Kraken in popular culture

Although fictional and the subject of myth, the legend of the kraken continues to the present day, with numerous references existing in film, literature, television, and other popular culture topics.
Comics.
In various comics, particularly DC and Marvel Comics, multiple creatures have been named Kraken.
The Kraken from "The Umbrella Academy" was named so after the kraken (sea monster) as he has the ability to breathe under water.
In the Disney comic series "Tamers of Nonhuman Threats", the Kraken appears in the fifth story, "Let's Get Kraken". In this story, the Kraken has a natural enemy, the sperm whale.
The kraken is an aquatic monster that has appeared in many comics publications.
A Kraken was featured in the story "The Kraken" in issue #49 of "Adventures into the Unknown" by ACG in 1953.
"Champion Comics" #5 (March 1940, Harvey Comics), "Monster Hunters" #10 (Oct. 1977, Charlton Comics), "Indiana Jones and the Sargasso Pirates" #2 (Jan. 1996, Dark Horse Comics), and the Japanese comic, "One Piece (ワンピース Wan Pīsu)" #62 (November 15, 2010, Shueisha) all featured versions of the Kraken.
Two one-shot publications featured characters bearing the name: a villain called "Dr. Kraken" in Web-Man #1 (1993, "Argosy Communications Inc.") and a hero called Diego Hargreeves with the alias "Kraken" in Umbrella Academy #1 (2007, Dark Horse Comics). 2000 AD #583, (July 1988, Fleetway Publications) also featured the debut of a character called Judge Kraken. In Japanese comics, a servant of Poseidon and one of the main antagonists of the second saga of the Saint Seiya manga series. He was called Kraken Isaac (クラーケンのアイザック, Kurāken no Aizakku) - a former childhood friend and fellow saint trainee of main character Cygnus Hyoga -, and debuted in volume 16, published in 1989 by Shueisha.
The web comic "Angry Faerie" (from July 13, 2012), featured a bodybuilder type character called the Kraken.
A Kraken (dispatched by the God Poseidon) appears in the Avatar Press comic "God is Dead" #48.
A Kraken (depicted as a huge tentacled reptilian monstrosity) is sent to attack the heroes in "Grimm Fairy Tales" #123 and #124.
A Kraken appears in "Broken Moon: Legends of the Deep" #1 by American Gothic Press.
A character called "Kid Kraken" appeared in the Dynamite Comics series "The Green Hornet 66' meets The Spirit".
DC Comics.
Three versions appeared during the Golden Age of Comic Books: the first in "Adventure Comics" #56 (Nov. 1940), a second, land-based version existing on the planet Venus in "Flash Comics" #81 (March 1947) and a third variation capable of speech that claimed to be the actual Kraken from ancient folklore who battled the hero Captain Marvel in "Whiz Comics" #155 (June 1953).
Two versions appeared during the Silver Age of Comic Books: a giant octopus encountered by the Challengers of the Unknown in "Showcase" #12 (Jan.-Feb 1958), and the second being a giant squid summoned by the hero Aquaman in "Aquaman" #34 (July-Aug. 1967). "Wonder Woman" #247 (Sept. 1978) and #289 (March 1982) featured additional versions, and in "Wonder Woman" vol. 2 #75 (June 1993) the character encountered a version complete with tiara in a dream dimension. In "Aquaman" #1,000,000 (Nov. 1998), the eponymous hero of the title encounters one of the "Krakens of Vexjor", a race of huge tentacled reptilian sea monsters that inhabit Earth's oceans in the 853rd Century. Wonder Woman and Aquaman also encounter a young Kraken in Issue #1 (Aug. 2011, DC Comics) of the limited series "Flashpoint: Wonder Woman and the Furies."
In the 2016 series "DC Bombshells", King Nereus took the form of a Kraken to battle the heroines of the story. He's eventually dispatched by Aqua-Woman.
Marvel Comics.
Two types of "Krakens" appear in the world of Marvel Comics, one based on the sea monster and the second as a costumed identity used by several individuals. The former first appeared "The Avengers" #27 (April 1966, Marvel Comics), and several variations of it have appeared in Marvel continuity since. The latter is used as the codename for a high-ranking member of HYDRA, with Daniel Whitehall and Jake Fury having assumed the identity throughout Marvel Comics' run.


Yramea cytheris

Yramea cytheris is a species of butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It was first described by Dru Drury in 1773 from the Falkland Islands. In some systems it is included in genus "Issoria".
Description.
Upperside: head, eyes, thorax, and abdomen dark brown. Anterior wings brown orange, with a number of small black spots thereon (not less than twenty) of various shapes and sizes. Next to the body these wings are darker and pilose (covered with fine hair). Posterior wings are the same colour as the superior, and spotted with many small black spots of different shapes dispersed all over the wings; they are also darker next to the body and hairy.
Underside: palpi reddish. Anterior wings sandy orange coloured, rather paler than the upperside. Near the tips is a white streak placed next the anterior margin, and close thereto is a cloud of a dark red. Most of the small black spots are seen on this side, but less distinctly. Posterior wings dark red, with several faint clouds. A narrow white streak, about a quarter of an inch (6 mm) in length, is placed near the middle of each of these wings; and another much shorter is placed on the anterior edge, near the upper corner. All the wings are entire.
Wingspan inches (32 mm).


Gyroporus phaeocyanescens

Gyroporus phaeocyanescens is a species of bolete fungus in the family Gyroporaceae. It was described as new to science in 1983 from collections made in Belize.


Alicyclobacillus disulfidooxidans

Alicyclobacillus disulfidooxidans (formerly "Sulfobacillus disulfidooxidansis") a species of Gram positive, strictly aerobic, bacterium. The bacteria are acidophilic and produced endospores. It was first isolated from waterwater sludge in Blake Lake City, Quebec, Canada. The species was first identified in 1996, but was classified as "Sulfobacillus disulfidooxidansis". It was reclassified as "Alicyclobacillus" in 2005. The name is derived from the Latin "duplus" (double), "sulfur" (sulfur), and "oxido" (oxidize), referring to the bacterium's ability to oxidize disulfide.
"A. disulfidooxidans" was reclassified to "Alicyclobacillus" along with a strain of "Sulfobacillus thermosulfidooxidans" subsp. "thermotolerans", which was classified as "Alicyclobacillus tolerans".
The optimum growth temperature for "A. disulfidooxidans" is 35 °C, and can grow in the 4-40 °C range. The optimum pH is 1.5-2.5, and can grow in pH 0.5-6.0.


Agaricus litoralis

Agaricus litoralis, also known as the coastal mushroom, is a species of mushroom in the genus "Agaricus". It was first described by Wakefield and A. Pearson as "Psalliota litoralis" in 1946.
It occurs throughout Europe including Scandinavia and Great Britain. While it may be quite common locally, such as on Öland island, it is rarely found in most areas except for southern Europe. Its conservation status in Sweden is "near threatened".
Description.
"A. litoralis" is a white or grey-white mushroom with a compact cap that may reach a width of up to . The cap is often depressed when older and rests of the annulus may occur on the outer rim. While rose-coloured at a young age, the gills become dark brown as the mushroom grows older. The stem is tall and wide. It is often remarkably shorter than the cap is wide. The spores are dark brown and egg-shaped. The mushroom is saprotrophic, i.e. it feeds on decaying matter. It prefers herbaceous dry grasslands, heaths and steppe.


Acetobacterium carbinolicum

Acetobacterium carbinolicum is a homoacetogenic, strictly anaerobic bacterium that oxidises primary aliphatic alcohols.
These Gram-positive, non-spore-forming and rod-shaped bacteria grow at optimal temperatures of about 30°C, but some subspecies are also psychrotolerant, being able to grow at a minimum temperature of 2°C, as the microorganisms belonging to the subspecies "A. carbinolicum kysingense", which have been isolated from fine sand and mud sedimented in a brackish fjord in Jutland, Denmark, where concentrations of sodium chloride (NaCl) in water are up to 4.3%.


Guttaviridae

Guttaviridae is a family of viruses. "Sulfolobus newzealandicus" serve as natural hosts. There are currently only two species in this family, divided among two genera. The name is derived from the Latin "gutta", meaning 'droplet'.
Taxonomy.
Group: dsDNA
Structure.
Viruses in the family "Guttaviridae" are enveloped. The diameter is around 70–95 nm, with a length of 110–185 nm. Genomes are circular, around 20kb in length. The virons consist of a coat, a core, a nucleocapsid, and projecting fibers at the pointed end. The surface of the virion has a beehive-like ribbed surface pattern with protrusions that are densely covered by a 'beard' of long fibers at its pointed end. The genome is extremely heavily methylated.
Life cycle.
DNA-templated transcription is the method of transcription. "Sulfolobus newzealandicus" serve as the natural host.


