TY - JOUR AU - Fornari, Gheniffer AU - Gomes, Renata Rodrigues AU - Degenhardt-Goldbach, Juliana AU - Santos, Suelen Silvana dos AU - Almeida, Sandro Rogério de AU - Santos, Germana Davila dos AU - Muro, Marisol Dominguez AU - Bona, Cleusa AU - Scola, Rosana Herminia AU - Trindade, Edvaldo S. AU - Bini, Israel Henrique AU - Ferreira-Maba, Lisandra Santos AU - Kestring, Daiane Rigoni AU - Nascimento, Mariana Machado Fidelis do AU - Lima, Bruna Jacomel Favoreto de Souza AU - Voidaleski, Morgana F. AU - Steinmacher, Douglas André AU - Soley, Bruna da Silva AU - Deng, Shuwen AU - Bocca, Anamelia Lorenzetti AU - da Silva, Moises B. AU - Salgado, Claudio G. AU - de Azevedo, Conceição Maria Pedroso e Silva AU - Vicente, Vania Aparecida AU - de Hoog, Sybren PY - 2018 M3 - Original Research TI - A Model for Trans-Kingdom Pathogenicity in Fonsecaea Agents of Human Chromoblastomycosis JO - Frontiers in Microbiology UR - https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2018.02211 VL - 9 SN - 1664-302X N2 - The fungal genus Fonsecaea comprises etiological agents of human chromoblastomycosis, a chronic implantation skin disease. The current hypothesis is that patients acquire the infection through an injury from plant material. The present study aimed to evaluate a model of infection in plant and animal hosts to understand the parameters of trans-kingdom pathogenicity. Clinical strains of causative agents of chromoblastomycosis (Fonsecaea pedrosoi and Fonsecaea monophora) were compared with a strain of Fonsecaea erecta isolated from a living plant. The clinical strains of F. monophora and F. pedrosoi remained concentrated near the epidermis, whereas F. erecta colonized deeper plant tissues, resembling an endophytic behavior. In an invertebrate infection model with larvae of a beetle, Tenebrio molitor, F. erecta exhibited the lowest survival rates. However, F. pedrosoi produced dark, spherical to ovoidal cells that resembled muriform cells, the invasive form of human chromoblastomycosis confirming the role of muriform cells as a pathogenic adaptation in animal tissues. An immunologic assay in BALB/c mice demonstrated the high virulence of saprobic species in animal models was subsequently controlled via host higher immune response. ER -