ArticleCurrent biology : CB2022
A bacterial endosymbiont of the fungus Rhizopus microsporus drives phagocyte evasion and opportunistic virulence.
Article in Current biology : CB, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 44 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
44 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 58 citations in OpenAlex.
- Harnessing plant-microbe interactions: strategies for enhancing resilience and nutrient acquisition for sustainable agriculture.Frontiers in plant science · 2025Pooled it
- Phosphatidylcholine biosynthesis via ChoC is crucial for cellular integrity and virulence inVirulence · 2026Article
- Phylogenetically diverse MucoralesMicrobial genomics · 2026Article
- Molecular Mechanisms of Mucormycosis Pathogenesis: Host-Pathogen Interactions and Immune Evasion.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Article
- Edible Fungi Are a Hidden Source of Carbon Monoxide and Carbon Dioxide.Environmental microbiology · 2026Article
- Light restores sporulation in Rhizopus microsporus cured of its endosymbionts, unveiling their role in fitness and virulence.The ISME journal · 2026Article
- A BRCT domain-containing protein induced in early phagocytosis plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of the mucoralean Rhizopus microsporus.PLoS pathogens · 2026Article
- Lineage-specific endosymbiosis in Mucorales: restriction ofCurrent research in microbial sciences · 2026Article
- Endosymbiotic interactions in the fungal kingdom: a framework for progressive endosymbiosis.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Review
- NCBI Orthologs: Public Resource and Scalable Method for Computing High-Precision Orthologs Across Eukaryotic Genomes.Journal of molecular evolution · 2025Article
- Induced endosymbiosis between a fungus and bacterium reveals a shift from antagonism to commensalism.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Endobacteria Have a Negative Effect on the Virulence ofJournal of fungi (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Immunohistochemical insights into oxidative stress and programmed cell death in primary and COVID-associated rhino-orbital-cerebral mucormycosis patient tissues.Medical mycology · 2025Article
- Coevolution Dynamics of Beneficial and Pathogenic Microbes in Plant-Microbe Interactions.Biology · 2025Review
- Article
- Hidden Allies: Decoding the Core Endohyphal Bacteriome of Aspergillus fumigatus.Environmental microbiology reports · 2025Article
- Artificial Endosymbiosis of Pedobacter sp. DDGJ Boosts the Growth Potential, Stress Resistance and Productivity of Morchella Mushrooms.Microbial biotechnology · 2025Article
- Article
- A novel pan-fungal screening platform for antifungal drug discovery: proof of principle study.Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
17 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Opportunistic infections by environmental fungi are a growing clinical problem, driven by an increasing population of people with immunocompromising conditions. Spores of the Mucorales order are ubiquitous in the environment but can also cause acute invasive infections in humans through germination and evasion of the mammalian host immune system. How they achieve this and the evolutionary drivers underlying the acquisition of virulence mechanisms are poorly understood. Here, we show that a clinical isolate of Rhizopus microsporus contains a Ralstonia pickettii bacterial endosymbiont required for virulence in both zebrafish and mice and that this endosymbiosis enables the secretion of factors that potently suppress growth of the soil amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum, as well as their ability to engulf and kill other microbes. As amoebas are natural environmental predators of both bacteria and fungi, we propose that this tri-kingdom interaction contributes to establishing endosymbiosis and the acquisition of anti-phagocyte activity. Importantly, we show that this activity also protects fungal spores from phagocytosis and clearance by human macrophages, and endosymbiont removal renders the fungal spores avirulent in vivo. Together, these findings describe a new role for a bacterial endosymbiont in Rhizopus microsporus pathogenesis in animals and suggest a mechanism of virulence acquisition through environmental interactions with amoebas.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.