Dikaryon

The dikaryon is a nuclear feature which is unique to certain fungi. (The green alga "Derbesia" has been long considered an exception, until the heterokaryotic hypothesis was challenged by later studies.) Compatible cell-types can fuse cytoplasms (plasmogamy). When this occurs, the two nuclei of two cells pair off and cohabit without fusing (karyogamy). This can be maintained for all the cells of the hyphae by synchronously dividing so that pairs are passed to newer cells. In the Ascomycota this attribute is most often found in the ascogenous hyphae and ascocarp while the bulk of the mycelium remains monokaryotic. In the Basidiomycota this is the dominant phase, with most Basidiomycota monokaryons weakly growing and short-lived.
The formation of a dikaryon is a plesiomorphic character for the subkingdom Dikarya, which consists of the Basidiomycota and the Ascomycota. The formation of croziers in the Ascomycota and of clamp connections in the Basidiomycota facilitates maintenance of the dikaryons. However, some fungi in each of these phyla have evolved other methods for maintaining the dikaryons, and therefore neither croziers nor clamp connections are ubiquitous in either phylum.
Etymology.
The name "dikaryon" comes from the Greek "δι- (di-)" meaning "two" and "κάρυον (karyon)" meaning "nut", referring to the cell nucleus.


Hymenula

Hymenula is a genus of fungi with unknown classification.
The genus has cosmopolitan distribution.
Species.
Species:


Sedoreovirinae

Sedoreovirinae ("sedo" = smooth) is a subfamily of the "Reoviridae" family of viruses. Viruses in this subfamily are distinguished by the absence of a turreted protein on the inner capsid to produce a smooth surface.
Characteristics.
Like other members of the "Reoviridae" family, viruses of the "Sedoreovirinae" subfamily are made of naked, icosahedral capsids containing 10-12 segments of linear double-stranded RNA (dsRNA). The Baltimore System of viral classification categorizes "Reoviridae" in Group III.
Importance.
Viruses classified in the "Sedoreovirinae" subfamily infect a wide range of plants and animals, including some that can infect humans. There is not only the potential of a few of these viruses to cause human disease, but also to reduce the supply of crops and livestock.
Viruses.
Genus "Cardoreovirus".
"Eriocheir sinensis reovirus" was isolated out of a Chinese mitten crab ("Eriocheir sinensis"). No currently known associated disease.
Genus "Mimoreovirus".
"Microsomonas pusilla reovirus" was isolated from the marine protist "Micromonas pusilla"
Genus "Orbivirus".
Arboviruses containing dsRNA are placed in this genus. Some "Orbivirus" infect livestock with high rates of morbidity and mortality.
Includes: "Bluetongue virus, African horse sickness virus, Epizootic hemorrhagic disease virus", among others.
Genus "Phytoreovirus".
Known phytoreoviruses are plant pathogens causing dwarfism and the formation of tumors.
Included: "Rice dwarf virus", "Rice gall dwarf virus", and "Wound tumor virus".
Genus "Rotavirus".
"Rotavirus A-E" cause infantile gastroenteritis in humans and farm animals.
Genus "Seadornavirus".
Many known "Seadornaviruses" cause encephalitis in humans.
Included: "Banna virus", "Kadipiro virus", and "Liao ning virus".


Sphingomonas gei

Sphingomonas gei is a Gram-negative, strictly aerobic and motile bacteria from the genus of Sphingomonas with a single polar flagellum which has been isolated from roots of the plant Geum aleppicum from the Mount Taibai in the Shaanxi Province in China.


Montagnea arenaria

Montagnea arenaria is a species of secotioid fungus in the family Agaricaceae. Originally named "Agaricus arenarius" by Augustin Pyramus de Candolle in 1815, it was transferred to the genus "Montagnea" by Sanford Myron Zeller in 1943. The species is characterized by a cap that has an apical disc, radial gills, a hymenophore, and spores with a prominent germ pore. It is inedible.


Lignicolous lichen

A lignocolous lichen is a lichen that grows on wood that has the bark stripped from it. This is to be compared to a corticolous lichen that grows on bark, and saxicolous lichens that grow on rock.


Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure

Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure is a 2009 American computer-animated comedy direct to video adventure film directed by Klay Hall (in his feature directorial debut) and the second installment in the "Disney Fairies" franchise. Produced by DisneyToon Studios, it was animated by Prana Studios, and revolves around Tinker Bell, a fairy character created by J. M. Barrie in his 1904 play "Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up", and featured in subsequent adaptations, especially in Disney's animated works. It was released on Blu-ray and DVD by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on October 27, 2009.
The film was followed by more direct-to-video films: "Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue", "Secret of the Wings", "The Pirate Fairy" and "Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast".
Plot.
The nature-talent fairies are bringing Autumn to the mainland. Meanwhile, in Pixie Hollow, Tinker Bell is working on a new invention to help her friend Terence (who harbors romantic feelings for her), but is summoned to meet Queen Clarion, Fairy Mary, and the Minister of Autumn. They show her a mystical moonstone and explain that every eight years, during the Autumn revelry, a blue harvest moon appears. Its light passes through the moonstone and creates blue-colored pixie dust which rejuvenates the pixie dust tree. Tink is assigned to create a ceremonial scepter to hold the moonstone.
Tinker Bell asks Terence to be her assistant, but as work on the scepter progresses, she becomes progressively annoyed at his overeager efforts. When asked to go find something sharp, Terence brings a compass to her workshop, irritating Tink, not bothering to look inside to see the sharp arrow. She bumps the compass, causing it to roll over and crush her newly completed scepter. Tink blames and lashes out at Terence and, after he leaves, her furious antics result in the compass accidentally smashing the moonstone as well.
At the theatre, Tinker Bell learns about a magic mirror, which, according to legend, granted two of three wishes before becoming lost. Tink sets out in a balloon, intending to use the mirror’s third and last wish to repair the moonstone.
While trying to evade a hungry bat, a green firefly named Blaze crash lands into Tinker Bell's balloon, and a reluctant Tink allows him to accompany her. As they journey on, Tink thinks she has stumbled upon the stone arch that is said to lead way to the mirror. She leaves the balloon to get a closer look and leaves Blaze to watch it. However, the balloon’s anchoring gives way and it flies off. Tink and Blaze attempt to chase it, but the harsh winds knock them down.
Tinker Bell awakens the next morning and, with the help of some friendly insects, she and Blaze are lead to the real stone arch. After evading two dim-witted trolls, they find the shipwreck where the mirror is. When Tink finally discovers the mirror, Blaze’s buzzing annoys her and she unwittingly wishes for Blaze to be quiet for a minute, wasting the third wish. Tink blames Blaze for distracting her, but then realizing that her temper is what had gotten her in trouble in the first place, she apologizes and breaks down crying, wishing that she could make up with Terence. She is then found by Terence, who has been following her after discovering her plans, even finding her lost balloon on the way. The three of them escape the ship after being chased by rats.
On the way back to Pixie Hollow, Tinker Bell fixes the scepter by assembling the mirror, pieces of the original scepter that Terence has brought, and the sharp compass arrow. The balloon lands in the middle of the revelry and Tink unveils the scepter, which has been set with fragments of the shattered moonstone and a gem from the mirror’s handle, to the horror of the assembled fairies. The mirror’s gem refracts the blue moon’s light into the individual moonstone pieces, creating an enormous amount of blue pixie dust. Overjoyed, Tinker Bell and Terence, join everyone in a procession to take the blue pixie dust to the pixie dust tree.
Voice cast.
The voice actors and actresses are largely the same as in the previous film. America Ferrera did not return to voice Fawn and was replaced by newcomer Angela Bartys.
Production.
Because the film takes place in the cooler weather of autumn, costume design for Tinker Bell called for a more realistic outfit. Designers added a long-sleeve shirt, shawl, leggings and boots to her costume. Said director Klay Hall, "In the earlier films, she wears her iconic little green dress. However, it being fall and there being crispness in the air, in addition to this being an adventure movie, her dress just wouldn't work".
Music.
The score to the film was composed by Joel McNeely, who scored the first Tinker Bell film. He recorded the music with an 82-piece ensemble of the Hollywood Studio Symphony and Celtic violin soloist Máiréad Nesbitt at the Sony Scoring Stage.
Gift of a Friend.
"Gift of a Friend" was released as a soundtrack single on December 16, 2009. There is currently a music video for the single. It is performed by Demi Lovato and also appears on her second studio album "Here We Go Again".
Soundtrack.
The soundtrack was released on September 22, 2009 and contains songs from and inspired by the film. The soundtrack also contains "Fly to Your Heart" from the first film. "Gift of a Friend" by Demi Lovato was released as a promotional single of the soundtrack.
Japanese singer Ayumi Hamasaki's song "You Were..." was chosen as the theme song for the Japanese-language version of the movie.
Score.
Intrada Records released an album of Joel McNeely's score on February 2, 2015 through the label's co-branding arrangement with Walt Disney Records. Unlike the first movie, none of McNeely's score has been previously released.
Release.
The film premiered at the United Nations Headquarters on October 25, 2009. Kiyotaka Akasaka, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, named Tinker Bell the "honorary Ambassador of Green" to help promote environmental awareness among children.
The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray by Walt Disney Home Video in the United States on October 27, 2009. and in the United Kingdom on November 16, 2009. It debuted on the Disney Channel on November 29, 2009. In its first two months of release, DVD sales brought in about $50 million in revenue for 3.25 million units sold.
Video game.
Disney Fairies: Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure is an adventure game for the Nintendo DS. Like the previous game, the player plays as Tinker Bell in a free-roaming Pixie Hollow, using the touch screen to maneuver the character, move to other maps and play various minigames. The player must, for example, touch an arrow on the screen to move to another map or characters to speak to them. The touch screen is used in the item repair minigames as well. For example, the player must trace the pattern of a groove to clear it or rub the item to clean stains. The DS microphone is used to create wind to loosen leaves and petals or blow dust from an item being repaired. The highest rank on 'Tinker bell' is Champion of the Craft.
Different gameplay mechanics can also be acquired in-game, which require specific use of the touch screen. These include:
Also present in the game is a "Friendship Meter", which serves as an indicator to measure the player's relationship with other characters. It can be filled by presenting the respective character with their favorite item, accomplishing tasks or even simply speaking to them. The meter can also be depleted, however, by not speaking to the character for extended periods of time, giving an unwanted gift or missing a repair deadline.
Features:
Other media.
A 32-page interactive digital children's book was released by Disney Digital Books in September 2009.
Additional sequels.
Four additional sequels titled "Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue", "Pixie Hollow Games", "Secret of the Wings", and "The Pirate Fairy" have all been released, while one additional sequel "Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast", was released in Spring 2015.


