Cunninghamella elegans
| Cunninghamella elegans | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Subdivision: | Mucoromycotina |
| Order: | Mucorales |
| Family: | Cunninghamellaceae |
| Genus: | Cunninghamella |
| Species: | C. elegans |
| Binomial name | |
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Cunninghamella elegans Lendner (1907) |
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| Synonyms | |
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Cunninghamella elegans is a species of fungus in the genus Cunninghamella found in soil.
It can be grown in Sabouraud dextrose broth, a liquid medium used for cultivation of yeasts and molds from liquid which are normally sterile.
As opposed to C. bertholletiae, it is not a human pathogen, with the exception of two documented patients.
C. elegans is a filamentous fungus that produces purely gray colonies.
Electron microscopy studies show that the conidia are covered with spines.
Cunninghamella elegans is able to degrade xenobiotics. It has a variety of enzymes of phases I (modification enzymes acting to introduce reactive and polar groups into their substrates) and II (conjugation enzymes) of the xenobiotic metabolism, as do mammals. , aryl sulfotransferase, glutathione S-transferase, UDP-glucuronosyltransferase, UDP-glucosyltransferase activities have been detected in cytosolic or microsomal fractions.
and in C. elegans are part of the phase I enzymes. They are induced by the corticosteroid cortexolone and by phenanthrene.C. elegans also possesses a lanosterol 14-alpha demethylase, another enzyme in the cytochrome P450 family.
C. elegans also possesses a glutathione S-transferase.
Cunninghamella elegans is a microbial model of mammalian drug metabolism. The use of this fungus could reduce the over-all need for laboratory animals.
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