Re: Fungus May Be Having Sex Among Us

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 4/5/2007 9:31:56 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,

jeaninem660@... writes:

Well, ok, better just keep my mouth shut on this one. but, hey now,

no, cant say that either. never mind. they must be haveing a hayday

in my lungs the last few days.

>

> Fungus May Be Having Sex Among Us

Jeanine,

My thoughts exactly. At somebody is having fun over this issue.

Sharon

************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.com.

[Guest guest]

Well, ok, better just keep my mouth shut on this one. but, hey now,

no, cant say that either. never mind. they must be haveing a hayday

in my lungs the last few days.

>

> Fungus May Be Having Sex Among Us

>

> By LiveScience Staff

>

> posted: 13 July 2005

> 01:32 pm ET

>

> http://www.livescience.com/animalworld/050713_fungal_sex.html

>

> Sex was once thought to be the domain of higher life forms. But now

> a common fungus -- one that causes deadly infections in humans --

> appears to reproduce sexually.

>

> The fungus, aspergillus fumigatus, has also been linked to asthma.

> Scientists always thought it reproduced asexually, a method of

> simple cell division used by many microbial creatures.

>

> A new study finds the fungus has a series of genes required for

> sexual reproduction. An analysis of 290 specimens revealed nearly

> equal proportions of two different sexes or 'mating types,' which

in

> theory could have sex with each other, the researchers said.

>

> That might provide clues for treating people infected by the

fungus.

>

> " The possible presence of sex in the species is highly significant

> as it affects the way we try and control disease, " said

> Denning of the University of Manchester. " If the fungus does

> reproduce sexually as part of its life cycle, then it might evolve

> more rapidly to become resistant to antifungal drugs -- sex might

> create new strains with increased ability to cause disease and

> infect humans. "

>

> The discovery, announced today, is detailed in the journal Current

> Biology. The work was led by Dyer at the University of

> Nottingham.

>

> The study also found that genes had been, or were being, exchanged

> between individuals of the fungus and that some key genes involved

> with detecting a partner were active in the fungus.

>

> " Taken as a whole, the results indicate that the fungus has a

recent

> evolutionary history of sexual activity and might still be having

> sex so far 'unseen' by human eyes, " Dyer said.

>

> An offbeat thought: " The fungus is very common in compost heaps so

> these might be a hotbed of fungal sex, " Dyer said.

>