First Demonstration of Clinical <i>Fusarium</i> Strains Causing Cross-Kingdom Infections from Humans to Plants

First Demonstration of Clinical <i>Fusarium</i> Strains Causing Cross-Kingdom Infections from Humans to Plants

Lav Sharma, Thuluz Meza-Menchaca, Rupesh Kumar Singh, Jesús Quiroz-Chávez, Luz María García-Pérez, Norma Rodríguez-Mora, Manuel Soto-Luna, Guadalupe Gastélum-Contreras, Virginia Vanzzini-Zago, Francisco Roberto Quiroz-Figueroa

Mycotoxins from the Fusarium genus are widely known to cause economic losses in crops, as well as high mortalities rates among immunocompromised humans. However, to date, no correlation has been established for the ability of Fusarium to cause cross-kingdom infection between plants and humans. The present investigation aims to fill this gap in the literature by examining cross-kingdom infection caused by Furasium strains isolated from non-immunocompromised or non-immunosuppressed humans, which were subsequently reinfected in plants and on human tissue. The findings document for the first time cross-kingdom infective events in Fusarium species, thus enhancing our existing knowledge of how mycopathogens continue to thrive in different hosts.

2020

Keratomycosis, horizontal cross-kingdom, onychomycosis, pathogenicity

10.3390/microorganisms8060947

Microorganisms

MDPI AG

Biology (General)