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STACHYLYSIN MAY BE CAUSE OF HEMORRAHAGING IN STACHYBOTRYS CHARTARUM EXPOSURES
Citation:
Vesper, S J. AND M. J. Vesper. STACHYLYSIN MAY BE CAUSE OF HEMORRAHAGING IN STACHYBOTRYS CHARTARUM EXPOSURES. INFECTION AND IMMUNITY 70(4):2065-2069, (2002).
Impact/Purpose:
To understand children's risks from exposure to molds in their environment and to explore risk management options for mitigating those risks.
Description:
Stachybotrys chartarum is a toxigenic fungus that has been associated with human health concerns like nasal bleeding in adults and pulmonary hemosiderosis (PH) in infants. Stachylysin is a glycosylated protein, with the deglycosylated molecular mass of 21.5 kDa. Seven of eight strains of S. chartarum isolated from homes of PH infants in Cleveland and the strain from the lung of a PH infant in Texas produced stachylysin in tryptic soy broth (TSB) whereas only one out of eight strains isolated from control homes produced stachylysin. However, all strains produced stachylysin when grown on TSB with 0.7 % sheep's blood. When stachylysin was injected into Lumbricus terrestris, the erythrocruorin hemoglobin (absorbance peaks at 280 and 415 nm) was released resulting in a lethal effect. These results support the hypothesis that stachylysin may be responsible for hemorrhaging in humans.