Biological Sciences
Penicillium
Penicillium is a genus of fungi that includes over 300 species. It is known for its ability to produce the antibiotic penicillin, which is used to treat bacterial infections. Penicillium is also used in the production of various foods and beverages, such as cheese and wine.
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9 Key excerpts on "Penicillium"
eBook - ePubNew and Future Developments in Microbial Biotechnology and Bioengineering
Penicillium System Properties and Applications
- Vijai G. Gupta, Susana Rodriguez-Couto(Authors)
- 2018(Publication Date)
- Elsevier(Publisher)
Part IPenicillium : Biology to BiotechnologyOutlineChapter 1 Biodiversity of the Genus Penicillium in Different HabitatsChapter 2 Understanding the Diversity of Penicillium Using Next-Generation Sequencing
Passage contains an image Chapter 1Biodiversity of the Genus Penicillium in Different Habitats
Ajar N. Yadav1 , Priyanka Verma1 , Vinod Kumar1 , Punesh Sangwan1 , Shashank Mishra2 , Neha Panjiar2 , Vijai K. Gupta3 and Anil K. Saxena4 ,1 Eternal University, Sirmour, Himachal Pradesh, India,2 Birla Institute of Technology, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India,3 ERA Chair of Green Chemistry, Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn, Estonia,4 ICAR-National Bureau of Agriculturally Important Microorganisms, Kusmaur, Uttar Pradesh, IndiaAbstract
Penicillium is a genus of ascomycetous fungi and has an important role in various natural processes. The wide and ubiquitous presence of the Penicillium species has been researched in several studies. According to a comprehensive literature analysis Penicillium is one of the most common fungi occurring in various environments such as soil, air, and extreme environments (temperature, salinity, water deficiency, and pH) and is also associated with plants and specific food products. Due to its huge diversity and existence in extreme environments there is great potential in using it for various environmental, biotechnological, and industrial applications. This chapter describes how to isolate and identify Penicillium species and its diversity in various habitats as well as insight in its selectivity.Keywords
Extreme environments; Penicillium ; biodiversity; plant associated; habitats1.1 Introduction
Penicillium is an important genus of phylum ascomycota, found in the natural environment as well as in food and drug production. Some members of the genus produce penicillin, a molecule used as an antibiotic that kills or stops the growth of certain kinds of bacteria inside the body. Other species are used in cheese making. It has a worldwide distribution and a large economic impact on human life. Its main function in nature is the decomposition of organic materials, where species cause devastating rots as pre- and postharvest pathogens on food crops (Frisvad and Samson, 2004 ), as well as for the production of a diverse range of mycotoxins (Frisvad and Samson, 2004 ). Some species also have positive impacts, with the food industry exploiting some species for the production of speciality cheeses, such as Camembert or Roquefort (Giraud et al., 2010 ) and fermented sausages (López-Pérez et al., 2015 ). The degradative ability of Penicillium is due to the production of novel hydrolytic enzymes (Raper and Thom, 1949 ; Li et al., 2007 ; Adsul et al., 2007 ; Terrasan et al., 2010 ). Its biggest impact and claim to fame is the production of penicillin, which revolutionized medical approaches to treating bacterial diseases (Chain et al., 1940 ; Abraham et al., 1941 ). Many other extrolites have since been discovered that are used for a wide range of applications (Frisvad and Samson, 2004 ). Pitt (1979)
eBook - ePubNew and Future Developments in Microbial Biotechnology and Bioengineering
Recent Advances in Application of Fungi and Fungal Metabolites: Current Aspects
- Joginder Singh Panwar, Praveen Gehlot, Joginder Singh(Authors)
- 2020(Publication Date)
- Elsevier(Publisher)
Chapter 14: Genus Penicillium: Advances and application in the modern era
Nikhil Ashtekara ; Garima Anandb ; Hirekodathakallu V. Thulasiramc ; Kunhiraman C. Rajeshkumara , *a National Fungal Culture Collection of India (NFCCI), Biodiversity and Palaeobiology (Fungi) Group, Agharkar Research Institute, Pune, Maharashtra, Indiab Department of Botany, University of Delhi, Delhi, Indiac Division of Organic Chemistry, CSIR National Chemical Laboratory (NCL), Pune, Maharashtra, India* Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]Abstract