David Schiel

David Schiel is a marine ecologist and biologist from New Zealand. He is currently a Distinguished Professor of University of Canterbury.


Mold

A mold () or mould () is a fungus that grows in the form of multicellular filaments called "hyphae". In contrast, fungi that can adopt a single-celled growth habit are called yeasts.
Molds are a large and taxonomically diverse number of fungal species in which the growth of hyphae results in discoloration and a fuzzy appearance, especially on food. The network of these tubular branching hyphae, called a mycelium, is considered a single organism. The hyphae are generally transparent, so the mycelium appears like very fine, fluffy white threads over the surface. Cross-walls (septa) may delimit connected compartments along the hyphae, each containing one or multiple, genetically identical nuclei. The dusty texture of many molds is caused by profuse production of asexual spores (conidia) formed by differentiation at the ends of hyphae. The mode of formation and shape of these spores is traditionally used to classify molds. Many of these spores are colored, making the fungus much more obvious to the human eye at this stage in its life-cycle.
Molds are considered to be microbes and do not form a specific taxonomic or phylogenetic grouping, but can be found in the divisions Zygomycota and Ascomycota. In the past, most molds were classified within the Deuteromycota. Mold had been used as a common name for now non-fungal groups such as water molds or slime molds that were previously classified as fungi.
Molds cause biodegradation of natural materials, which can be unwanted when it becomes food spoilage or damage to property. They also play important roles in biotechnology and food science in the production of various foods, beverages, antibiotics, pharmaceuticals and enzymes. Some diseases of animals and humans can be caused by certain molds: disease may result from allergic sensitivity to mold spores, from growth of pathogenic molds within the body, or from the effects of ingested or inhaled toxic compounds (mycotoxins) produced by molds.
Biology.
There are thousands of known species of molds, which have diverse life-styles including saprotrophs, mesophiles, psychrophiles and thermophiles and a very few opportunistic pathogens of humans. They all require moisture for growth and some live in aquatic environments. Like all fungi, molds derive energy not through photosynthesis but from the organic matter on which they live, utilising heterotrophy. Typically, molds secrete hydrolytic enzymes, mainly from the hyphal tips. These enzymes degrade complex biopolymers such as starch, cellulose and lignin into simpler substances which can be absorbed by the hyphae. In this way, molds play a major role in causing decomposition of organic material, enabling the recycling of nutrients throughout ecosystems. Many molds also synthesise mycotoxins and siderophores which, together with lytic enzymes, inhibit the growth of competing microorganisms. Molds can also grow on stored food for animals and humans, making the food unpalatable or toxic and are thus a major source of food losses and illness. Many strategies for food preservation (salting, pickling, jams, bottling, freezing, drying) are to prevent or slow mold growth as well as growth of other microbes.
Molds reproduce by producing large numbers of small spores, which may contain a single nucleus or be multinucleate. Mold spores can be asexual (the products of mitosis) or sexual (the products of meiosis); many species can produce both types. Some molds produce small, hydrophobic spores that are adapted for wind dispersal and may remain airborne for long periods; in some the cell walls are darkly pigmented, providing resistance to damage by ultraviolet radiation. Other mold spores have slimy sheaths and are more suited to water dispersal. Mold spores are often spherical or ovoid single cells, but can be multicellular and variously shaped. Spores may cling to clothing or fur; some are able to survive extremes of temperature and pressure.
Although molds can grow on dead organic matter everywhere in nature, their presence is visible to the unaided eye only when they form large colonies. A mold colony does not consist of discrete organisms but is an interconnected network of hyphae called a mycelium. All growth occurs at hyphal tips, with cytoplasm and organelles flowing forwards as the hyphae advance over or through new food sources. Nutrients are absorbed at the hyphal tip. In artificial environments such as buildings, humidity and temperature are often stable enough to foster the growth of mold colonies, commonly seen as a downy or furry coating growing on food or other surfaces.
Few molds can begin growing at temperatures of or below, so food is typically refrigerated at this temperature. When conditions do not enable growth to take place, molds may remain alive in a dormant state depending on the species, within a large range of temperatures. The many different mold species vary enormously in their tolerance to temperature and humidity extremes. Certain molds can survive harsh conditions such as the snow-covered soils of Antarctica, refrigeration, highly acidic solvents, anti-bacterial soap and even petroleum products such as jet fuel.
Xerophilic molds are able to grow in relatively dry, salty, or sugary environments, where water activity (aw) is less than 0.85; other molds need more moisture.
Common molds.
Common genera of molds include:
Food production.
The molds are a group of "Aspergillus" species, notably "Aspergillus oryzae", and secondarily "A. sojae", that have been cultured in eastern Asia for many centuries. They are used to ferment a soybean and wheat mixture to make soybean paste and soy sauce. "Koji" molds break down the starch in rice, barley, sweet potatoes, etc., a process called saccharification, in the production of "sake", "shōchū" and other distilled spirits. "Koji" molds are also used in the preparation of Katsuobushi.
Red rice yeast is a product of the mold "Monascus purpureus" grown on rice, and is common in Asian diets. The yeast contains several compounds collectively known as monacolins, which are known to inhibit cholesterol synthesis. A study has shown that red rice yeast used as a dietary supplement, combined with fish oil and healthy lifestyle changes, may help reduce "bad" cholesterol as effectively as certain commercial statin drugs. Nonetheless, other work has shown it may not be reliable (perhaps due to non-standardization) and even toxic to liver and kidneys.
Some sausages, such as salami, incorporate starter cultures of molds to improve flavour and reduce bacterial spoilage during curing. "Penicillium nalgiovense", for example, may appear as a powdery white coating on some varieties of dry-cured sausage.
Other molds that have been used in food production include:
Pharmaceuticals from molds.
Alexander Fleming's accidental discovery of the antibiotic penicillin involved a "Penicillium" mold called "Penicillium rubrum" (although the species was later established to be "Penicillium rubens"). Fleming continued to investigate Penicillin, showing that it could inhibit various types of bacteria found in infections and other ailments, but he was unable to produce the compound in large enough amounts necessary for production of a medicine. His work was expanded by a team at Oxford University; Clutterbuck, Lovell, and Raistrick, who began to work on the problem in 1931. This team was also unable to produce the pure compound in any large amount, and found that the purification process diminished its effectiveness and negated the anti-bacterial properties it had.
Howard Florey, Ernst Chain, Norman Heatley, Edward Abraham, also all at Oxford, continued the work. They enhanced and developed the concentration technique by using organic solutions rather than water, and created the "Oxford Unit" to measure penicillin concentration within a solution. They managed to purify the solution, increasing its concentration by 45–50 times, but found that a higher concentration was possible. Experiments were conducted and the results published in 1941, though the quantities of Penicillin produced were not always high enough for the treatments required. As this was during the Second World War, Florey sought USA Government involvement. With research teams in the UK and some in the US, industrial-scale production of crystallized penicillin was developed during 1941–1944 by the USDA and by Pfizer.
Several statin cholesterol-lowering drugs (such as lovastatin, from "Aspergillus terreus") are derived from molds.
The immunosuppressant drug cyclosporine, used to suppress the rejection of transplanted organs, is derived from the mold "Tolypocladium inflatum".
Health effects.
Molds are , and mold spores are a common component of household and workplace dust; however, when mold spores are present in large quantities, they can present a health hazard to humans, potentially causing allergic reactions and respiratory problems.
Some molds also produce mycotoxins that can pose serious health risks to humans and animals. Some studies claim that exposure to high levels of mycotoxins can lead to neurological problems and in some cases, death. Prolonged exposure, e.g. daily home exposure, may be particularly harmful. Research on the health impacts of mold has not been conclusive. The term "toxic mold" refers to molds that produce mycotoxins, such as "Stachybotrys chartarum", and not to all molds in general.
Mold in the home can usually be found in damp, dark or steamy areas, e.g. bathrooms, kitchens, cluttered storage areas, recently flooded areas, basement areas, plumbing spaces, areas with poor ventilation and outdoors in humid environments. Symptoms caused by mold allergy are: watery, itchy eyes; a chronic cough; headaches or migraines; difficulty breathing; rashes; tiredness; sinus problems; nasal blockage and frequent sneezing.
Molds can also pose a hazard to human and animal health when they are consumed following the growth of certain mold species in stored food. Some species produce toxic secondary metabolites, collectively termed mycotoxins, including aflatoxins, ochratoxins, fumonisins, trichothecenes, citrinin, and patulin. These toxic properties may be used for the benefit of humans when the toxicity is directed against other organisms; for example, penicillin adversely affects the growth of Gram-positive bacteria (e.g. Clostridium species), certain spirochetes and certain fungi.
Growth in buildings and homes.
Mold growth in buildings generally occurs as fungi colonize porous building materials, such as wood. Many building products commonly incorporate paper, wood products, or solid wood members, such as paper-covered drywall, wood cabinets, and insulation. Interior mold colonization can lead to a variety of health problems as microscopic airborne reproductive spores, analogous to tree pollen, are inhaled by building occupants. High quantities of indoor airborne spores as compared to exterior conditions are strongly suggestive of indoor mold growth. Determination of airborne spore counts is accomplished by way of an air sample, in which a specialized pump with a known flow rate is operated for a known period of time. To account for background levels, air samples should be drawn from the affected area, a control area, and the exterior.
The air sampler pump draws in air and deposits microscopic airborne particles on a culture medium. The medium is cultured in a laboratory and the fungal genus and species are determined by visual microscopic observation. Laboratory results also quantify fungal growth by way of a spore count for comparison among samples. The pump operation time is recorded and when multiplied by pump flow rate results in a specific volume of air obtained. Although a small volume of air is actually analyzed, common laboratory reports extrapolate the spore count data to estimate spores that would be present in a cubic meter of air.
Various practices can be followed to mitigate mold issues in buildings, the most important of which is to reduce moisture levels that can facilitate mold growth. Properly functioning air conditioning (AC) units are essential to controlling levels of indoor airborne fungal spores. Air filtration reduces the number of spores available for germination, especially when a High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filter is used. A properly functioning AC unit also reduces the relative humidity in rooms. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) currently recommends that relative humidity be maintained below 60%, ideally between 30% to 50%, to inhibit mold growth. Considering that fungal growth requires cellulose, plant fiber, as a food source, using building materials that do not contain cellulose is an effective method of preventing fungal growth.
Eliminating the moisture source is the first step at fungal remediation. Removal of affected materials may also be necessary for remediation, if materials are easily replaceable and not part of the load-bearing structure. Professional drying of concealed wall cavities and enclosed spaces such as cabinet toekick spaces may be required. Post-remediation verification of moisture content and fungal growth is required for successful remediation. Many contractors perform post-remediation verification themselves, but property owners may benefit from independent verification.
Use in art.
Various artists have used mold in various artistic fashions. Daniele Del Nero, for example, constructs scale models of houses and office buildings and then induces mold to grow on them, giving them an unsettling, reclaimed-by-nature look. Stacy Levy sandblasts enlarged images of mold onto glass, then allows mold to grow in the crevasses she has made, creating a macro-micro portrait. Sam Taylor-Johnson has made a number of time-lapse films capturing the gradual decay of classically arranged still lifes.


