According to a new study conducted by scientists from the University of Utah Health, a fungus that
For example, studies in mice have shown thattraveling through the body, the fungi decrease in size. They also acquire characteristics that contribute to the spread of infection. All this happens within a few days.
Graphic abstraction. Courtesy: Cell Host & Microbe (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.chom.2022.08.017
During the study, scientists infected micefungi Cryptococcus neoformans. They found that compared to medium and large cells, the smallest ones were easier to infect the brain. These cells not only became miniature. Compared to larger ones, they had unique surface characteristics (which are also important for access to the brain) and a different set of genes.
It also turned out that the infectious fungus Cryptococcus neoformans can grow in size to withstand various microenvironments in the body.
The data suggested that the small fungal cells were not just miniature versions of larger cells. They have undergone massive changes.
The infectious fungus Cryptococcus neoformans grows and shrinks in size to resist the various microenvironments in the body. Photo: Stephen Denham
Discovery will lead to new strategiesfight infection with Cryptococcus neoformans and help prevent detrimental effects on the host. C. neoformans is the main cause of fungal meningitis, a rare but fatal swelling of the brain that occurs in people with weakened immune systems.
In the wild, the organism lives in a rottingwood and bird droppings. If inadvertently inhaled, the fungus survives in the lungs and then travels through the bloodstream to the brain and other organs. Each of them is distinguished by its own complex microenvironment.
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Cover photo: Brian W.J. Mahy, BSc, MA, PhD, ScD, DSc, USCDCP, free to use CC0