The genus Penicillium is among the most abundant and ubiquitous groups of soil fungi that exist in nature. The genus is phylogenetically represented by 2 subgenera and 26 sections under the family Aspergillaceae , with 429 globally valid species as per the International Commission on Penicillium and Aspergillus (ICPA). The Penicillium species produces a diverse range of structurally heterogeneous secondary metabolites (SMs) that are of prime interest in the industrial and therapeutic domains as well as to mycologists. A part of the polyphasic approach employed for identification includes the secondary metabolites that thrive as chemical signatures for biological segregation of these species. The biological activities demonstrated by these repositories of SMs are promising leads for drug discovery and development. This chapter summarizes and reviews some important Penicillium species and their bioactive metabolites that are reported to possess antibacterial, antitumor, antifungal, and antiinflammatory activities. It highlights the role of gene clusters accountable for the production of SMs, with a focus on their mechanism and regulation for enhanced metabolite production. It also encompasses the recent works on Penicillium species with advancements in using nanoparticles for multiple drug resistance as well as for bioremediation and wastewater treatment. The genus Penicillium
- Jeyabalan Sangeetha, Devarajan Thangadurai, Saher Islam, Jeyabalan Sangeetha, Devarajan Thangadurai, Saher Islam(Authors)
- 2020(Publication Date)
- Apple Academic Press(Publisher)
Used in production of several valuable productsracemosusSoil Plant pathogenPenicilliumbilaiaeSoil Agricultural inoculantdigitatumSoil/water Plant pathogenechinulatumSoil Production of mycophenolic acidexpansumSoil Plant pathogenglaucumSoil Used in making Gorgonzola cheeseitalicumSoil Plant pathogenTrichodermaharzianumSoil BiofertilizerlongibrachiatumSoil/Water Produces xylanaseovalisporumSoil/Water BiocontrolpleurotumSoil/Water UnknownvirideSoil PGPF4.3 INTERACTION OF Penicillium WITH PLANTS
Penicillium belongs to the kingdom ‘Fungi,’ phylum ‘Ascomycota,’ class ‘Eurotiomycetes’ order ‘Eurotiales,’ family ‘Trichocomaceae,’ genus ‘Penicillium.’ Penicillium is repeatedly referred to as Deuteromycetes, or Fungi imperfecti. The name Penicillium derives from the word “brush,” which denotes to the appearance of spores in Penicillium. There are over 300 species of Penicillium, and Penicillium chrysogenum (one of the species) is classified as a psychrotrophic microorganism, which has the best lipase enzyme activity. Moreover, it was also found that among all the other fungi studied in the artic tundra, Penicillium chrysogenum showed maximum production of lipase. Penicillium chrysogenum has the capability to produce alpha-amylase as it has high enzymatic activity. Secondary metabolites are also produced due to some component that is present in the genetical structure of the fungus. Species of Penicillium are omnipresent soil fungi favoring over cool and moderate climates, generally present wherever organic material is accessible. Saprophytic species of Penicillium and Aspergillus are among the best-recognized representatives of the Eurotiales; besides, they mainly feed on organic decomposable substances. Penicillium is filamentous fungi and has split conidiospores. Round conidia are present and are unicellular. Cell walls of Penicillium species are mainly composed of Glucans. Penicillium species tend to have minor hyphae due to which the protoplasmic movement challenging to perceive. The small hyphae also lead to reduced peripheral growth zones. Penicillium spores are capable of getting wet though they have a hydrophobic surface, and this is necessary for germination to occur. Penicillium
- R. Russell M. Paterson, Nelson Lima, R. Russell M. Paterson, Nelson Lima(Authors)
- 2015(Publication Date)
- CRC Press(Publisher)
423 26 Penicillium Mycotoxins Physiological and Molecular Aspects Rolf Geisen 26.1 TAXONOMIC ASPECTS The genus Penicillium consists of about 250 species. Most species are anamorphic because their sexual cycle is unknown. It can however be expected that many of these anamorphic species do carry mating type genes and are able to mate, as was recently shown for Penicillium roqueforti [1]. The sexual reproductive species corresponding to Penicillium are EuPenicillium and Talaromyces . Species of both genera are nutritionally undemanding and can be found especially in low-water activity foods. Penicillium belongs to the order Eurotiales and the family Trichocomaceae and to this family belong also Aspergillus and Paecilomyces . Whereas the morphology of the conidiophore of Aspergillus is quite different to Penicillium , Paecilomyces has a similar conidiophore structure; however, it is less densely organized and the conidia are more ellipsoidal than Penicillium . Because of these morphological similarities, Paecilomyces was formerly grouped with Penicillium . The conidiophores of Penicillium form the typical brush-like structure, which gave this genus its name (penicillus = brush). Based on the micromorphology of the conidiophores, which can be monoverticillate, biverticillate, or terverticillate, depending on the number of branching lev-els, the species are grouped into the subgenera Aspergilloides , Biverticillium , Furcatum (also biverticillate), and Penicillium [2]. Subgenus Penicillium contains species with terverticillate conidiophores, and many food-related and important mycotoxin-producing species belong to this subgenus such as (1) P. roqueforti , Penicillium carneum , and Penicillium paneum (section Roqueforti ); (2) Penicillium chrysogenum and Penicillium nalgiovense (section Chrysogena ); CONTENTS 26.1 Taxonomic Aspects ...............................................................................................................
