revealing bidirectional control from the clock to metabolism and vise-versa, showing just how strongly interconnected these two cellular systems can be in fungi. This review describes both well understood and emerging links between the clock and metabolic output of fungi as well as the role that metabolism plays in influencing the rhythm set by the clock., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Fungi are ideal model organisms for dissecting the genomic bases of adaptive divergence in eukaryotes. They have simple morphologies and small genomes, occupy contrasting, well-identified ecological niches and tend to have short generation times, and many are amenable to experimental approaches. Fungi also display diverse lifestyles, from saprotrophs to pathogens or mutualists, and they play extremely important roles in both ecosystems and human activities, as wood decayers, mycorrhizal fungi, lichens, endophytes, plant and animal pathogens, and in fermentation or drug production. We review here recent insights into the patterns and mechanisms of adaptive divergence in fungi, including sources of divergence, genomic variation and, ultimately, speciation. We outline the various ecological sources of divergent selection and genomic changes, showing that gene loss and changes in gene expression and in genomic architecture are important adaptation processes, in addition to the more widely recognized processes of amino acid substitution and gene duplication. We also review recent findings regarding the interspecific acquisition of genomic variation and suggesting an important role for introgression, hybridization and horizontal gene transfers (HGTs). We show that transposable elements can mediate several of these genomic changes, thus constituting important factors for adaptation. Finally, we review the consequences of divergent selection in terms of speciation, arguing that genetic incompatibilities may not be as widespread as generally thought and that pleiotropy between adaptation and reproductive isolation is an important route of speciation in fungal pathogens., (© 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Sexual reproduction is ubiquitous throughout the eukaryotic kingdom, but the capacity of pathogenic fungi to undergo sexual reproduction has been a matter of intense debate. Pathogenic fungi maintained a complement of conserved meiotic genes but the populations appeared to be clonally derived. This debate was resolved first with the discovery of an extant sexual cycle and then unisexual reproduction. Unisexual reproduction is a distinct form of homothallism that dispenses with the requirement for an opposite mating type. Pathogenic and nonpathogenic fungi previously thought to be asexual are able to undergo robust unisexual reproduction. We review here recent advances in our understanding of the genetic and molecular basis of unisexual reproduction throughout fungi and the impact of unisex on the ecology and genomic evolution of fungal species., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Eisenberg, M. A. (Columbia University, New York, N.Y.). Biotin biosynthesis. I. Biotin yields and biotin vitamers in cultures of Phycomyces blakesleeanus. J. Bacteriol. 86:673-680. 1963.-The addition of pimelic acid to a well-aerated medium resulted in a 10- to 12-fold increase in the biotin production of Phycomyces blakesleeanus. Azelaic acid also stimulated biotin production, but not to the same extent as did pimelic acid. A number of biotin analogues were found to be inactive. Further enhancement of the biotin yield could not be attained by replacing glucose and aspargine by other carbon and nitrogen sources. Replacement cultures, however, proved to be equally as effective as growing cultures under the same conditions. The omission of trace elements reduced the growth and biotin production. The "true" biotin was affected to a greater extent than the "total" biotin. Zinc and iron proved to be the essential trace metals. In the absence of zinc, both the growth and the total biotin production were markedly reduced. The omission of iron affected primarily the biotin production. P. blakesleeanus produces biotin, desthiobiotin, biotin-d-sulfoxide, biocytin, and an unknown biotin vitamer. The latter has been identified as an amino acid by electrophoretic analysis. It is avidin-uncombinable, and does not support the growth of Lactobacillus arabinosus (L. plantarum) or Neurospora crassa.