title: Farnesol induces apoptosis-like cell death in the pathogenic fungus Aspergillus flavus.
abstract: Farnesol (FOH) is known to induce apoptosis in some fungi and mammalian cells. We treated Aspergillus flavus, one of the leading causes of human invasive aspergillosis and a key producer of the most potent naturally occurring hepatocarcinogenic compounds, with FOH to assess its effect on the viability of the fungus. FOH strongly inhibited germination and growth of A. flavus and induced markers for apoptosis including nuclear condensation, phosphatidylserine (PS) externalization, DNA fragmentation and intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, metacaspase activation and abnormal cellular ultrastructure. Moreover, FOH-induced apoptosis in A. flavus was inhibited by the broad-spectrum caspase inhibitor Z-VAD-fmk and partially inhibited by the ROS scavenger l-proline, which suggests that FOH induces apoptosis in A. flavus via a mechanism involving metacaspase activation and ROS production.
authors.affiliation: China General Microbiological Culture Collection Center, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No 3 1st West Beichen Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100101, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoyun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: China General Microbiological Culture Collection Center, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No 3 1st West Beichen Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100101, China yzwang@im.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Youzhi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: China General Microbiological Culture Collection Center, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No 3 1st West Beichen Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100101, China.
authors.forename: Yuguang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Mycology, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No 3 1st West Beichen Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100101, China.
authors.forename: Xinli
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wei
mesh_terms: D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects*; D001228:Aspergillosis / Q000382:microbiology*; D001231:Aspergillus flavus / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism; D020169:Caspases / Q000378:metabolism; D053938:DNA Fragmentation / Q000187:drug effects; D004271:DNA, Fungal / Q000235:genetics; D005204:Farnesol / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006801:Humans; D025301:Hyphae; D050296:Microbial Viability / Q000187:drug effects; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D004271:DNA, Fungal; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species; D005204:Farnesol; D020169:Caspases; D002118:Calcium
keywords: Ca2+; antifungal; metacaspase; reactive oxygen species (ROS)