Betanecrovirus

Betanecrovirus is a genus of viruses, in the family "Tombusviridae". Plants serve as natural hosts. There are three species in this genus.
Taxonomy.
The genus contains the following species:
Structure.
Viruses in "Betanecrovirus" are non-enveloped, with icosahedral and spherical geometries, and T=3 symmetry. The diameter is around 28 nm in diameter. Genomes are linear, around 4kb in length.
Life cycle.
Viral replication is cytoplasmic. Entry into the host cell is achieved by penetration into the host cell. Replication follows the positive stranded RNA virus replication model. Positive stranded RNA virus transcription, using the premature termination model of subgenomic RNA transcription is the method of transcription. The virus exits the host cell by tubule-guided viral movement. Plants serve as the natural host. Transmission routes are mechanical, seed borne, and contact.


Kochiomyces

Kochiomyces is a genus of fungi belonging to the family Spizellomycetaceae.
The species of this genus are found in Denmark.
Species:


Lapillicoccus

Lapillicoccus is a genus of Gram positive, nonmotile, non-sporeforming bacteria. The bacteria are strictly aerobic and mesophilic. Cells of the genus are coccoid. The genus name is derived from Latin "lapillus" (a little stone) and "coccus", referring to its original isolation from a stone and the shape of the cells. The genus is monospecific, with "L. jejuensis" as the only species.


Sparassis

Sparassis (also known as cauliflower mushroom) is a genus of parasitic and saprobic mushrooms characterised by their unique shape and appearance. This appearance can be described as similar to a sea sponge, a brain, or a head of cauliflower, from which it has been given its popular name.
They are increasingly cultivated and being sold in Korea, Japan, United States and Australia.
The generic name comes from the Greek "sparassein" meaning "to tear".
Species.
There are seven species in the genus:
The best-known and most widely collected species of "Sparassis" are "S. crispa" (found in Europe and eastern North America) and "S. radicata" (found in western North America). These species have a very similar appearance and some authorities treat them as conspecific. Their color can range from light brown-yellow to yellow-grey or a creamy white cauliflower colour. They are normally 10 to 25 cm tall, but can grow to be quite large, with reported cases of fruiting bodies more than half a meter tall and 14 kg in weight. Because of their unique look and size, they are unlikely to be mistaken for any poisonous/inedible mushrooms. They grow as parasites or saprobes on the roots or bases of various species of hardwoods, especially oak, and conifers, and hence are most commonly found growing close to fir, pine, oak or spruce trees.
Edibility.
"Sparassis crispa" can be very tasty, but should be thoroughly cleaned before use, as the folds can contain dirt and other material, as it grows and envelops objects around it such as pine needles. Antonio Carluccio reports that European "Sparassis crispa" should be picked when creamy white, and once yellow are too indigestible to eat. It is good for drying and reconstituting, as it retains its cartilaginous texture and hence is good for soups.
"S. spathulata", a cauliflower mushroom which looks similar to "Grifola frondosa", is edible.
Cauliflower mushroom is more than just a tasty mushroom, it is also widely used as traditional Chinese medicine because it contains materials with pharmacological activity. In order to better study its medicinal value, the genomic sequence of "Sparassis crispa" was published October 2018. "Sparassis crispa" was found to have a very high content of Beta-glucan, up to 43.6% of the basidiocarps dry weight. The beta-glucan was approved for of cancer treatment in Japan and most recently recommended for COVID-19 patients to overcome inflammation.
Experiments suggest that "S. crispa" contains chemicals which may stimulate the immune system and have many biological properties including:
Anti-tumor ,
Antiviral Activity (reverse transcriptase inhibitory activity)
neuroprotection
cardioprotection
anti-inflammation
hyperlipidemia
Anti-diabetic medication
Antimicrobial Compounds ,
methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)


Ogcodinae

Ogcodinae is a subfamily of the Acroceridae (small-headed flies). Their larvae are endoparasites of araneomorph spiders in the subfamily Entelegynae.
Genera.
The subfamily includes one extant genus and one extinct:


Syncephalastraceae

The Syncephalastraceae are a family of fungi in the order Mucorales. Members of this family have a widespread distribution, but are more common in tropical and subtropical regions.
Description.
The family is characterized by the presence of merosporangia. Zygospores are warty, and borne on opposed suspensors.


Yamadazyma

Yamadazyma is a genus of fungi within the Saccharomycetales order. The relationship of this taxon to other taxa within the order is unknown ("incertae sedis"), and it has not yet been placed with certainty into any family.


Mixta calida

Mixta calida (formerly Pantoea calida) is a species of Gram negative bacteria. Cells of this species are coccoid rods and are motile.
Background.
"Mixta calida" was originally isolated from powdered infant formula, and in 2010 was placed in the genus "Pantoea". In 2018, the species was reclassified into the novel genus, "Mixta". The species name is derived from Latin "calida" (warm, hot), referring to the species' ability to grow well at 44 °C.


Melanconium

Melanconium is a genus of fungi belonging to the family Melanconidaceae.
The genus has almost cosmopolitan distribution.
Species.
Species:


Pilibacter

Pilibacter is a genus of bacteria of the Enterococcaceae. This genus contains a single species, "Pilibacter termitis", strains of which were isolated from a termite ("Coptotermes formosanus" Shiraki).
Bacteria in this genus have been found in the respiratory tracts of human patients with pulmonary tuberculosis.


Mycobacterium pulveris

Mycobacterium pulveris is a species of "Mycobacterium".


