<i>Pneumocystis</i>pneumonia

Cushion, Melanie T.

doi:10.1002/9780470688618.taw0164

Cited by 3 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…Pneumocystis species (spp.) are typically restricted to the lungs, although extra-pulmonary manifestations have been reported [1] . Considered to be zoonotic (able to infect more than one mammalian species), these organisms once were referred to as a single genus and species, “ Pneumocystis carinii ”.…”

Section: What Kind Of Fungi Are Pneumocystis ?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In 1914, they were provided an identity of their own and given the genus and species designation “ Pneumocystis carinii ”, which reflected their preference for the lung, “ pneumo ”-; their characteristic morphological form, the cyst, -“ cystis ”; and “ carinii ” to honor the Italian investigator, Antonio Carini, who provided the slides for study. Presumed to be a protozoan parasite, the potential fungal nature of P. carinii was first raised in the 1950s, and the controversy over their protozoan or fungal nature continued into the late 20th century [1] , [2] . Phylogenetic analyses first based on the nuclear small subunit rRNA sequence alignments then with additional gene sequence comparisons showed that the closest extant relatives to P. carinii were the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe and the plant pathogen Taphrina deformans [3] .…”

Section: What Kind Of Fungi Are Pneumocystis ?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…No environmental forms of Pneumocystis have been identified providing additional evidence that they are dependent upon their hosts for growth and transmission without need of an intermediate vector or requirement for maturation outside mammals. Human beings develop antibodies to P. jirovecii by the age of 4 years, but likely are exposed at a much earlier age [1] . The first exposure during the neonatal period seems to result in mild or no clinical symptoms and is probably mistaken for another infectious agent [6] .…”

Section: Where Are They Found and How Do They Replicate?mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Are Members of the Fungal Genus Pneumocystis (a) Commensals; (b) Opportunists; (c) Pathogens; or (d) All of the Above?

Cushion

2010

PLoS Pathog

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Section: What Kind Of Fungi Are Pneumocystis ?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: What Kind Of Fungi Are Pneumocystis ?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Where Are They Found and How Do They Replicate?mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Are Members of the Fungal Genus Pneumocystis (a) Commensals; (b) Opportunists; (c) Pathogens; or (d) All of the Above?

Cushion

2010

PLoS Pathog

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“…Although the assembly size of P. carinii was stated to be 6.3 Mb (see Table 1 in reference 1), based on the summation of chromosome-sized DNA bands from electrophoretic karyotypes, the estimated genome size is 8.2 Mb (3). The estimated sizes of other Pneumocystis genomes based on electrophoretic karyotyping are 8.2 Mb for P. murina and 7.0 Mb for a single isolate of P. jirovecii , considerably smaller than the genomic sequencing data (3). As the karyotype of the P. jirovecii strain used in the present study is not available, it is not possible to determine where the discrepancy may lie at this time.…”

Section: Structures Of the Genomesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assembly and Annotation of Pneumocystis jirovecii from the Human Lung Microbiome

Cushion

Keely

2013

mBio

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Pneumocystis jirovecii is a fungus that causes Pneumocystis pneumonia in immunosuppressed patients and has been closely associated with AIDS since the beginning of the AIDS epidemic. Because in vitro cultivation of P. jirovecii is not possible, progress has been hindered in our understanding of its life cycle, mode of transmission, metabolic function, and genome. Limited amounts of P. jirovecii can be obtained from infected patients, but the occurrence of bacteria, other fungi, and human cells in clinical samples presents new challenges for whole-genome sequencing and downstream bioinformatic analysis. In a recent article, Cissé et al. used cell immunoprecipitation enrichment together with whole-genome amplification to generate sufficient quantities of DNA for Roche 454 and Illumina sequencing [O. H. Cissé, M. Pagni, and P. M. Hauser, mBio 4(1):e00428-12, 2012, doi:10.1128/mBio.00428-12]. In addition, a bioinformatic pipeline was devised to sort and assemble lung microbiome reads, thereby generating an 8.1-Mb P. jirovecii genome comprised of 356 contigs with an N50 (median length of all contigs) of 41.6 kb. Knowledge of this genome will open new avenues of research, including the identification of nutritional requirements for in vitro cultivation as well as the identification of new and novel drug and vaccine targets.

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Pneumocystis

Kaneshiro

Limper

2011

Encyclopedia of Life Sciences

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Pneumocystis is a genus of opportunistic fungal pathogens, which cause a type of pneumonia by proliferating extracellularly in the lung alveoli in immunodeficient mammalian hosts. In immune suppressed patients, such as in those with acquired immune deficiency syndrome and individuals undergoing immunosuppressive treatment for cancer or organ transplantation, Pneumocystis pneumonia (PcP) continues to represent an important cause of opportunistic infection, respiratory failure and death. The epidemiology, taxonomy and life cycle features as well as issues related to the transmission of Pneumocystis organisms, initiation of infection, organism interactions with the host and the pathogenesis of PcP are areas of research activities. Good culture methods are not available for sustained in vitro cultivation of any species of Pneumocystis , which is currently viewed as a major challenge to performing experiments on these organisms and precludes genetic manipulations. However, several studies have revealed important insights into the biology of this group of organisms. Key Concepts: Pneumocystis represents a genus of opportunistic fungi that can colonise healthy mammals (transient infections) and cause severe pneumonia in immune compromised mammals. Genetic studies reveal closest phylogeny of Pneumocystis to the ascomycetous fungi and molecular and biochemical studies further indicate that Pneumocystis represents a unique and diverse group of organisms. Each species of Pneumocystis infects a specific mammalian host (host species‐specific) and phylogenetic analyses suggest that the association of Pneumocystis species with their mammalian host species is among the longest known example of coevolution. Pneumocystis undergoes asexual and sexual reproduction; most organisms within the mammalian lung are haploid organisms. Pneumocystis organisms attach to type I lung epithelial cells and proliferate extracellularly in the alveolar spaces. PcP is characterised by intense tissue inflammation that leads to respiratory insufficiency, and can be fatal without treatment. Colonisation by P. jirovecii has been implicated as a comorbidity factor in patients with other pulmonary disorders and those undergoing therapies that affect the host's immune system.

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Pneumocystispneumonia

Cited by 3 publications

References 345 publications

Are Members of the Fungal Genus Pneumocystis (a) Commensals; (b) Opportunists; (c) Pathogens; or (d) All of the Above?

Are Members of the Fungal Genus Pneumocystis (a) Commensals; (b) Opportunists; (c) Pathogens; or (d) All of the Above?

Assembly and Annotation of Pneumocystis jirovecii from the Human Lung Microbiome

Pneumocystis

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