ABSTRACT
Rhizopus oryzae was the causative organism in a fatal case of rhinocerebral and then pulmonary mucormycosis in a patient cured of her underlying leukaemia by bone marrow transplantation. We discuss the risk factors involved and the need for maintaining a high index of suspicion of fungal infection in the late post-transplant period.
Subject(s)
Bone Marrow Transplantation , Candidiasis, Oral/microbiology , Mucormycosis/microbiology , Palate/microbiology , Rhizopus/isolation & purification , Adult , Female , Humans , Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive/therapy , Lung Diseases, Fungal/microbiology , Risk FactorsABSTRACT
Over 100 Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) isolates which produced phase bright inclusions have been isolated from soil samples from different areas in Taiwan. Three types of crystal proteins were visualized by phase contrast microscopy. Among these isolates, only 14 different types of plasmid profiles have been observed. They all possess a variety of plasmids ranging from a few kb to around 250 kb in size. With respect to the crystal protein profiles, the plasmid profiles, and the shapes of crystal proteins, we found that the majority of our isolates (87%) were different from most of the known Bt strains. Our other two types of isolates (10 and 3%) resembled Bt var. kurstaki HD1 and Bt var. israelensis, respectively. Most of our isolates were active against Bombyx mori (Lepidoptera) and Aedes aegypti (Diptera). Most interestingly, two of our isolates, Nos. 82 and 96, were found highly toxic to Heliothis virescens, even compared with the standard strain, Bt var. kurstaki HD1. Using insecticidal crystal protein (ICP) gene probe from Bt var. aizawai HD-133 to probe the total DNA of our isolates, we observed that at least one plasmid from each of the tested strains reacted with the probe. A 10 kb plasmid from some of our isolates hybridized with the probe. This probably is the first evidence demonstrating that the ICP gene sequence can be found in a low molecular weight plasmid.