Hemibiotrophs

Hemibiotrophs are the spectrum of plant pathogens, including bacteria, oomycete and a group of plant pathogenic fungi that keep its host alive while establishing itself within the host tissue, taking up the nutrients with brief biotrophic-like phase. It then, in later stages of infection switches to a necrotrophic life-style, where it rampantly kills the host cells, deriving its nutrients from the dead tissues.
This mode of interaction, in which initial biotrophy followed by a switch to necrotrophy, has been observed in the fungal model "Magnaporthe oryzae" (rice blast fungus) and other pathogens such as many "Colletotrichum" spp. (often called anthracnose diseases, e.g. "Colletotrichum lindemuthianum"), Southern corn leaf blight ("Bipolaris maydis") and, "Zymoseptoria tritici" (syn. "Mycosphaerella graminicola", leaf blotch of wheat). Collectively, they represent some of the most destructive plant parasites, causing huge economic losses, threatening global food security.
A spectrum of hemibiotrophic plant pathogens, including the bacterium "Pseudomonas syringae", the and the oomycete "Phytophthora infestans" (potato blight) also exhibit characteristics of both biotrophs and necrotrophs and thus are called as hemibiotrophs, depending on the stages of their life cycle.
Life style.
In contrast to biotrophs, hemibiotrophs have dual life-styles. The initial biotrophic life-style of hemibiotrophs causes minimum damage to the plant tissues, while the fungus obtains nutrients from living plant tissues Hemibiotrophic fungi require living plant tissue to survive to complete their life cycle.
Most fungal hemibiotrophs develop haustoria, whereas some produce intracellular hyphae to acquire nutrients from the host cytoplasm. However, in the hemibiotrophic life-style the pathogen later breaks down host cell walls through secretion of hydrolytic enzymes and feeds on the released nutrients. These hydrolytic enzymes and toxins are synthesized during the later necrotrophic phase. They also produce extracellular hyphae between the host cells to facilitate nutrient assimilation. Plant pathogenic fungi produce and secrete many so‐called effector proteins that interact with the host and play an important role in virulence.
The rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae and "Colletotrichum" species are generally considered to be hemibiotrophs. Three hemibiotrophic species, "Colletotrichum pisicola, C. vignae and C. destructivum" belong to the "Colletotrichum destructivum" complex. "Fusarium oxysporum"  is the cause of fusarium wilt disease and "Moniliophthora roreri", which causes frosty pod rot disease of cacao, are hemibiotrophs that affect many agricultural and floricultural crops worldwide
In the early stages of infection, the pathogens proliferate asymptomatically in the host by suppressing programmed cell death (PCD) or thwarting host defense responses, but in the later stages of infection they undergo a physiological transition from asymptomatic biotrophic growth to a highly destructive necrotrophic phase. Hemibiotrophic bacteria are known to secrete a range of so-called effector proteins, including transcription factors and others with enzymatic activities, into host cells via the type III secretion system (T3SS) whereupon they suppress PCD and other host defenses.
Hemibiotrophy genes.
Studies have shown that fungal hemibiotrophic "C. lindemuthianum" species undergo two distinct phases during invasion in the host. The first phase is the biotrophic phase which involves the generation of intracellular hyphae within intact plant cells. Later, extracellular hyphae tend to cross the cellular boundaries, moving past the plasmodesmata and ramify between host cells—the necrotrophic phase.
The suggestion that these fungi undergo a distinct metabolic switch from biotrophic to necrotrophic growth was boosted by the discovery of a gene that functions between the biotrophic and necrotrophic phases. The gene CLTA1 encodes a GAL4‐like transcriptional activator, which is consistent with a role in reprogramming metabolism. It is clear that all pathogens are obliged to alter metabolic fluxes in numerous ways upon penetration to prepare for proliferation. This is a key postulated attribute of the hemibiotrophs and seems to be a priority subject for study.
Life cycle of hemibiotrophs.
The hemibiotrophic life cycle involves an initial biotrophic phase and later a necrotrophic phase. "Colletotrichum lindemuthianum" is a hemibiotrophic fungus on beans (common bean anthracnose). Conidia then, on the host surface, germinate and differentiate to form a melanized infection structure devoted to mechanical penetration of the epidermal cells. After the penetration step, the infection cycle is characterized by two successive phases. In the first phase, lasting 3 to 4 days, the fungus grows biotrophically inside the infected epidermal cells. During this phase, referred to as the biotrophic phase, the appressoria develops into a primary penetration hypha, which is surrounded by the invaginated plant plasma membrane, during this phase the penetrated host cell remains alive with minimum damage. The second phase, which corresponds to the appearance of symptoms, is completed 6 to 8 days after inoculation. During this phase, the necrotrophic phase, the fungus develops secondary hyphae that grow both intracellularly and intercellularly and thus acts as a typical necrotrophic pathogen. During the necrotrophic phase the fungus secretes cell wall-degrading enzymes that break down the host cell wall. After a few days the plant cell membrane disintegrates and ultimately the host cell dies. Thereafter the fungus grows as a necrotroph.
Another hemibiotroph is "Moniliophthora roreri," which causes frosty pod rot on "Theobroma sp." (Cacao). It produces meiospores, via meiosis, from the modified basidium. These spores are important as dispersal agents, for infection and survival. Meiospores germinate and produce hyphae made up of haploid cells throughout the biotrophic phase. The necrotrophic phase is thought to start from the formation of dikaryotic hyphae and continues until sporulation on the pod surface.


Acaulospora terricola

Acaulospora terricola is a species of fungi in the family Acaulosporaceae. It forms arbuscular mycorrhiza and vesicles in roots.


Oontomyces

Oontomyces is a genus of anaerobic fungi isolated from the digestive tract of Indian camel.


Zoopagaceae

The Zoopagaceae are a family of fungi in the Zoopagales order. The family contain contains 5 genera, and 67 species. The family was circumscribed in 1938.


Poinsettia cryptic virus


Zebrafish Information Network

The Zebrafish Information Network (ZFIN) is an online biological database of information about the zebrafish ("Danio rerio"). The zebrafish is a widely used model organism for genetic, genomic, and developmental studies, and ZFIN provides an integrated interface for querying and displaying the large volume of data generated by this research. To facilitate use of the zebrafish as a model of human biology, ZFIN links these data to corresponding information about other model organisms (e.g., mouse) and to human disease databases. Abundant links to external sequence databases (e.g., GenBank) and to genome browsers are included. Gene product, gene expression, and phenotype data are annotated with terms from biomedical ontologies. ZFIN is based at the University of Oregon in the United States, with funding provided by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Contents.
ZFIN consists of two principal parts:
Information in ZFIN is tightly linked to the web resources of the Zebrafish International Resource Center (ZIRC), the China Zebrafish Resource Center (CZRC), and so on, which maintain and provide zebrafish-related research resources, materials and services.
ZFIN's relational database interface provides query forms and display pages for the following biological data types:
ZFIN also maintains a database of zebrafish-related publications, laboratories, people, and companies.
In addition to its specialized search interfaces, ZFIN provides a Google-like global site search.
ZFIN's community wiki gives zebrafish researchers the ability to share information about laboratory protocols and antibodies.


Gallantivirus

Gallantivirus is a genus of viruses, in the family "Tombusviridae". Plants serve as natural hosts. There is only one species in this genus: "Galinsoga mosaic virus". Diseases associated with this genus include: chlorotic or necrotic local lesions, systemic mosaic; leaf malformation.
Structure.
Viruses in "Gallantivirus" are non-enveloped, with icosahedral and spherical geometries, and T=3 symmetry. The diameter is around 34 nm. Genomes are linear, around 4kb in length.
Life cycle.
Viral replication is cytoplasmic. Entry into the host cell is achieved by penetration into the host cell. Replication follows the positive stranded RNA virus replication model. Positive stranded RNA virus transcription, using the premature termination model of subgenomic RNA transcription is the method of transcription. The virus exits the host cell by tubule-guided viral movement. Plants serve as the natural host. Transmission routes are mechanical, seed borne, and contact.


Fibrocapsa

Fibrocapsa is a genus of algae belonging to the family Fibrocapsaceae.
Species:


Dactylella

Dactylella is a genus comprising 72 species of mitosporic fungi in the family Orbiliaceae. They are notable for trapping and eating nematodes.
Members of this genus form a noose structure from several elongate cells. When stimulated by a nematode passing through the structure, the cells swell, tightening the noose and trapping the nematode. Filaments then grow into the nematode to absorb nutrients.


