Twenty-four yeast strains were isolated from ephemeral flowers of Ipomoea spp. and Datura sp. and their associated insects in the Galápagos Archipelago, Ecuador, and from Ipomoea spp. and associated insects in the Cameron Highlands, Malaysia. Sequences of the D1/D2 domains of the large subunit rRNA gene indicated that these strains belong to a novel yeast species of the Kodamaea clade, although the formation of ascospores was not observed. The closest relative is Candida restingae. The human-mediated dispersion of this species by transpacific contacts in ancient times is suggested. The name Kodamaea transpacifica f.a., sp. nov. is proposed to accommodate these isolates. The type strain is CLQCA-24i-070(T) ( = CBS 12823(T) = NCYC 3852(T)); MycoBank number MB 803609.
A novel species, Metschnikowia orientalis sp. nov., is described for haploid, heterothallic yeasts isolated from nitidulid beetles sampled in flowers in Rarotonga in the Cook Islands, and the Cameron Highlands of Malaysia. As evidenced by analysis of D1/D2 large subunit rDNA sequences, the species is related to Candida hawaiiana, to which it is similar in growth responses. Cylindrical, conjugated asci and acicular ascospores of moderate size are formed. Rudimentary mating reactions were observed with Metschnikowia aberdeeniae and Metschnikowia continentalis, but not with C. hawaiiana. The type strain of M. orientalis is UWOPS 99-745.6(T) (h(+)) (=CBS 10331(T)=NRRL Y-27991(T)) and the designated allotype is UWOPS 05-269.1 (h(-)) (=CBS 10330=NRRL Y-27992).
Kodamaea ohmeri is a rare opportunistic pathogen belonging to Saccharomycetes family. This yeast was also formerly known as Yamadazyma ohmeri or Pichia ohmeri . This opportunistic pathogen causes illness that typically affects people with impaired immune system. In this report, we discuss a fatal case involving a woman in her late 30s who was admitted to the hospital on the sixth day of her sickness after being given a COVID-19 Category 5A diagnosis. For COVID-19, she received subcutaneous heparin, cefuroxime, and intravenous corticosteroids. She was diagnosed with secondary bacterial and fungal infections in the ICU. Multiple antibiotics and antifungal were given to treat bacterial and fungal infections. An unusual fungus, Kodamaea ohmeri , was isolated from the clinical sample. On day 36, she succumbed to her infection in the ICU. The cause of death was multidrug-resistant sepsis with multiple organ failures due to COVID-19 infection, worsened by an embolism and trachea damage during a tracheostomy. To effectively manage K. ohmeri , clinicians and microbiologists must identify and be aware of this emerging human opportunistic pathogen, which can co-infect debilitated patients such as COVID-19 patients, for effective management.
Plants are primary source of natural product drugs. However, with every new bioactive molecule reported from a plant source, there follows reports of endangered status or even extinction of a medicinally important plant due to over-harvesting. Hence, the attention turned towards fungi namely the endophytes, which reside within medicinally important plants and thus may have acquired their medicinal properties. Strobilanthes crispus is a traditional medicinal plant which has been used traditionally to treat kidney stones, diabetes, hypertension and cancer as well as having antimicrobial activities. In our efforts to bioprospect for anticancer and antimicrobial metabolites, two fungal endophytes most closely related to the Sordariomycetes sp. showed promising results. Sample (PDA)BL3 showed highest significant antimicrobial activity against 6 bacteria at 200 µg/disc whereas sample (PDA)BL5 has highest significant anticancer activity against all 5 cancer cell lines at concentrations ranging from 30 to 300 μg/ml. As for the gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS) results, a total of 20 volatile metabolites identified from sample (PDA)BL3 and 21 volatile metabolites identified from sample (PDA)BL5 having more than 1% abundance. Both GC-MS analysis showed that compound Pyrrolo[1,2-a]pyrazine-1,4-dione, hexahydro-3-(2-methylpropyl) has the highest abundance at 15.10% abundance for sample (PDA)BL3 and 19.00% abundance for sample (PDA)BL5 respectively. In conclusion, these results have shown bio-prospecting potential of endophytic fungi having antimicrobial and anticancer activities as well as its potential secondary metabolites of interest. Therefore, this work has further indicated the medicinal and industrial potential of endophytic fungi.