eBook - PDFFungi
Experimental Methods In Biology, Second Edition
- Ramesh Maheshwari(Author)
- 2016(Publication Date)
- CRC Press(Publisher)
Man’s quest is to obtain the potentially useful compounds in large quantities for use through applications of microbiology, biochemistry, and chemical engineering, or in one single word, by biotechnology. This chapter gives a few better-studied examples to illustrate the realized as well as the perceived uses of fungi. 7.1 FUNGAL FACTORIES 7.1.1 Penicillin The turning point in the industrial exploitation of fungi was the chance discovery of Penicillium notatum by Alexander Fleming in the 1920s, followed by the isolation in 1943 of the strain NRRL 1951 of Penicillium chrysogenum (Raper et al ., 1944; Raper, 1946). To get enough penicillin, the NRRL strain was subjected to continuous processes of mutation and selection for penicillin to be produced as the “wonder drug” active against the causes of meningitis, community-acquired pneu-monia, and sepsis. On the occasion of being awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine for the discovery of penicillin, Alexander Fleming said: The origin of penicillin was the contamination of a culture plate of staphylococci by a mould. It was noticed that for some distance around the mould colony the staphylococcal colonies had become translucent and 122 FUNGI: EXPERIMENTAL METHODS IN BIOLOGY, SECOND EDITION evidently lysis was going on. This was an extraordinary appearance [Figure 7. 1] and seemed to demand investigation, so the mould was isolated in pure culture and some of its properties were determined. The mould was found to belong to the genus Penicillium and it was eventually identified as Penicillium notatum , a member of the P. chrysogenum group, which had originally been isolated by Westling from decaying hyssop. Having got the mould in pure culture I planted it on another culture plate and after it had grown at room temperature for 4 or 5 days I streaked different microbes radially across the plate. Some of them grew right up to the mould—others were inhibited for a distance of several centimetres.
eBook - PDF- D.H. Howard(Author)
- 2002(Publication Date)
- CRC Press(Publisher)
1. Unidentified Paecilomyces in Opportunistic Pathogenesis Clinically important members of the genus Paecilomyces, like Aspergillus species, are among the easiest opportunistic molds for moderately mycologically specialized laboratory staff to identify, especially since the very distinctive P. variotii and P. lilacinus are overwhelmingly predominant. On the other hand, mycological trainees invariably find them difficult to distinguish from Penicillium species, especially members of Penicillium subgenus Biverticillium and related species currently classified in Geosmithia, as well as Penicillium janthinellum and similar species with extended collulas. Therefore, at least since the publication of Compendium of Soil Fungi by Domsch et al. in 1980 (74), there has been an increasingly clear split between competent mycology generating species-level reports for Paecilomyces and unreliable mycology generating genus-level reports, a phenomenon particularly notable in developed ASCOMYCETES 341 countries with good access to literature and training courses. In Penicillium, the chance of an incorrect genus-level identification being given even by an unspecialized laboratory is relatively small; moreover, since individual species are very difficult to identify, a laboratory report of Penicillium sp. for a non-P. marneffei isolate is to be expected unless species identification has been expressly requested. A report of Paecilomyces sp., however, from any situation in which the fungus may have been significant, at the very least indicates a reporter who is unaware of the drug suscepti bility differences in this genus, a difference that has been widely written about since the 1960s. Such reports, then, especially in publications, clearly signal suboptimal mycological awareness and must be treated with caution. Review literature should not accept such reports at face value.