Arthromitus


Gene amplification in Paramecium tetraurelia

Gene amplification in "Paramecium tetraurelia" is an example of gene amplification that has occurred in the unicellular organism "Paramecium tetraurelia".
Gene duplication occurs in a large number of organisms as part of evolution or as the cause or result of disease (as in the case of the amylase genes in humans, and genes in cancer cells respectively). Gene duplication often leads to amplification of their gene products due to transcription and translation of all gene duplicates. Evidence of gene duplication has been observed the inheritance patterns of "Paramecium tetraurelia", a common model organism. In one strain of "P. tetraurelia", d4-95, a recessive mutant allele of a gene known as pawn-B found in this strain is inherited through gene duplication and amplification between generations, and even self-fertilizations. The inheritance of this allele is the first description of gene duplication and amplification in the micronucleus of ciliates. Additionally, it appears that the duplication of the mutant allele occurred after mutagenesis due to the similarity in nucleotide sequences of different copies of the mutant allele, especially in the coding region. When the d4-95 strain was crossed with a wild-type "P. tetraurelia", F2 and later progeny often expressed the phenotype of the pawn-B mutant, despite carrying a wild-type gene at the pawn-B locus. This phenotype was maintained in progeny even after the self-fertilization of theoretical wild-type homozygotes that had been recovered from the cross.
As is the case of other "Paramecium", "P. tetraurelia" exhibits a number of non-Mendelian modes of inheritance, partially due to the existence of both macro- and micronuclei. In both the macro- and micronucleus of the d4-95 strain of "P. tetraurelia" contained many more copies of the mutant gene than in the wild type strain. This occurs due to the ability of most of the extra pawn-B gene copies to be heritable independently from the original pawn-B locus. Additionally, there is evidence that in the development of the macronucleus between generations, there is differential gene duplication of copies of pawn-B which causes variable amplification of the allele – between four and twelve times – and heterogeneity between the copies. This duplication leads to amplification of the gene that suppresses the expression of any non-mutant pawn-B loci. Duplication also occurs in the micronucleus, where considerably higher numbers of copies of the pawn-B mutant have been found than the number of copies of the wild-type non-mutant. Additionally, the number of copies can be decreased in progeny by “diluting” the copies of the mutant allele through backcrossing with the wild-type parent, over multiple generations. As the number of copies of the pawn-B mutant decrease, the progeny eventually return to Mendelian inheritance of the wild-type pawn-B alleles.
While the exact structure of the amplified copies of the allele in the micronucleus is not currently known, it appears to be consistent with the original micronuclear locus, as opposed to the locus of the macronucleus, which includes regions not found in the micronuclear locus. Additionally, in some of the backcrosses, extra copies of the gene were still present, even after multiple generations. It is not clear whether this is due to tight linkage of the gene copies to the original locus, or because of continued gene duplication of the remaining copies, but it appears that it is more likely due to continued duplication, as the number of copies of the mutant pawn-B vary between the independent clones; it is also possible that there is an extrachromosomal element that plays a role, which has been observed in other protozoa.


Conops quadrifasciatus

Conops quadrifasciatus, the yellow-banded conops, is a species of fly from the genus "Conops" in the family Conopidae.
Distribution and habitat.
This species is common throughout much of Europe. It is also present in Russia, Turkey and Iran. These conopds can be found mainly on rough flowery places, on meadows and on roadsides.
Description.
"Conops quadrifasciatus" can reach a length of .These wasp-like conopids have a black head and body. The abdomen is basically black with a vivid yellow bands. Face is yellow, but above antennal implant is black, and the area containing the ocelli has the same colour as the eyes. The antennae are black. It has a long proboscis. Thorax and scutellum are black. The posterior margins of the first four segments of the abdomen are yellow, the fifth segment is yellow. Tergite 1-3 are mainly black. The legs are yellow-brown. Femurs 2 and 3 are uniformly pale, sometimes with a small darkened spot. In males tergite is 5 black with broad yellow band at hind border. Females show a slimmer physique and have under the 5th abdominal segment a brownish-yellow, rounded pouch (theca), slightly hooked downward at the apex. This species is rather similar to "Conops ceriaeformis".
Biology.
Adults behave like solitary wasps. They fly from June to September and feed on nectar and pollen of flowers, mainly of "Chamerion angustifolium" ("Onagraceae"), "Heracleum sphondylium" ("Apiaceae"), "Leucanthemum vulgare", "Cirsium arvense", "Senecio nemorensis" ("Asteraceae"), "Valeriana", "and "Lamiaceae" species.
Their larvae are endoparasites of bumble bees of the genus "Bombus", especially "Bombus lapidarius". The females pounce the bumblebees and lay an egg between the tergites by means of the hooked abdomen.


Schizosaccharomycetes

Schizosaccharomycetes is a class in the kingdom of fungi. It contains the order Schizosaccharomycetales, the fission yeasts. The genus Schizosaccharomycetes is a broad and ancient clade within the Ascomycete fungi including four known fission yeast:
Schizosaccharomyces pombe, Schizosaccharomyces japonicius, Schizosaccharomyces octosporus, and Schizosaccharomyces crophilus.


Kodamaea kakaduensis

Kodamaea kakaduensis is an ascomycetous yeast species first isolated from Australian "Hibiscus" flowers. It is heterothallic, haploid, similar to other "Kodamaea" species and to "Candida restingae". Its buds are often produced on short protuberances, and a true mycelium is formed. It differs from other species by the assimilation of trehalose, melezitose, and xylitol, and is reproductively isolated. Its type strain is UWO (PS) 98-119.2.


Phaeosolenia

Phaeosolenia is a genus of fungi in the family Chromocyphellaceae. The genus contain eight species from South America.


Candidatus Bartonella eldjazairii

""Candidatus" Bartonella eldjazairii" is a candidatus bacteria from the genus of "Bartonella".
References.


Myscelia orsis

Myscelia orsis is a species of nymphalid butterflies native to Brazil. It was first described by Dru Drury in 1782.
Description.
Upperside: Antennae, thorax, and abdomen brown, the latter having six spots on it. Wings very dark changeable blue; anterior having a pale streak crossing them a little way on each side the thorax, with several other small ones on other parts.
Underside: Palpi very small, hairy, and white. Thorax, legs and abdomen white. Wings pale red brown, having a shade of darker colour running along their external edges, and on the anterior ones are placed two faint-coloured streaks, running from the external edges towards the middle of the wings. Margins of the wings angulated and dentated. Wingspan .


Negative-sense single-stranded RNA virus


Giant cowbird

The giant cowbird ("Molothrus oryzivorus") is a large passerine bird in the New World family Icteridae. It breeds from southern Mexico south to northern Argentina, and on Trinidad and Tobago. It may have relatively recently colonised the latter island.
It is associated with open woodland and cultivation with large trees, but is also the only cowbird that is found in deep forest. It is a quiet bird, particularly for an icterid, but the male has an unpleasant screeched whistle, "shweeaa-tpic-tpic". The call is a sharp "chek-chik". They are also very adept mimics.
Like other cowbirds, it is a brood parasite, laying its eggs in the nests of oropendolas and caciques. The eggs are of two types, either whitish and unspotted, or pale blue or green with dark spots and blotches. The host's eggs and chicks are not destroyed.
Their icterid hosts breed colonially, and defend their nests vigorously, so even a large, bold and aggressive species like the giant cowbird has to cover an extensive territory to find sufficient egg-laying opportunities. Several giant cowbird eggs may be laid in one host nest.
The male giant cowbird is long, weighs and is iridescent black, with a long tail, long bill, small head, and a neck ruff which is expanded in display. The female is smaller, averaging long and weighing . She is less iridescent than the male, and the absence of the neck ruff makes her look less small-headed. Juvenile males are similar to the adult male, but browner, and with a pale, not black, bill.
This gregarious bird feeds mainly on insects, and some seeds, including rice, and forages on the ground or in trees. It rarely perches on cattle, unlike some of its relatives, but in Brazil it will ride on capybaras as it removes horse flies.


Evernia esorediosa

Evernia esorediosa is a species of lichen in the family Parmeliaceae. It has no soralia, but many ascocarps.
In a study it has been found that its mycobiont contains hypostrepsilic acid, a dibenzofuran. It made up 3.2% of the dry weight. While in its lichenized condition divaricatic acid, an orcinol depside, made up 1.9% of "Evernia esorediosa"'s dry weight.
Distribution.
Specimens have been found in Japan, the Russian Federation, the United States of America, Canada and Mongolia.


COPASI

COPASI (COmplex PAthway SImulator) is an open-source software application for creating and solving mathematical models of biological processes such as metabolic networks, cell-signaling pathways, regulatory networks, infectious diseases, and many others.
History.
COPASI is based on the Gepasi simulation software that was developed in the early 1990s by Pedro Mendes. The initial development of COPASI was funded by the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute, and the Klaus Tschira Foundation. Current development efforts are supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, the BBSRC, and the German Ministry of Education.
Development team.
COPASI is the result of an international collaboration between the University of Manchester (UK), the University of Heidelberg (Germany), and the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute (USA). The project principal investigators are Pedro Mendes and Ursula Kummer. The chief software architects are Stefan Hoops and Sven Sahle.
Features.
COPASI includes features to define models of biological processes, simulate and analyze these models, generate analysis reports, and import/export models in SBML format.


Suillaceae

The Suillaceae are a family of fungi in the order Boletales (suborder Suillineae), containing the boletus-like "Suillus", the small truffle-like "Truncocolumella", as well as the monotypic genus "Psiloboletinus". As of 2008, there are 54 species in the family. "Gastrosuillus", once considered a distinct genus, has been shown with molecular analysis to be a recent evolutionary derivative of "Suillus". "Fuscoboletinus", described by Pomerleau and Smith in 1962, has also been subsumed into "Suillus".


Carina M. Schlebusch

Carina Maria Schlebusch is an evolutionary biologist at the University of Uppsala in Sweden. She is a specialist in the population history of Africa. In 2017 she was the co-author of a paper that suggested that modern humans emerged more than 300,000 years ago.


