1
|
Cosio T, Pica F, Fontana C, Pistoia ES, Favaro M, Valsecchi I, Zarabian N, Campione E, Botterel F, Gaziano R. Stephanoascus ciferrii Complex: The Current State of Infections and Drug Resistance in Humans. J Fungi (Basel) 2024; 10:294. [PMID: 38667965 PMCID: PMC11050938 DOI: 10.3390/jof10040294] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2024] [Revised: 03/12/2024] [Accepted: 04/15/2024] [Indexed: 04/28/2024] Open
Abstract
In recent years, the incidence of fungal infections in humans has increased dramatically, accompanied by an expansion in the number of species implicated as etiological agents, especially environmental fungi never involved before in human infection. Among fungal pathogens, Candida species are the most common opportunistic fungi that can cause local and systemic infections, especially in immunocompromised individuals. Candida albicans (C. albicans) is the most common causative agent of mucosal and healthcare-associated systemic infections. However, during recent decades, there has been a worrying increase in the number of emerging multi-drug-resistant non-albicans Candida (NAC) species, i.e., C. glabrata, C. parapsilosis, C. tropicalis, C. krusei, C. auris, and C. ciferrii. In particular, Candida ciferrii, also known as Stephanoascus ciferrii or Trichomonascus ciferrii, is a heterothallic ascomycete yeast-like fungus that has received attention in recent decades as a cause of local and systemic fungal diseases. Today, the new definition of the S. ciferrii complex, which consists of S. ciferrii, Candida allociferrii, and Candida mucifera, was proposed after sequencing the 18S rRNA gene. Currently, the S. ciferrii complex is mostly associated with non-severe ear and eye infections, although a few cases of severe candidemia have been reported in immunocompromised individuals. Low susceptibility to currently available antifungal drugs is a rising concern, especially in NAC species. In this regard, a high rate of resistance to azoles and more recently also to echinocandins has emerged in the S. ciferrii complex. This review focuses on epidemiological, biological, and clinical aspects of the S. ciferrii complex, including its pathogenicity and drug resistance.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Terenzio Cosio
- Department of Experimental Medicine, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Via Montpellier 1, 00133 Rome, Italy; (F.P.); (E.S.P.); (M.F.); (R.G.)
- Dermatology Unit, Department of Systems Medicine, Tor Vergata University Hospital, 00133 Rome, Italy;
| | - Francesca Pica
- Department of Experimental Medicine, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Via Montpellier 1, 00133 Rome, Italy; (F.P.); (E.S.P.); (M.F.); (R.G.)
| | - Carla Fontana
- Laboratory of Microbiology and BioBank, National Institute for Infectious Diseases “Lazzaro Spallanzani” I.R.C.C.S., 00149 Rome, Italy;
| | - Enrico Salvatore Pistoia
- Department of Experimental Medicine, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Via Montpellier 1, 00133 Rome, Italy; (F.P.); (E.S.P.); (M.F.); (R.G.)
| | - Marco Favaro
- Department of Experimental Medicine, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Via Montpellier 1, 00133 Rome, Italy; (F.P.); (E.S.P.); (M.F.); (R.G.)
| | - Isabel Valsecchi
- DYNAMYC 7380, Faculté de Santé, Université Paris-Est Créteil (UPEC), 94010 Créteil, France; (I.V.); (F.B.)
| | - Nikkia Zarabian
- School of Medicine and Health Sciences, George Washington University, 2300 I St NW, Washington, DC 20052, USA
| | - Elena Campione
- Dermatology Unit, Department of Systems Medicine, Tor Vergata University Hospital, 00133 Rome, Italy;
| | - Françoise Botterel
- DYNAMYC 7380, Faculté de Santé, Université Paris-Est Créteil (UPEC), 94010 Créteil, France; (I.V.); (F.B.)
| | - Roberta Gaziano
- Department of Experimental Medicine, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Via Montpellier 1, 00133 Rome, Italy; (F.P.); (E.S.P.); (M.F.); (R.G.)
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Imagining Kant's theory of scientific knowledge: philosophy and education in microbiology. INTERNATIONAL MICROBIOLOGY : THE OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE SPANISH SOCIETY FOR MICROBIOLOGY 2022:10.1007/s10123-022-00315-z. [PMID: 36562899 PMCID: PMC10397139 DOI: 10.1007/s10123-022-00315-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2022] [Revised: 12/14/2022] [Accepted: 12/15/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
In the field of observational and experimental natural sciences (as is the case for microbiology), recent decades have been overinfluenced by overwhelming technological advances, and the space of abstraction has been frequently disdained. However, the predictable future of biological sciences should necessarily recover the synthetic dimension of "natural philosophy." We should understand the nature of Microbiology as Science, and we should educate microbiology scientists in the process of thinking. The critical process of thinking "knowing what we can know" is entirely based on Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. However, this book is extremely difficult to read (even for Kant himself) and almost inaccessible to modern experimental natural scientists. Professional philosophers might have been able to explain Kant to scientists; unfortunately, however, they do not get involved this type of education for science. The intention of this review is to introduce natural scientists, particularly microbiologists and evolutionary biologists, to the main rigorous processes (aesthetics, analytics, dialectics) that Kant identified to gain access to knowledge, always a partial knowledge, given that the correspondence between truth and reality is necessarily incomplete. This goal is attempted by producing a number of "images" (figures) to help the non-expert reader grasp the essential of Kant's message and by making final observations paralleling the theory of scientific knowledge with biological evolutionary processes and the role of evolutionary epistemology in science education. Finally, the influence of Kant's postulates in key-fields of microbiology, from taxonomy to systems biology is discussed.
