''Pestalotiopsis microspora'' is a species of

endophytic An endophyte is an endosymbiont, often a bacterium or fungus, that lives within a plant for at least part of its life cycle without causing apparent disease. Endophytes are ubiquitous and have been found in all species of plants studied to date; h ...

fungus A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from th ...

capable of breaking down and

digesting Digestion is the breakdown of large insoluble food molecules into small water-soluble food molecules so that they can be absorbed into the watery blood plasma. In certain organisms, these smaller substances are absorbed through the small intest ...

polyurethane Polyurethane (; often abbreviated PUR and PU) refers to a class of polymers composed of organic chemistry, organic units joined by carbamate (urethane) links. In contrast to other common polymers such as polyethylene and polystyrene, polyurethan ...

. Originally identified in 1880 in fallen foliage of common ivy (''

Hedera helix ''Hedera'', commonly called ivy (plural ivies), is a genus of 12–15 species of evergreen climbing or ground-creeping woody plants in the family Araliaceae, native to western, central and southern Europe, Macaronesia, northwestern Africa and ...

'') in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

, it also causes

leaf spot A leaf spot is a limited, discoloured, diseased area of a leaf that is caused by fungal, bacterial or viral plant diseases, or by injuries from nematodes, insects, environmental factors, toxicity or herbicides. These discoloured spots or lesions ...

in Hypericum 'Hidcote' (''

Hypericum patulum ''Hypericum patulum'', known as goldencup St. John's wort or yellow mosqueta, is a species of flowering plant in ''Hypericum'' sect. ''Ascyreia''. Taxonomy ''Hypericum patulum'' was originally described by Carl Peter Thunberg in 1784. It was ...

'') shrubs in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. However, its polyurethane degradation activity was discovered only in the 2010s in two distinct ''P. microspora'' strains isolated from plant stems in the Yasuni National Forest within the

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

ian

Amazon rainforest The Amazon rainforest, Amazon jungle or ; es, Selva amazónica, , or usually ; french: Forêt amazonienne; nl, Amazoneregenwoud. In English, the names are sometimes capitalized further, as Amazon Rainforest, Amazon Forest, or Amazon Jungle. ...

by a group of student researchers led by molecular

biochemistry Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology and ...

professor

Scott Strobel Scott A. Strobel (born July 4, 1964) is the provost, Henry Ford II professor of molecular biophysics and biochemistry, and a professor of chemistry at Yale University. He was the vice provost for Science Initiatives and vice president for West Ca ...

as part of

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

's annual Rainforest Expedition and Laboratory. It is the first fungus species found to be able to subsist on polyurethane in

anaerobic Anaerobic means "living, active, occurring, or existing in the absence of free oxygen", as opposed to aerobic which means "living, active, or occurring only in the presence of oxygen." Anaerobic may also refer to: * Anaerobic adhesive, a bonding a ...

conditions. This makes the fungus a potential candidate for

bioremediation Bioremediation broadly refers to any process wherein a biological system (typically bacteria, microalgae, fungi, and plants), living or dead, is employed for removing environmental pollutants from air, water, soil, flue gasses, industrial effluent ...

projects involving large quantities of

plastic Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be moulded, extruded or pressed into solid objects of various shapes. This adaptab ...

. ''Pestalotiopsis microspora'' was originally described from Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1880 by mycologist

Carlo Luigi Spegazzini Carlo Luigi Spegazzini, in Spanish Carlos Luis Spegazzini (20 April 1858 – 1 July 1926), was an Italian-born Argentinian botanist and mycologist. On the 1881/1882 expedition led by Giacomo Bove to explore Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, th ...

, who named it ''Pestalotia microspora''. In 1996 Julie C. Lee first isolated

Torreyanic acid Torreyanic acid is a dimeric quinone first isolated and by Lee ''et al.'' in 1996 from an endophyte, ''Pestalotiopsis microspora''. This endophyte is likely the cause of the decline of Florida torreya (''Torreya taxifolia''), an endangered speci ...

, a dimeric

quinone The quinones are a class of organic compounds that are formally "derived from aromatic compounds

uch as benzene or naphthalene Uch ( pa, ; ur, ), frequently referred to as Uch Sharīf ( pa, ; ur, ; ''"Noble Uch"''), is a historic city in the southern part of Pakistan's Punjab province. Uch may have been founded as Alexandria on the Indus, a town founded by Alexand ...

by conversion of an even number of –CH= groups into –C(=O)– groups with any necessary rearrangement of double ...

, from ''P. microspora'', and noted that the species is likely the cause of the decline of Florida torreya (''

Torreya taxifolia ''Torreya taxifolia'', commonly known as Florida torreya or stinking-cedar, but also sometimes as Florida nutmeg or gopher wood, is an endangered subcanopy tree of the yew family, Taxaceae. It is native to only a small glacial refugium in the sou ...

''), an endangered species of a tree that is related to the

paclitaxel Paclitaxel (PTX), sold under the brand name Taxol among others, is a chemotherapy medication used to treat a number of types of cancer. This includes ovarian cancer, esophageal cancer, breast cancer, lung cancer, Kaposi's sarcoma, cervical cancer ...

-producing yew tree ''

Taxus brevifolia ''Taxus brevifolia'', the Pacific yew or western yew, is a species of tree in the yew family Taxaceae native to the Pacific Northwest of North America. It is a small evergreen conifer, thriving in moisture and otherwise tending to take the form o ...

''.

References

External links

*
Index FungorumUSDA ARS Fungal Database
{{Taxonbar, from=Q141442 microspora Bioremediation Fungi described in 1880 Organisms breaking down plastic

See also

References

External links