Rothia dentocariosa

Rothia dentocariosa (previously known as "Actinomyces dentocariosus" and "Nocardia dentocariosus") is a species of Gram-positive, round- to rod-shaped bacteria that is part of the normal community of microbes residing in the mouth and respiratory tract.
First isolated from dental caries, "Rothia dentocariosa" is largely benign, but does very rarely cause disease. The most common "Rothia" infection is endocarditis, typically in people with underlying heart valve disorders. Literature case reports show other tissues that are rarely infected include the peritoneum, tonsils, lung, cornea, inner layers of the eye (Endophthalmitis) and brain and intercranial tissues.
It has been implicated in periodontal disease, and one hypothesis is that "Rothia" periodontal disease, or dental procedures in turn, may be first steps in the infection of other tissues. One case reports on a fatal "Rothia dentocariosa" infection of a fetus in utero. Another reports the bacterium was responsible for septic arthritis in the knee of a person treated with etanercept for rheumatoid arthritis. Like other "Rothia" infections reported in the literature, once the cause of infection was identified, this responded fully to treatment with antibiotics. Rothia infections may be treated with penicillins, erythromycin, cefazolin, rifampin, aminoglycoside, tetracycline, chloramphenicol, and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole.
Variable or pleomorphic in shape and similar to Actinomyces and Nocardia, "Rothia" was only defined as a genus in 1967. "Rothia dentocariosa", like several other species of oral bacteria, is able to reduce nitrate to nitrite, and one study found it in 3% of isolates of nitrate-reducing bacteria from the mouth.


Cardiobacterium hominis

Cardiobacterium hominis is a Gram-negative bacillus (rod-shaped) bacterium commonly grouped with other bacteria into the HACEK group. It is one of several bacteria that is normally present in the mouth and upper part of the respiratory tract such as nose and throat. However, it may also rarely cause endocarditis, an infection of the heart valves.
Microbiology.
"C. hominis" is a catalase-negative, oxidase-positive, indole-producing, Gram-negative rod. Its morphology has classically been described as highly pleomorphic and irregularly staining, although homogeneous bacilli with uniform shapes may be seen with the addition of yeast extract.
Antibiotic sensitivity.
Historically, "C. hominis" has been sensitive to penicillin and penicillin derivatives such as ampicillin. However, penicillin-resistant strains, including those that produce beta-lactamases, have been described with increasing frequency. Clinical guidelines thus recommend that "C. hominis" and other HACEK organisms be presumed to harbor ampicillin resistance and therefore be treated with a third-generation cephalosporin. "C. hominis" and other HACEK organisms also exhibit "in vitro" susceptibility to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, fluoroquinolones, and aztreonam. "C. hominis" is often resistant to erythromycin. Since cefotaxime use may be not appropriate for "C. hominis" endocarditis, an alternative regimen might include association of co-amoxiclav and gentamicin.


Dinornavirus


Monokaryon

A monokaryon is a fungal mycelium or hypha in which each cell contains a single nucleus. It also refers to a mononuclear spore or cell of a fungus that produces a dikaryon in its life cycle.


Mycobacterium chitae

Mycobacterium chitae is a species of the phylum Actinobacteria (Gram-positive bacteria with high guanine and cytosine content, one of the dominant phyla of all bacteria), belonging to the genus "Mycobacterium".
Type strain: strain ATCC 19627 = CCUG 39504 = CIP 105383 = DSM 44633 = JCM 12403 = NCTC 10485.


Subclytia rotundiventris

Subclytia rotundiventris is a European species of fly in the family Tachinidae.


Pisolithus hypogaeus

Pisolithus hypogaeus is a fungus in the genus "Pisolithus", occurring in coastal south-western Australia in association with eucalypt ectomycorrhizal hosts on sandy soils. DNA samples show that "Pisolithus hypogaeus" is a relative of other brown- and echinulate-spored "Pisolithus" species, and is most closely related to two undescribed epigeous "Pisolithus" species from Australia.


Shiny cowbird

The shiny cowbird ("Molothrus bonariensis") is a passerine bird in the New World family Icteridae. It breeds in most of South America except for dense forests and areas of high altitude such as mountains. Since 1900 the shiny cowbirds' range has shifted northward, and it was recorded in the Caribbean islands as well as the United States, where it is found breeding in southern Florida. It is a bird associated with open habitats, including disturbed land from agriculture and deforestation.
Adults are sexually dimorphic. Males are all black with a purple-blue iridescence. The female is smaller, with dull brown plumage that is sometimes paler on the underparts. Females of the species can be distinguished from the female brown-headed cowbird by their longer, finer bills and flatter heads. The shiny cowbird's diet consists mainly of insects and seeds, and they have been recorded foraging for grains in cattle troughs.
Like most other cowbirds, it is an obligate brood parasite, laying its eggs in the nests of many other bird species such as the rufous-collared sparrow. Different host species show different responses to their nests being parasitised, with behaviours ranging from accepting and caring for the cowbird eggs, to rejecting the eggs from the nest. As the shiny cowbird is an effective generalist brood parasite, it can be considered the South American counterpart to the brown-headed cowbird.
Taxonomy.
The shiny cowbird is a passerine in the family Icteridae, which includes the blackbirds. The species was first described in 1789 by Johann Friedrich Gmelin. It has seven described subspecies due to geographic variation:
Description.
Physical appearance of the shiny cowbird adult depends on subspecies. Sizes range from 31-40 grams in mass and 18 cm in length ("M. b. minimus)", to 55-65 grams in mass and 22 cm in length "(M. b. cabanisii)."
Basic adult plumage for "M. b. bonariensis" is black with purple-blue iridescence for males, and dusty gray-brown for females. "M. b. cabanisii" males have plumage similar to "M. b. bonariensis," while females are paler in colouration. "M. b. aequatorialis" males have violet iridescence and females are dark in colour. "M. b. occidentalis" males have rich purple iridescence, and females are distinct compared to the other subspecies as they have a pale upper body and very pale, streaked underparts. "M. b. venezuelensis" males look similar to "M. b. occidentalis", and females dark in colour"." "M. b. minimus" males look similar to "M. b. bonariensis", and females have a darker head than "M. b. bonariensis" and have streaked scapulars and inter-scapulars. "M. b. riparius" males are similar to "M. b. bonariensis", and the females have darker upper bodies and paler underparts than "M. b. bonariensis."Upon hatching, shiny cowbirds are altricial and are confined to their nests. Hatchlings are covered in a gray down. Juvenile males are dark on their upper body, with dull dray underparts streaked with dark brown or black, and a buff abdomen. Females are a buff brown colour on top, with light buff, brown, or gray underparts that may or may not be streaked with brown.
Eggs are ovate in shape, and can exist as either a spotted morph, or an unspotted "immaculate" morph. They are usually white in colour, though they sometimes take on a light blue, light gray, or buff hue.
Distribution and habitat.
The shiny cowbird is a year-round resident across most of South America, where it lives in open areas such as open forests and cultivated land. Within the last century, the range of the species has shifted northward, and birds have been recorded in the West Indies and southern Florida. This shift in range is due to increased human conversion of forests into open cultivated and agricultural land, habitats which are preferred by the shiny cowbird. This range shift into new regions allows the cowbird to exploit new naive host species.
Effect of deforestation.
Deforestation and conversion of forested land to open agricultural fields and pastures has led to a northward shift in the range of the shiny cowbird, as this species prefers open habitats. These deforested areas may be home to host species that were previously not parasitized by cowbirds. These naive hosts likely do not have defenses against parasitism, and may be more negatively affected by the presence of the cowbirds. The species spread from South America to mainland Puerto Rico in 1955, and subsequently reached the Dominican Republic in 1973, and Cuba in 1982. Since 1985, the shiny cowbird has been recorded in Florida.
Behaviour and ecology.
Breeding.
Sexual behaviour and courtship.
Shiny cowbirds do not form monogamous pairs. They have a promiscuous mating system where individuals will copulate with many different mates.
During courtship, male shiny cowbirds perform a song while circling a female, and when the song is finished they bow to their prospective mate. This bow is a display used in both mating rituals and as a show of aggression toward other males. It consists of the male ruffling his feathers while arching his wings and lowering his tail. The display is performed either on the ground, in a tree, or while flying. Following a successful mating display, the pair will copulate once.
Brood parasitism.
The shiny cowbird is an obligate brood parasite, meaning that adults will lay their eggs in the nests of other species and their offspring rely entirely on their hosts for parental care. They are generalists, and have about 250 different host species. As a host generalist, their young are non-mimetic, meaning they do not attempt to replicate the behaviours of host chicks like a host specialist species might. In regions of South America including Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, and Venezuela, the main host species of the shiny cowbird is the rufous-collared sparrow.
Female shiny cowbirds do not build nests, as they rely on their hosts to care for their offspring, but they will preferentially select hosts that build enclosed nests such as nests built in cavities. They will look for host nests both actively, and by silently watching for hosts. When a host nest is found, they will flush the host away from the nest by noisily flying around the area. An individual shiny cowbird may lay its eggs across many different nests.
Host response.
Responses to parasitic eggs and chicks in the nest varies among hosts. Sometimes even within a host species, the response to parasitism is context-dependent. For example, when grayish baywings were acting as host parents to shiny cowbird young, cowbirds would only continue to receive parental care after they fledged if they had been raised alone in the nest without any baywing nest mates. Yellow warblers have been recorded to reject shiny cowbird eggs around 40% of the time, either by deserting their nest or building a new nest on top of the parasitised one. In hosts such as the creamy-bellied thrush, where parasitism by shiny cowbirds does not have a large negative effect on the survival of their own chicks, the hosts do not exhibit egg-ejection behaviour. This acceptance of parasitic eggs may also be due to the fact that the eggs are similar in appearance, and the host would risk harming its own eggs in the process.
Effect on host species.
Brood parasitism from shiny cowbirds will have a negative effect on the reproductive success of their hosts through a variety of factors employed by the different life stages of the cowbird. Adult females can negatively affect the host by pecking and killing host eggs and removing the host eggs from the nest. Shiny cowbird eggs have a short incubation period of about 10–11 days. Many of the parasite's hosts have eggs that incubate for longer. One of their main hosts across much of South America, the rufous-collared sparrow, has an incubation period of 12–13 days. The shiny cowbird will sometimes also lay an egg before the host species begins laying. Laying their eggs before their host, as well as having a shorter incubation period, allows for the hatching of the parasitic chick to occur before the host eggs hatch. When the cowbirds hatch before the sparrows in the nest, sparrows usually do not gain much weight and die within about three days. In one study, nestling mortality almost doubled when comparing a non-parasitised nest to one that had been parasitised by a shiny cowbird.
Shiny cowbirds can have a large negative effect on critically endangered species, such as the pale-headed brush finch. Human modification of their restricted geographic range led to habitat loss in the case of the finches, but also introduced more cowbirds into the now open area. Parasitism by shiny cowbirds is thought to be an important factor in the population decline of the pale-headed brush finch.