Collapse
|
3
|
Baquero F, Martínez JL, F. Lanza V, Rodríguez-Beltrán J, Galán JC, San Millán A, Cantón R, Coque TM. Evolutionary Pathways and Trajectories in Antibiotic Resistance. Clin Microbiol Rev 2021; 34:e0005019. [PMID: 34190572 PMCID: PMC8404696 DOI: 10.1128/cmr.00050-19] [Citation(s) in RCA: 66] [Impact Index Per Article: 22.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Evolution is the hallmark of life. Descriptions of the evolution of microorganisms have provided a wealth of information, but knowledge regarding "what happened" has precluded a deeper understanding of "how" evolution has proceeded, as in the case of antimicrobial resistance. The difficulty in answering the "how" question lies in the multihierarchical dimensions of evolutionary processes, nested in complex networks, encompassing all units of selection, from genes to communities and ecosystems. At the simplest ontological level (as resistance genes), evolution proceeds by random (mutation and drift) and directional (natural selection) processes; however, sequential pathways of adaptive variation can occasionally be observed, and under fixed circumstances (particular fitness landscapes), evolution is predictable. At the highest level (such as that of plasmids, clones, species, microbiotas), the systems' degrees of freedom increase dramatically, related to the variable dispersal, fragmentation, relatedness, or coalescence of bacterial populations, depending on heterogeneous and changing niches and selective gradients in complex environments. Evolutionary trajectories of antibiotic resistance find their way in these changing landscapes subjected to random variations, becoming highly entropic and therefore unpredictable. However, experimental, phylogenetic, and ecogenetic analyses reveal preferential frequented paths (highways) where antibiotic resistance flows and propagates, allowing some understanding of evolutionary dynamics, modeling and designing interventions. Studies on antibiotic resistance have an applied aspect in improving individual health, One Health, and Global Health, as well as an academic value for understanding evolution. Most importantly, they have a heuristic significance as a model to reduce the negative influence of anthropogenic effects on the environment.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- F. Baquero
- Department of Microbiology, Ramón y Cajal University Hospital, Ramón y Cajal Institute for Health Research (IRYCIS), Network Center for Research in Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), Madrid, Spain
| | - J. L. Martínez
- National Center for Biotechnology (CNB-CSIC), Madrid, Spain
| | - V. F. Lanza
- Department of Microbiology, Ramón y Cajal University Hospital, Ramón y Cajal Institute for Health Research (IRYCIS), Network Center for Research in Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), Madrid, Spain
- Central Bioinformatics Unit, Ramón y Cajal Institute for Health Research (IRYCIS), Madrid, Spain
| | - J. Rodríguez-Beltrán
- Department of Microbiology, Ramón y Cajal University Hospital, Ramón y Cajal Institute for Health Research (IRYCIS), Network Center for Research in Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), Madrid, Spain
| | - J. C. Galán
- Department of Microbiology, Ramón y Cajal University Hospital, Ramón y Cajal Institute for Health Research (IRYCIS), Network Center for Research in Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), Madrid, Spain
| | - A. San Millán
- National Center for Biotechnology (CNB-CSIC), Madrid, Spain
| | - R. Cantón
- Department of Microbiology, Ramón y Cajal University Hospital, Ramón y Cajal Institute for Health Research (IRYCIS), Network Center for Research in Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), Madrid, Spain
| | - T. M. Coque
- Department of Microbiology, Ramón y Cajal University Hospital, Ramón y Cajal Institute for Health Research (IRYCIS), Network Center for Research in Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), Madrid, Spain
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Abstract
Transmission is a basic process in biology that can be analyzed in accordance with information theory. A sender or transmitter located in a particular patch of space is the source of the transmitted object, the message. A receiver patch interacts to receive the message. The "messages" that are transmitted between patches (eventually located in different hierarchical biological levels) are "meaningful" biological entities (biosemiotics). cis-acting transmission occurs when unenclosed patches acting as emitter and receiver entities of the same hierarchical level are linked (frequently by a vehicle) across an unfit space; trans-acting transmission occurs between biological individuals of different hierarchical levels, embedded within a close external common limit. To understand the causal frame of transmission events, we analyze the ultimate, but most importantly also the proximate, causes of transmission. These include the repelling, centrifugal "forces" influencing the transmission (emigration) and the attractive, centripetal "energies" involved in the reception (immigration). As transmission is a key process in evolution, creating both genetic-embedded complexity-diversity (trans-acting transmission, as introgression), and exposure to novel and alternative patches-environments (cis-acting transmission, as migration), the causal frame of transmission shows the cis-evolutionary and trans-evolutionary dimensions of evolution.
Collapse
|
5
|
Raoult D, Koonin EV. Microbial genomics challenge Darwin. Front Cell Infect Microbiol 2012; 2:127. [PMID: 23091803 PMCID: PMC3469792 DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2012.00127] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2012] [Accepted: 09/26/2012] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Didier Raoult
- Unité de Recherche sur les Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales Emergentes, Faculté de Médecine, CNRS UMR 6236, IRD 198, Aix Marseille UniversitéMarseille, France
- *Correspondence:
| | - Eugene V. Koonin
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of MedicineBethesda, MD, USA
| |
Collapse
|