Treatment of a clinically relevant plant-pathogenic fungus with an agricultural azole causes cross-resistance to medical azoles and potentiates caspofungin efficacy.
Azoles are extensively applied in agriculture and medicine, and a relationship between the development of azole resistance in agriculture and the development of azole resistance in clinical practice may exist. The maize pathogen Colletotrichum graminicola, causing cutaneous mycosis and keratitis, has been used to investigate the acquisition of resistance to an agricultural azole and the resulting cross-resistance to various medical antifungal agents. Azole-adapted strains were less sensitive to all azoles tested but showed increased sensitivity to caspofungin, amphotericin B, and nystatin. Viability staining and infection assays with excised human skin confirmed these data.
Serfling
Albrecht
A
Faculty of Agriculture, Institute of Agricultural and Nutritional Sciences, Phytopathology and Plant Protection, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, D-06099, Halle (Saale), Germany.
Wohlrab
Johannes
J
Deising
Holger B
HB
D000666:Amphotericin B / Q000494:pharmacology; D000935:Antifungal Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001393:Azoles / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000077336:Caspofungin; D020231:Colletotrichum / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000254:growth & development; D025141:Drug Resistance, Fungal; D004357:Drug Synergism; D054714:Echinocandins / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005658:Fungi / Q000187:drug effects*; D005659:Fungicides, Industrial / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006801:Humans; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D055666:Lipopeptides; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D009761:Nystatin / Q000494:pharmacology; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D012867:Skin / Q000382:microbiology; D014230:Triazoles / Q000494:pharmacology
D000935:Antifungal Agents; D001393:Azoles; D054714:Echinocandins; D005659:Fungicides, Industrial; D055666:Lipopeptides; D014230:Triazoles; D009761:Nystatin; C087114:tebuconazole; D000666:Amphotericin B; D000077336:Caspofungin