Disease relevance of Alternaria

• Composition of tobaccos from countries with high and low incidences of lung cancer. I. Selenium, polonium-210, Alternaria, tar, and nicotine [1].
• Chlorophyllase 1 (encoded by AtCLH1) of Arabidopsis thaliana is quickly induced after tissue damage (e.g., caused by the bacterial necrotroph Erwinia carotovora or the necrotrophic fungus Alternaria brassicicola) [2].
• Ethyl acetate extracts of five Alternaria isolates and one Fusarium isolate were mutagenic for Salmonella typhimurium strains [3].
• Toxicity of the Alternaria metabolites alternariol, alternariol methyl ether, altenuene, and tenuazonic acid in the chicken embryo assay [4].
• RESULTS: Of 43 asthma/rhinitis patients having an Alternaria CAP score > 2, a high percentage (93%) had both IgE and IgG ab to Alt a 1, emphasizing its importance as a major allergen [5].

High impact information on Alternaria

• Response of long-running Alternaria alternata infection to fluconazole [6].
• In addition, the expression of HDA19 was induced by wounding, the pathogen Alternaria brassicicola, and the plant hormones jasmonic acid and ethylene [7].
• The phytoalexin deficient 3 (pad3) mutation, which causes a defect in camalexin production, has no effect on resistance to P. syringae but compromises resistance to the fungal pathogen Alternaria brassicicola [8].
• Inoculation of wild-type Arabidopsis plants with the fungus Alternaria brassicicola led to a marked increase in production of jasmonic acid, and this response was not blocked in the ein2-1 mutant [9].
• Tentoxin, a natural cyclic tetrapeptide produced by phytopathogenic fungi from the Alternaria species affects the catalytic function of the chloroplast F(1)-ATPase in certain sensitive species of plants [10].

Chemical compound and disease context of Alternaria

• Washed and resuspended cells were exposed for 20 minutes at 37 C with whole reconstituted freeze-dried preparations of Aspergillus fumigatus, Alternaria tenuis, and Ambrosia elatior, fungal extracts of Aspergillus fumigatus, Alternaria tenuis, and Micropolyspora faeni; A23187; and compound 48/80 [11].
• In this study, the mutagenic effects of nitrosylation were examined with the major Alternaria metabolites Altenuene (ALT), Alternariol (AOH), Alternariol Monomethyl Ether (AME), Altertoxin I (ATX I), Tentoxin (TENT), Tenuazonic Acid (TA), and Radicinin (RAD) using the Ames Salmonella strains TA98 and TA100 [12].
• A case of onychomycosis caused by Alternaria alternata treated with itraconazole is reported [13].
• Chloroform extracts of 4 out of 10 isolates of Alternaria solani grown on potato dextrose broth showed some toxicity to chick embryos [14].

Biological context of Alternaria

• Fumonisins and Alternaria alternata lycopersici toxins: sphinganine analog mycotoxins induce apoptosis in monkey kidney cells [15].
• Fusarium moniliforme toxins (fumonisins) and Alternaria alternata lycopersici (AAL) toxins are members of a new class of sphinganine analog mycotoxins that occur widely in the food chain [15].
• 7. Inhalation of Alternaria tenuis aerosol elicited an acute bronchoconstriction, followed 24 hours later by an increased responsiveness to inhaled histamine and pulmonary neutrophil and eosinophil recruitment [16].
• Using the environmental exposure system that we developed, littermate New Zealand White rabbits, neonatally immunized to either Alternaria tenuis or house dust mite antigen were exposed 2 h daily, from within 24 h of birth until 3 months of age, to either 4 ppm nitrogen dioxide (NO2), or 5 ppm sulphur dioxide (SO2) or ambient air [17].
• The fungal disease resistance locus Alternaria stem canker (Asc) in tomato has been suggested to encode the enzyme aspartate carbamoyltransferase (ACTase) [18].

