The Kingdom Fungi - Term Paper Example

Research Paper: Biology; Fungi Background information The kingdom fungi include numerous organisms such as mildews, mushrooms, yeasts and toadstools. Fungal organisms mostly exist in water or water while others have either symbiotic or parasitic relationships with animals or plants that act as their hosts. Fungi are not, included in the kingdom plant because they lack the chlorophyll pigment that helps the plants to photosynthesize besides them having unique cell wall and membrane. Generally, fungi are eukaryotic organisms indicating that their cell contain nuclei (Alberts 2002). Fungi provide nutrients to their hosts and to the soil by breaking down dead organic materials. This therefore provides a continuous cycle of nutrients in the ecosystems hence there is interdependence. Fungi provide medicinal drugs that are used to cure numerous diseases, these include the antibiotics and some like ergot produces the lysergic acid that helps produce psychedelic drug (Carlile & Watkinson 2001). Other form of fungi such as mushrooms is used as food and bubbles are used in the fermentation during the formation of beer. However, there are some forms of fungi that cause diseases both to the plants and animals. These diseases include athlete’s feet, ringworms and tape worms and thrush. In plants fungi causes diseases such as canker, scabs and mildews. These lead to significant loss to the farmer as they reduce the productivity of crops (Pascoe & Kuhn 2003). One type of fungi is Coccidioides immitis. The fungus is found in soil of the low rainfall regions such as in the southwestern U.S and Mexico. The fungus belongs to the family of Onygenaceae that is in the class of Euascomycetes. The fungus causes a disease known as Coccidioidomycosis, generally called valley fever (Alberts 2002). The most common symptoms of the valley fever are fatigue, night sweats, headache, severe fever, skin rashes, muscle ache and joint pains. These symptoms usually appear in a period of one to three weeks after getting contamination with the fungus which is mostly occurs through breathing of the fungal spores (Toone 2011). These symptoms can last for weeks, however in severe cases, they can develop long term effects on the patient causing breathing problems and central nervous system related problems. The fungal disease affect any age group, but mostly prevalent in adults of above sixty years. Those with very weak immune system for example those suffering from HIV/AIDS or someone who have had an organ transplant and pregnant women stand a high chance of contacting severe valley fever (Carlile & Watkinson 2001). Coccidioidomycosis is believed to have originated from the Southwestern U.S according to the research and studies performed by the United States in the 1940s and early 1950s. This shows why there is high prevalence of the disease in the area than the other parts of the United States (Toone 2011). The modern civilization has greatly improved the diagnosis and treatment of Coccidioidomycosis and has help reduce the percentage of deaths caused by the fungus. Modern civilization has led to the invention of modern medical equipment that help in the identification of the host factors of the fungus that can predispose the severity of the disease (Olsen 2011). It has also led invention of antifungal drug therapies and surgical debridement which have replaced the ancient methods that were used such as the use of amphotericin B which is now preserved for the pregnant women. Modern laboratory tests has help in the distinguishing of the subacute community and self – limited forms of pneumonia which are both caused by the bacterial fungus Coccidioides. These tests include the coccidioidal serological and fungal cultures tests (Pascoe & Kuhn 2003). The morphology of the Coccidioides immitis includes the following; Source; (Alberts, 2002).  Cellular and biochemical characteristics of Coccidioides immitis One of the main cellular features of Coccidioides immitis is that the fungus is a dimorphic pathogen; that is it has the ability to change from the room temperature to the body temperature. This is because it contains endospores that are very adaptive to different environments as the endospores can easily move within the bloodstream of an organism to other body parts such as the brain thereby causing disease (Pascoe & Kuhn 2003). This characteristic of dimorphism gives the disease causing organism the ability to avoid the immunity of an organism because of the changing of the antigens surfaces. The spherule of the organism is formed from the uninucleate arthroconidium during mitosis. This produces a nucleus that is eventually covered by a thin membrane. During the process of the growth of the fungus, it eventually raptures thereby releasing endospores that are not affected by the immune system of the host (Olsen 2011). Another cellular characteristic of the fungus is the production of coccidioidal urease that stimulates the damaging of the tissues of the infected organism or site; hence they are able to survive in very harsh environment. Biochemical characteristics of Coccidioides immitis The fungus has N –terminal and partial amino acid of a purified 19-kDa antigen. This clones the gene that encodes the fungus’ polypeptide. This hence confirms the specific antigen of Coccidiodes (CS -Ag) that has low degree of glycosylation; however its purified form has no concanavalin A affinity (Alberts 2002). Its carbohydrate composition shows the presence of mannose, galactose and xylose. The fungus has a DNA in its culture that may have clinical importance in the diagnosis of coccidioidal infections. The fungus spores can also survive the high temperatures of the arid areas and the inactivation by moist heat of about 1210C for not less than 15 minutes (Patterson 2006). An example of a structural diagram of the Coccidioidomycosis is a shown below, under different life cycles; Source; (Alberts, 2002).  Patients suffering from the fungal disease can be treated using several ways and clinical procedures. These kind of medical procedures include the following medical procedures for the different stages of diseases such as meningitis, diffuse pneumonia, bone and joint disease and others. Forms of medication involve use of antifungal therapy for the less severe acute primary coccidioidal pneumonia. This takes a period of between three to six months of treatment. In case of a high risk situation of individuals suffering from the fungal disease, use of oral azoles is recommended to avoid the side effects especially for the aged. This type of treatment however, is not vital for the pregnant women because it’s presumed to cause teratogenicity. The use of amphotericin B is therefore safe for the pregnant women. During the therapy process, the clinical uses CF IgG titers to monitor the patients’ response to the medication for a period of not less than one year (Pascoe & Kuhn 2003). The fungal gene, SOWgp encodes the immunity that is a dominant protein in the parasitic phase of the pathogen in the human form. Under different homogenization and recombination rates during the evolution of the gene of its repetitive array, the outcome of reveals a repeated units that is almost similar to the mutation period of a nucleotide (Carlile & Watkinson 2001). This release of the gene’s molecules by the fungal pathogens may give false information to the host organism, hence may make the fungus to benefit from the host without the host realizing the side effects of the fungus. This evolution of the repeated fungal gene improves the immune system of the fungus hence making it to be more adaptive to the host’s environment. Conclusion It is noted that fungi has both positive and negative effects to the plants and animals. Their adaptive features enable them to survive in different hostile host’s environment. Coccidioides immitis causes valley fever that mainly affects the animals through inhaling of the affected air. It is therefore vital to avoid contamination with the affected and to maintain good health. References Alberts, B. (2002). Molecular biology of the cell (4th ed.). New York: Garland Science Carlile, M., & Watkinson, S. (2001). The fungi (2nd ed.). San Diego: Academic Press Olsen, L. (2011). Fungal diseases an emerging threat to human, animal, and plant health: Workshop summary. Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press. Patterson, T. (2006). Fungal infections. Philadelphia, PA: Saunders. Pascoe, E., & Kuhn, D. (2003). Fungi. New York: PowerKids Press. Toone, E. (2011). Advances in enzymology and related areas of molecular biology. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley. Read More