Survey of viable airborne fungal propagules in French wine cellars

A study was carried out of the viable airbornemycological flora of 12 wine cellars in the Arboisregion in France. Results show that there wereconsiderable variations in the quantities ofpropagules: from 57 to 2547 CFU m^–3. There was arelatively large number of species (48), which aremore frequently recovered from certain cellar types.The most common were Cladosporium sphaerospermum,Aspergillus versicolor, A. restrictus, Penicilliumglabrum, P. dierckxii, P. implicatum and P.brevicompactum. So the risk of allergies subsequentto inhalation of large quantities of spores is farfrom minimal.     

Screening fungi for synthesis of keratinolytic enzymes

Almost 300 common fungi were screened for synthesis of extracellular keratinases. About 54% of the fungi grew on agar plates with soluble keratin and excreted the enzymes. Some representatives of Fusarium , Acremonium and Geotrichum were the most active. However, when cultivating the promising strains in submerged conditions in a medium with porcine nail as the sole source of carbon and nitrogen, other fungi proved to be potent. Aspergillus flavus was the most powerful producer of extracellular keratinases, followed by Alternaria radicina , Trichurus spiralis and Stachybotrys atra.     

Aquaporins are multifunctional water and solute transporters highly divergent in living organisms

Aquaporins (AQPs) are ubiquitous membrane proteins whose identification, pioneered by Peter Agre's team in the early nineties, provided a molecular basis for transmembrane water transport, which was previously thought to occur only by free diffusion. AQPs are members of the Major Intrinsic Protein (MIP) family and often referred to as water channels. In mammals and plants they are present in almost all organs and tissues and their function is mostly associated to water molecule movement. However, recent studies have pointed out a wider range of substrates for these proteins as well as complex regulation levels and pathways. Although their relative abundance in plants and mammals makes it difficult to investigate the role of a particular AQP, the use of knock-out and mutagenesis techniques is now bringing important clues regarding the direct implication of specific AQPs in animal pathologies or plant deficiencies. The present paper gives an overview about AQP structure, function and regulation in a broad range of living organisms. Emphasis will be given on plant AQPs where the high number and diversity of these transport proteins, together with some emerging aspects of their functionalities, make them behave more like multifunctional, highly adapted channels rather than simple water pores.     

Production of melanin bleaching enzyme of fungal origin and its application in cosmetics

We screened wild fungal isolates for melanolytic activity and found thatSporotrichum pruinosum was the most promising of the very limited number of fungi that decolourised synthetic melanin. We used a submerged aerobic process to produce a skin depigmentation enzyme by this strain, and found that in the medium the presence of Mn²⁺ ions was necessary, the limitation of carbon source was beneficial, and Zn²⁺ ions were inhibitory. Cultivation in a stirred bioreactor required immobilization of mycelium and use of low stirring velocity. A partially purified enzyme was prepared and tested for depigmentation of human skin corneocytes and whole epidermis of phototypes III and V. This is the first study demonstrating the effective enzymatic degradation of the skin melanin rather than inhibition of its synthesis. This opens the possibility of using melanolytic enzymes in cosmetic skin lightening.