Anatomical context of Alternaria

• Data presented in this study suggest that mast cells and other target cells in the nasal mucosa of children with allergic rhinitis produce pharmacologically active mediators, such as LTC4, during natural exposure to ragweed or Alternaria [19].
• 7. Inhalation of Alternaria tenuis aerosol elicits an acute bronchoconstriction, followed 24 h later by an increased responsiveness to inhaled histamine and pulmonary neutrophil and eosinophil recruitment in the immunized rabbit [20].
• Human leukocyte histamine release assays with whole ragweed and Alternaria antigens using Technicon autoanalyzer II [21].
• We have assessed the effect of sensitization to allergen on airway smooth muscle responsiveness and acetylcholine (ACh) release from cholinergic nerves in tracheal preparations from rabbits immunized at birth to Alternaria tenuis and littermate control rabbits injected with saline [22].
• The effects of an extract of the saprophytic mold, Alternaria tenuis (AT-CE) on the humoral response to a ragweed allergen extract (DWSR), ovalbumin and sheep red blood cells (SRBC) was investigated in female Wistar rats [23].

Associations of Alternaria with chemical compounds

• Destruxin B is the major phytotoxin produced by the blackspot-causing fungus, Alternaria brassicae (Berkley) Saccardo [24].
• Changes in the expression patterns of 2,375 selected genes were examined simultaneously by cDNA microarray analysis in Arabidopsis thaliana after inoculation with an incompatible fungal pathogen Alternaria brassicicola or treatment with the defense-related signaling molecules salicylic acid (SA), methyl jasmonate (MJ), or ethylene [25].
• A longevity assurance gene homolog of tomato mediates resistance to Alternaria alternata f. sp. lycopersici toxins and fumonisin B1 [26].
• Conventional breeding of safflower for resistance to the Alternaria blight disease has failed, and in situ detoxification of brefeldin A is a novel approach for the protection of field-grown safflower plants from the blight disease [27].
• Spore germination increases allergen release from Alternaria [28].

Gene context of Alternaria

• RESULTS: PBMCs from approximately 90% of the patients with CRS, but not those from normal individuals, produced both IL-5 and IL-13 when exposed to Alternaria [29].
• Furthermore, PBMCs from patients with CRS produced significantly more IFN-gamma than PBMCs from normal individuals in response to Alternaria (median, 553 pg/mL vs 98 pg/mL; P < .01) [29].
• Here we show that the transgenic potato plants that carry a constitutively active form of MAPK kinase driven by a pathogen-inducible promoter of potato showed high resistance to early blight pathogen Alternaria solani as well as P. infestans [30].
• The Asc locus for resistance to Alternaria stem canker in tomato does not encode the enzyme aspartate carbamoyltransferase [18].
• The HDAC activities of the fungi Alternaria brassicicola and Diheterospora chlamydosporia, which also make HDAC inhibitors, were resistant [31].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of Alternaria

• Skin tests indicated that over 90% of patients hypersensitive to Alternaria crude extracts were also hypersensitive to the basic allergen fraction [32].
• Molecular cloning of a major Alternaria alternata allergen, rAlt a 2 [33].
• Spore and mycelial allergens of two species of Alternaria (A. brassicicola and A. alternata) extracted under two different conditions were analyzed by radiorocket immunoelectrophoresis, crossed radioimmunoelectrophoresis, and Western blotting with a pool of sera from Alternaria-allergic patients [34].
• Allergen release was determined with the Halogen (Inhalix, Sydney, Australia) immunoassay, by use of serum IgE from Alternaria -sensitized subjects and 3 Alt a 1-specific antibodies [28].
• Rocket immunoelectrophoresis and autoradiography (using a 2 X concentrated, IgE serum fraction from Alternaria patient sera and 125I-anti human IgE), a RAST inhibition assay, and skin testing of Alternaria-sensitive patients were used to demonstrate the allergenicity of this fraction [32].

References