Mycobiome

The mycobiome, mycobiota, or fungal microbiome, is the fungal community in and on an organism.
The word “mycobiome” comes from the ancient Greek μύκης (mukēs), meaning "fungus" with the suffix “biome” derived from the Greek βίος (bíos), meaning “life.” The term was first coined in the 2009 paper by Gillevet et al.
Most species of fungi are decomposers with the ability to break down complex polymers. Fungi are commonly found within plant cells in an endophytic relationship or as a pathogen. Most plants also form mutualistic relationships with fungi that accelerate nutrient uptake among their root structures. The most common phyla present in the fungal communities that live alongside animals and in aquatic environments are Ascomycota and Basidiomycota. Animals will typically form a commensal relationship with fungi with the occasional occurrence of a pathogenic interaction.
Interactions with other microbes.
Fungal microbes are amongst a wide variety of other microbes involved in a symbiotic relationship involving multicellular organisms. In mammals, the gut flora is usually met with vastly diverse populations of microbes from many kingdoms, where fungal populations make up less than 1% of the entire gut biome. Due to the coexistence of fungal populations with other microbes in most cases of host-symbiont associations, it’s important to assess common dynamics that may occur.
Most interactions between microbes in the gut are either competitive or cooperative. This can be seen with multiple fungal microbes as well by observing populations through the treatment of antibiotics and antifungals. Research on microbial populations in animal models has resulted in noticeable fluctuations in microbe populations. Antibiotic treatment has mostly shown increases in parasitic fungal presence, suggesting competitive behaviors between microbes against fungi. Additionally, application of antifungal molecules have resulted in colitis in mice, suggesting that commensal fungi are responsible for balancing bacterial populations that are involved in dysbiosis. Despite limited knowledge on the gut mycobiome, this research suggests that interactions between fungal and bacterial microbes in the mammalian gut are largely competitive.
Lichen.
Lichens are the symbiotic relationship between a wide range of fungi and photosynthesizing microbes that are either algal chlorophytes or cyanobacteria. The primary symbiosis involves fungi gaining energy from their photosynthesizing symbiotic microbe, and in return, provides a structural scaffold from the hyphae. These interactions are classically seen as mutualistic, but have been questioned if fungi might also be capable of playing a controlled parasitic role.
Plants.
Plants also have mutualistic symbiotic relationships with fungal communities that are found in a microbe abundant layer of the soil called the rhizosphere. Fungi can be vertically transmitted to progeny plants, or horizontally through fungal diffusion in the soil. Regardless of transmission, the most common cases of fungal plant symbiosis happens when fungal communities colonize plant root structure. There are some cases of symbiosis that Begin before maturity such as the Orchidaceae family, in which symbiosis begins at the seed germination phase. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi supply the plant essential inorganic nutrients (in the form of minerals) for 80% of terrestrial plant species. In return the plant will provide fungi with plant assimilated carbon that can easily be metabolized and used for energy.
Evolutionary Symbiosis.
DNA sequencing and fossil records have derived evidence that this mutualistic relationship between fungi and plants is extremely ancient. It is even suggested that different subspecies of fungi have played major roles in shaping the plants immune system in the early evolutionary moments of plants colonizing land. Specific gene clusters in the plant's genome used to code for fungicidal properties like the production of isoflavonoids in the Fabaceae plant family are toxic and used to regulate the growth of expected fungal presence. In a coevolutionary response, arbuscular fungal communities breed quickly and evolutionarily selected for the development of specific gene clusters to detoxify and metabolize a wide variety of organic antifungal chemicals. This exchange of evolutionary pressures has given a variety of plant species better immune systems, while simultaneously giving mutualist fungal communities new sources of plant energy at the genomic level.
Insects.
Interactions between fungi and insects are incredibly common and most of these relationships are either commensal or pathogenic.
Commensal.
The commensal relationships typically benefit the insect by allowing them to digest tough materials such as wood. For example, wood-ingesting passalid beetle guts are populated with bacteria, yeasts, and other eukaryotic organisms that aid in digestion and nutrient absorption. Without the help of the yeasts to break down xylose from plant cells, these beetles would be unable to efficiently digest this tough material.
Pathogenic.
Insect pathogenic fungi slowly kill their hosts while replicating rapidly inside the infected insect. They typically attach to the external surface of the insect as spores before germinating, perforating the cuticle, and colonizing the internal cavity. The insect is typically killed and new spores are dispersed from the reproductive structures in the body of the insect.
A prominent example of an entomopathogenic fungus is Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, nicknamed the “zombie-ant” fungus. The fungus infects ants and alters their natural behavioral patterns causing the ant to leave their usual environment in the trees in favor of the forest floor – a more suitable environment for fungal growth. The insects will then attach themselves to the underside of a leaf until it dies. Fungal spores then sprout out of the dead ant’s head and are dispersed.
One of the first descriptions of insect pathogenic fungi was published in 1835 during an infestation of Beauveria bassiana in a silkworm population that upset the silk industry.
Humans.
There is a low abundance of fungi associated with most human body sites, such as the gastrointestinal tract, where fungi typically compose just 0.001 - 0.1% of the microbial community. However, fungi compose a significant fraction of the microbiome at some locations, such as the ear canal.
The mycobiome is relevant to human physiology as fungi may be important in maintaining microbial community structure, metabolic function, and immune-priming. Mutualism between humans and fungi is not yet well understood, and there is much to be learned about how fungi interact with the nonfungal constituents of the microbiome.
Many human diseases, including hepatitis, cystic fibrosis, obesity, and inflammatory bowel disease have been associated with changes in the human mycobiome, and it has been proposed that any fungal colonization of the GI tract is a sign of disease.
Fungal interactions in the human host can be opportunistic, mutualistic, parasitic, commensalistic, and amensalistic. Though there is a small amount of fungi considered to be true pathogens due to causing disease in healthy individuals, the majority of fungi are considered opportunistic, only affecting an immunosuppressed host. In these cases,  pathogen-mediated damage is dependent upon the host; disease could only occur if  the host has either a hyperactive or  weakened immune system. Commensal relationships between human host and pathogen are possible  when the fungi are present in a host for long periods of time without causing disease. One example of a fungus that forms a commensal relationship in a human host is Cryptococcus. Candida albicans can also form a long-time commensal relationship with its host.
Some fungi  are niche specific symbionts in the human host. Some fungi can be introduced to the host from the environment by skin contact, oral or respiratory routes, while others are acquired vertically through birth.
In the human GI tract there are about 50 observed genera of fungi. Some are acquired through what the host eats; as such showing that the stability of the fungal population is dependent on the diet of the host and host immune status.
About 20 genera of fungi have been observed in the vaginal niche. Most fungi that colonize the vagina show a commensalistic relationship with the host, but factors like antibiotic uses and pregnancy could influence the vaginal mycobiome.


Epiphytic fungus

An epiphytic fungus is a fungus that grows upon, or attached to, a living plant. The term epiphytic derives from the Greek "epi-" (meaning 'upon') and "phyton" (meaning 'plant').
Examples.
Many examples of epiphytic microorganisms exist. The ergoline alkaloids found in "Convolvulaceae" are produced by a seed-transmitted epiphytic clavicipitaceous fungus .


Leidya

Leidya is a genus of isopod parasites, that inhabit the waters off China, Mexico, and the Gulf of Mexico. They are in the family Bopyridae, the genus contains the following species:


Clostridium paradoxum

Clostridium paradoxum is a moderately thermophilic anaerobic alkaliphile bacteria. It is motile with 2-6 peritrichous flagella and forms round to slightly oval terminal spores. Its type strain is JW-YL-7 (DSM 7308).