Why are some fungi pathogenic while the majority poses no threat to humans or other
hosts? Of the more than 1.5 million fungal species only about 150–300 are pathogenic for …

The observation that some aspects of amoeba-fungal interactions resemble animal
phagocytic cell-fungal interactions, together with the finding that amoeba passage can …

Cryptococcus neoformans is a model or-ganism for the study of fungal infections. This
encapsulated fungus is found worldwide, particularly in soil samples contaminated by bird …

Several dimorphic fungi are important human pathogens, but the origin and maintenance of
virulence in these organisms is enigmatic, since an interaction with a mammalian host is not …

Amoeboid predators, such as amoebae, are proposed to select for survival traits in soil
microbes such as Cryptococcus neoformans; these traits can also function in animal …

Filamentous fungi represent classical examples for environmentally acquired human
pathogens whose major virulence mechanisms are likely to have emerged long before the …

Environmental pathogenic fungi present a paradox in that they are virulent in animals
without requiring animal hosts for replication or survival, a phenomenon we call 'ready …

Infections with filamentous fungi are common to all animals, but attention is rising especially
due to the increasing incidence and high mortality rates observed in immunocompromised …

The origin of virulence in environmental fungi that have no requirement for animal hosts in
their life cycle is enigmatic. Cryptococcus neoformans is a human pathogenic fungus with …

The innate immune system is a critical line of defense against pathogenic fungi.
Macrophages act at an early stage of infection, detecting and phagocytizing infectious …