eBook - PDF- Emea, A(Authors)
- 2018(Publication Date)
- Agri Horti Press(Publisher)
Although naturally occurring penicillins such as penicillin G (produced by Penicillium chrysogenum ) have a This ebook is exclusively for this university only. Cannot be resold/distributed. Fungal Diseases of Plants 193 relatively narrow spectrum of biological activity, a wide range of other penicillins can be produced by chemical modification of the natural penicillins. Modern penicillins are semisynthetic compounds, obtained initially from fermentation cultures, but then structurally altered for specific desirable properties. Other antibiotics produced by fungi include: griseofulvin from Penicillium griseofulvin used to treat dermatophyte infections of the skin, hair and nails; cyclosporins, commonly used as an immunosuppressant during transplant surgery; and fusidic acid, used to help control infection from methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria. Widespread use of these antibiotics for the treatment of bacterial diseases, such as tuberculosis, syphilis, leprosy, and many others began in the early 20th century and continues to play a major part in anti-bacterial chemotherapy. In nature, antibiotics of fungal or bacterial origin appear to play a dual role: at high concentrations they act as chemical defence against competition with other microorganisms in species-rich environments, such as the rhizosphere, and at low concentrations as quorum-sensing molecules for intra-or interspecies signaling. Cultured Foods Baker’s yeast or Saccharomyces cerevisiae , a single-celled fungus, is used to make bread and other wheat-based products, such as pizza dough and dumplings. Yeast species of the genus Saccharomyces are also used to produce alcoholic beverages through fermentation. Shoyu koji mold ( Aspergillus oryzae ) is an essential ingredient in brewing Shoyu (soy sauce) and sake, and the preparation of miso, while Rhizopus species are used for making tempeh.
- Dongyou Liu(Author)
- 2011(Publication Date)
- CRC Press(Publisher)
extensive. examples. of. problems . . Unreliable. morphological. minutia. to. describe. new. species. and. variability. within. the. morphological. characters. of. accepted. species. are. constant. issues. . Penicillium .is.difficult.in.these.respects.and.the.situ-ation.in.the.terverticillate.penicillia.(heavily.responsible.for. toxin.production).is.particularly.problematic.[2,3] . .In.general,. it.is.accepted.that.a.“polyphasic”.approach.is.optimal.where. morphological,. physiological,. biochemical,. and. molecular. biological.characters.are.employed.to.characterize.fungi . Penicillium . Link. is. the. most. common. of. the. ubiqui-tous. fungi . . It. is. related. to. other. genera. that. produce. peni-cilli. (i .e., . Scopulariopsis ,. Geosmithia ,. and. Paecilomyces ). to. which. it. could. be. confused . . The. teleomorphic. genera. with.anamorphs which.produce.penicilli.are. Byssochlamys ,. EuPenicillium ,. and. Talaromyces . . Furthermore,. the. genus. can.usefully.be.separated.into.subgenera.where.the.numbers. of.branch.points.in.conidiophores.determine.to.which.sub-genus.strains.belong . .In. Aspergilloides ,.there.is.one.branch. point.and.so.are.monoverticillate . .The.biverticillate.subgenus. 41 Penicillium : Mycoses and Mycotoxinoses R.R.M. Paterson and N. Lima CONTENTS 41.1 . Introduction. ..................................................................................................................................................................... 329 41.1.1 . Mycosis. ................................................................................................................................................................ 330 41.1.1.1 . Classification.and.Biology. .................................................................................................................... 330 41.1.1.2 . Clinical.Features.and.Pathogenesis. ......................................................................................................
eBook - PDF- Dilip K. Arora(Author)
- 2003(Publication Date)
- CRC Press(Publisher)
32 Plectomycetes: Biotechnological Importance and Systematics Jlinta Sllgiyama The University Museum, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo and NCIMB Japan Co., Ltd., Shizuoka, Japan Hiroyuki Ogawa NCIMB Japan Co., Ltd., Shizuoka, Japan 1 INTRODUCTION The Ascomycota consisting almost 40% of known fungal species (ca. 80,000) is the largest phylum in the kingdom Fungi (Kirk et al. 2001). Within the Ascomycota the plectomycete species diversity is about 900 species accommodated in 90 genera, (including their related anamorphic species). Plectomycetes are of great importance for the following reasons: (a) they live in soil as saprophiles and decompose various substrates from sugar to cellulose and keratine, (b) useful in fermentation and related industries, (c) some of them cause mycosis or produce mycotoxins, and (d) the trichocomaceous species Aspergillus nidulans with an Emericella teleomorph is one of the model fungi for genetic studies and related disciplines. This chapter outlines the current status of plectomycete systematics, phylogeny, and evolution with emphasis on the economic importance of Aspergillus and Penicillium, and their related teleomorphs. 2 BIOTECHNOLOGICAL IMPORTANCE OF THE PLECTOMYCETES Plectomycetes, particularly members of the Trichocomaceae has well developed enzyme systems that are used in the beverage and food industries. Since the first enzyme takadiastase (invented by Jokichi Takamine) by A. oryzae was industrially produced in 1894, glucoamylase and amylase from black Aspergillus spp., pectinase from A. niger, and Penicillium notatum and proteases by Aspergillus spp. have been used in food processing (Berka et al. 1992; Novo-Nordisk Co.— http://www.novo.dk/enzymes/Technology.htm).
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