 |
|
|
|
|
|
 Introduction
Human
Veterinary
Environmental
Industrial
Agricultural
MSG
Introduction
Medical
Veterinary
Environmental
Industrial
Agricultural
Introduction
Susceptibility
MIC Database
Procedures
Histopathology
Introduction
Abbreviations
Links
CME
Conference
Highlights
Bibliography
Glossary
Good Books
Events Calendar
Introduction
Our Mission
Editorial Board
Editorial Staff
Supporters
Contributors
Legal Stuff
Privacy Policy
Kudos
Introduction
Descriptions
Synonyms
Image Bank
Lecture Bank
Video Bank
This page updated:
1/27/2007 9:23:00 AM
DoctorFungus - All Rights Reserved
© 2007 Copyright
& Privacy Policy
Site built and designed for doctorfungus by Webillustrated
|
 |
 |
|
|
You are here:
The Fungi
> Descriptions >
|
Syncephalastrum spp.
described by Schröter in
1886
|  |
Kingdom: Fungi
Phylum: Zygomycota
Class: Zygomycetes
Order: Mucorales
Family: Syncephalastraceae
Genus: Syncephalastrum
Syncephalastrum is a filamentous fungus that is commonly isolated from soil and animal feces particularly in tropical and subtropical areas. It is a heterothallic fungus and requires a mating strain to produce zygospores. Syncephalastrum is commonly considered as a contaminant. It is very rarely associated with human disease.
The genus Syncephalastrum contains a single species; Syncephalastrum racemosum. See the summary of synonyms and obselete names for the Syncephalastrum spp.
Syncephalastrum is a very rare causative agent of human zygomycosis [1918]. It has so far been isolated in cases of cutaneous infection [531] and otomycosis.
Colonies of Syncephalastrum grow very rapidly and fill the petri dish or culture tube. Maximum growth temperature is 40°C. The texture is wooly to cotton candy-like. From the front, the color is white initially and turns to dark gray to black in time. Reverse is pale or yellowish-brown [531, 1295, 2144, 2202].
Broad (4-8 µm in diameter), nonseptate or sparsely septate hyphae, sporangiophores, merosporangia (finger-shaped, tubular sporangia), (mero)sporangiospores (=merospores), and rhizoids are visualized. Septation of the hyphae is mostly observed as the culture gets old. Sporangiophores are frequently branched and rather short. They end up in a vesicle (80 µm in diameter). Around this vesicle are the merosporangia (4-6 x 9-60 µm), which are filled with linear series (chains) of sporangiospores. Each merosporangium contains a single row of 3-18 merosporangiospores. Merosporangiospores (3-7 µm, may rarely reach 10 µm in diameter) are one-celled and spherical to cylindrical in shape [531, 1295, 2144, 2202].
Zygospores, when produced, are black, spherical, and 50-90 µm in diameter. They have conical projections [531].
Aseptate or sparsely septate hyphae may be observed. See also our histopathology page.
Aspergillus
Cunninghamella
Syncephalastrum differs from Aspergillus by the presence of merosporangia and absence of phialides.
No special precautions other than general laboratory precautions are required.
Very limited data are available. Amphotericin B, ketoconazole, and itraconazole MICs are low while those of voriconazole are relatively high for isolates of Syncephalastrum racemosum [2432]. Terbinafine and naftifine have no meaningful in vitro activity against Syncephalastrum [2308].
For MICs of various antifungal drugs for Syncephalastrum racemosum, see our susceptibility database.
PubMed
GenBank
|
Syncephalastrum racemosum
|
|
|
References
531. de Hoog, G. S., J. Guarro, J. Gene, and M. J. Figueras. 2000. Atlas of Clinical Fungi, 2nd ed, vol. 1. Centraalbureau voor Schimmelcultures, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
1295. Larone, D. H. 1995. Medically Important Fungi - A Guide to Identification, 3rd ed. ASM Press, Washington, D.C.
1918. Ribes, J. A., C. L. Vanover-Sams, and D. J. Baker. 2000. Zygomycetes in human disease. Clin Microbiol Rev. 13:236-301.
2144. St-Germain, G., and R. Summerbell. 1996. Identifying Filamentous Fungi - A Clinical Laboratory Handbook, 1st ed. Star Publishing Company, Belmont, California.
2202. Sutton, D. A., A. W. Fothergill, and M. G. Rinaldi (ed.). 1998. Guide to Clinically Significant Fungi, 1st ed. Williams & Wilkins, Baltimore.
2308. Venugopal, P. V., and T. V. Venugopal. 1994. Antifungal activity of allylamine derivatives. Indian J Med Res. 99:71-3.
2432. Wildfeuer, A., H. P. Seidl, I. Paule, and A. Haberreiter. 1998. In vitro evaluation of voriconazole against clinical isolates of yeasts, moulds and dermatophytes in comparison with itraconazole, ketoconazole, amphotericin B and griseofulvin. Mycoses. 41:309-319.
|
|
|
 |
 |
Home |
Image Bank |
Lecture Bank |
Knowledgebase |
Site Map |
Contact Us |
The Fungi |
Mycoses |
Drugs |
Laboratory |
Education & Tools |
About Us
|
|
|
|