Jump to content

Cunninghamella

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cunninghamella
"Cunninghamella echinulata"
Cunninghamella echinulata
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Mucoromycota
Class: Mucoromycetes
Order: Mucorales
Family: Cunninghamellaceae
Genus: Cunninghamella
Matr. (1903)
Type species
Cunninghamella africana
Matr. 1903
Species

See text

Synonyms[1]

Cunninghamella is a genus of fungi in the order Mucorales, and the family Cunninghamellaceae.[2] The genus was circumscribed by French mycologist Alphonse Louis Paul Matruchot in Ann. Mycol. Vol.1 on page 47 in 1903.[3]

The genus name of Cunninghamella is in honour of David Douglas Cunningham (1843–1914), who was a Scottish doctor and researcher who worked extensively in India on various aspects of public health and medicine.[4]

Species

[edit]

As of  2015, Index Fungorum lists 13 valid species of Cunninghamella:[5]

Uses

[edit]

Members of this genus are often used in studies investigating the metabolism of drugs, because these species metabolize a wide range of drugs in manners similar to mammalian enzyme systems.[6] Many species are also capable of oxidizing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, a class of stable organic molecules that tends to persist in the environment and contains many known carcinogenic and mutagenic compounds.[7]

The presence of a cytochrome P450 has been demonstrated in C. bainieri.[8]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Synonymy: Cunninghamella Matr". Species Fungorum. CAB International. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
  2. ^ Cunninghamella at the U.S. National Library of Medicine Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)
  3. ^ Matruchot L. (1903). "Une Mucorinée purement conidienne. Cunninghamella africana". Annales Mycologici (in French). 1: 45–60.
  4. ^ Burkhardt, Lotte (2022). Eine Enzyklopädie zu eponymischen Pflanzennamen [Encyclopedia of eponymic plant names] (pdf) (in German). Berlin: Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum, Freie Universität Berlin. doi:10.3372/epolist2022. ISBN 978-3-946292-41-8. S2CID 246307410. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
  5. ^ "Species Fungorum (version 26th August 2015). In: Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life". Retrieved 21 September 2015.
  6. ^ Asha S, Vidyavathi M (2009). "Cunninghamella--a microbial model for drug metabolism studies--a review". Biotechnol. Adv. 27 (1): 16–29. doi:10.1016/j.biotechadv.2008.07.005. PMID 18775773.
  7. ^ Cerniglia, Carl E. (1992). "Biodegradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons". Biodegradation. 3 (2–3): 351–368. doi:10.1007/BF00129093. S2CID 25516145.
  8. ^ Aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase activity in the fungus Cunninghamella bainieri: Evidence for the presence of cytochrome P-450. J.P. Ferris, L.H. MacDonald, M.A. Patrie and M.A. Martin, Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Volume 175, Issue 2, August 1976, pages 443-452, doi:10.1016/0003-9861(76)90532-4