title: Quantitative acoustic contrast tomography reveals unique multiscale physical fluctuations during aflatoxin synthesis in Aspergillus parasiticus.
abstract: Fungal pathogens need regulated mechanical and morphological fine-tuning for pushing through substrates to meet their metabolic and functional needs. Currently very little is understood on how coordinated colony level morphomechanical modifications regulate their behavior. This is due to an absence of a method that can simultaneously map, quantify, and correlate global fluctuations in physical properties of the expanding fungal colonies. Here, we show that three-dimensional ultrasonic reflections upon decoding can render acoustic contrast tomographs that contain information on material property and morphology in the same time scale of one important phytopathogen, Aspergillus parasiticus, at multiple length scales. By quantitative analysis of the changes in acoustic signatures collected as the A. parasiticus colony expands with time, we further demonstrate that the pathogen displays unique acoustic signatures during synthesis and release of its hepatocarcinogenic secondary metabolite, aflatoxin, suggesting an involvement of a multiscale morphomechanical reorganization of the colony in this process. Our studies illustrate for the first time, the feasibility of generating in any invading cell population, four-dimensional maps of global physical properties, with minimal physical perturbation of the specimens. Our developed method that we term quantitative acoustic contrast tomography (Q-ACT), provides a novel diagnostic framework for the identification of in-cell molecular factors and discovery of small molecules that may modulate pathogen invasion in a host.
authors.affiliation: Integrated Material Assessment and Predictive Simulation Laboratory (i-MAPS), Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, United States; Center for Uncertainty Driven Computational Biomechanics, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, United States. Electronic address: banerjes@cec.sc.edu.
authors.forename: Sourav
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Banerjee
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Fungal Pathogenesis and Secondary Metabolism, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, United States; Center for Uncertainty Driven Computational Biomechanics, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, United States.
authors.forename: Phani M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Gummadidala
authors.affiliation: Integrated Material Assessment and Predictive Simulation Laboratory (i-MAPS), Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, United States.
authors.forename: Rowshan A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Rima
authors.affiliation: Integrated Material Assessment and Predictive Simulation Laboratory (i-MAPS), Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, United States; Center for Uncertainty Driven Computational Biomechanics, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, United States.
authors.forename: Riaz U
authors.initials: RU
authors.lastname: Ahmed
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Fungal Pathogenesis and Secondary Metabolism, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, United States.
authors.forename: Gabriel J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Kenne
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Fungal Pathogenesis and Secondary Metabolism, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, United States; Center for Uncertainty Driven Computational Biomechanics, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, United States.
authors.forename: Chandrani
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mitra
authors.affiliation: Microbiology Department, National Center for Radiation Research and Technology, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Ola M
authors.initials: OM
authors.lastname: Gomaa
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Fungal Pathogenesis and Secondary Metabolism, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, United States.
authors.forename: Jasmine
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hill
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Fungal Pathogenesis and Secondary Metabolism, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, United States.
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: McFadden
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Fungal Pathogenesis and Secondary Metabolism, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, United States.
authors.forename: Nora
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Banaszek
authors.affiliation: Department of Exercise Science, Arnold School of Public Health University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, United States; Center for Colon Cancer Research, University of South Carolina, United States.
authors.forename: Raja
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fayad
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, United States; Center for Uncertainty Driven Computational Biomechanics, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, United States.
authors.forename: Gabriel
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Terejanu
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Fungal Pathogenesis and Secondary Metabolism, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, United States; Center for Uncertainty Driven Computational Biomechanics, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, United States. Electronic address: achanda@mailbox.sc.edu.
authors.forename: Anindya
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chanda
mesh_terms: D000348:Aflatoxins / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D001230:Aspergillus / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D064210:Secondary Metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D014463:Ultrasonography / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D000348:Aflatoxins
keywords: Aflatoxin synthesis; Aspergillus parasiticus; Global morphological mapping; Hyphal strength profiling; Multiscale image analysis; Quantitative acoustic contrast tomography