Discovery of novel fungal species and pathogens on bat carcasses in a cave in Yunnan Province, China.

ABSTRACT: Virulent infectious fungal diseases, in natural and managed landscapes, are increasing. Fungal diseases in humans, animals and plants have caused die-off and extinction events and have become a threat to food security. A caving expedition in Yunnan Province, China, revealed two bat carcasses covered in fungal mycelia. Eleven fungal isolates were obtained from these bat carcasses, and morphological observations and multigene phylogenetic analyses revealed they were Fusarium incarnatum, Mucor hiemalis and Trichoderma harzianum and four new species, Mortierella rhinolophicola, M. multispora, M. yunnanensis and Neocosmospora pallidimors. One of the more alarming findings is that a number of infections related to Neocosmospora, previously associated with human

SUBMITTER: Karunarathna SC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7473127 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature