Fungal hemolysins

Abstract

Hemolysins are a class of proteins defined by their ability to lyse red cells but have been described to exhibit pleiotropic functions. These proteins have been extensively studied in bacteria and more recently in fungi. Within the last decade, a number of studies have characterized fungal hemolysins and revealed a fascinating yet diverse group of proteins. The purpose of this review is to provide a synopsis of the known fungal hemolysins with an emphasis on those belonging to the aegerolysin protein family. New insight and perspective into fungal hemolysins in biotechnology and health are additionally presented.

Fungal aegerolysin-like proteins: distribution, activities, and applications

“…Time-course studies performed for the expression of Asphemolysin and terrelysin have also showed that their expression is highest during early fungal growth (Nayak et al 2012;Wartenberg et al 2011). All of this suggests that these aegerolysins have important roles in fungal development (Berne et al 2009;Nayak et al 2013;Ota et al 2014; views of Aspergillus niger N402 mycelia (4 days old) and the filtrate (c) from minimal medium liquid culture after 2 or 3 days on tryptic soy agar supplemented with 5 % defibrillated sheep blood. Partial hemolysis is observed as the greenish agar around and underneath the colony and around the hole in the agar Vesper and Vesper 2004).…”

“…niger (Braaksma et al 2010;Nayak et al 2012;Novak et al 2014). All this suggests that aegerolysin-like proteins are promising biomarkers for the detection of fungal exposure, especially in the case of opportunistic fungal infections (Nayak et al 2013).…”

“…The inventory of potential molecules available from fungi has been traditionally exploited in human and animal nutrition and medicine, and in biotechnological applications (Robson et al 2007;Pointing and Hyde 2001;Erjavec et al 2012;Nayak et al 2013). On the other hand, fungi and many of their products might threaten the health of humans, animals, and plants, and the ecosystem (Fisher et al 2012).…”

“…Fungal aegerolysins are inconsistently distributed among species, and a variable number of homologous proteins belonging to this family can be found in different species within the same genera (Lakkireddy et al 2011;Nayak et al 2013). In April 2014, we performed a bioinformatics search for the taxonomic distribution of putative aegerolysin proteins in the fungal kingdom, with the collection of data from different databases.…”

Ostreolysin A/Pleurotolysin B and Equinatoxins: Structure, Function and Pathophysiological Effects of These Pore-Forming Proteins

“…It belongs to the larger group of highly homologous proteins called aegerolysins (Pfam PF06355, InterPro IPR009413), currently comprising more than 350 entries in the NCBI databases. The structure, putative functional characteristics and occurrence of aegerolysins across the tree of life have been reviewed in details elsewhere [12,13]. OlyA/PlyB is specifically expressed during the formation of mushroom fruit bodies [7,14].…”