Antarctic fungi produce pigment with antimicrobial and antiparasitic activities.

Natural pigments have received special attention from the market and industry as they could overcome the harm to health and the environmental issues caused by synthetic pigments. These pigments are commonly extracted from a wide range of organisms, and when added to products they can alter/add new physical-chemical or biological properties to them. Fungi from extreme environments showed to be a promising source in the search for biomolecules with antimicrobial and antiparasitic potential. This study aimed to isolate fungi from Antarctic soils and screen them for pigment production with antimicrobial and antiparasitic potential, together with other previously isolated strains A total of 52 fungi were isolated from soils in front of the Collins Glacier (Southeast border). Also, 106 filamentous fungi previously isolated from the Collins Glacier (West border) were screened for extracellular pigment production. Five strains were able to produce extracellular pigments and were identified by ITS sequencing as Talaromyces cnidii, Pseudogymnoascus shaanxiensis and Pseudogymnoascus sp. All Pseudogymnoascus spp. (SC04.P3, SC3.P3, SC122.P3 and ACF093) extracts were able to inhibit S. aureus ATCC6538 and two (SC12.P3, SC32.P3) presented activity against Leishmania (L.) infantum, Leishmania amazonensis and Trypanossoma cruzii. Extracts compounds characterization by UPLC-ESI-QToF analysis confirmed the presence of molecules with biological activity such as: Asterric acid, Violaceol, Mollicellin, Psegynamide A, Diorcinol, Thailandolide A. In conclusion, this work showed the potential of Antartic fungal strains from Collins Glacier for bioactive molecules production with activity against Gram positive bacteria and parasitic protozoas.

The hidden rainbow: the extensive biotechnological potential of Antarctic fungi pigments.

The Antarctic continent is an extreme environment recognized mainly by its subzero temperatures. Fungi are ubiquitous microorganisms that stand out even among Antarctic organisms, primarily due to secondary metabolites production with several biological activities. Pigments are examples of such metabolites, which mainly occur in response to hostile conditions. Various pigmented fungi have been isolated from the Antarctic continent, living in the soil, sedimentary rocks, snow, water, associated with lichens, mosses, rhizospheres, and zooplankton. Physicochemical extreme environments provide a suitable setup for microbial pigment production with unique characteristics. The biotechnological potential of extremophiles, combined with concerns over synthetic pigments, has led to a great interest in natural pigment alternatives. Besides biological activities provided by fungal pigments for surviving in extreme environments (e.g., photoprotection, antioxidant activity, and stress resistance), it may present an opportunity for biotechnological industries. This paper reviews the biotechnological potential of Antarctic fungal pigments, with a detailed discussion over the biological role of fungal pigments, potential industrial production of pigments from extremophilic fungi, pigments toxicity, current market perspective and published intellectual properties related to pigmented Antarctic fungi.

Fungal bioproducts for petroleum hydrocarbons and toxic metals remediation: recent advances and emerging technologies.

Petroleum hydrocarbons and toxic metals are sources of environmental contamination and are harmful to all ecosystems. Fungi have metabolic and morphological plasticity that turn them into potential prototypes for technological development in biological remediation of these contaminants due to their ability to interact with a specific contaminant and/or produced metabolites. Although fungal bioinoculants producing enzymes, biosurfactants, polymers, pigments and organic acids have potential to be protagonists in mycoremediation of hydrocarbons and toxic metals, they can still be only adjuvants together with bacteria, microalgae, plants or animals in such processes. However, the sudden accelerated development of emerging technologies related to the use of potential fungal bioproducts such as bioinoculants, enzymes and biosurfactants in the remediation of these contaminants, has boosted fungal bioprocesses to achieve higher performance and possible real application. In this review, we explore scientific and technological advances in bioprocesses related to the production and/or application of these potential fungal bioproducts when used in remediation of hydrocarbons and toxic metals from an integral perspective of biotechnological process development. In turn, it sheds light to overcome existing technological limitations or enable new experimental designs in the remediation of these and other emerging contaminants.

Fungal biosurfactants, from nature to biotechnological product: bioprospection, production and potential applications.

Biosurfactants are in demand by the global market as natural commodities that can be added to commercial products or use in environmental applications. These biomolecules reduce the surface/interfacial tension between fluid phases and exhibit superior stability to chemical surfactants under different physico-chemical conditions. Biotechnological production of biosurfactants is still emerging. Fungi are promising producers of these molecules with unique chemical structures, such as sophorolipids, mannosylerythritol lipids, cellobiose lipids, xylolipids, polyol lipids and hydrophobins. In this review, we aimed to contextualize concepts related to fungal biosurfactant production and its application in industry and the environment. Concepts related to the thermodynamic and physico-chemical properties of biosurfactants are presented, which allows detailed analysis of their structural and application. Promising niches for isolating biosurfactant-producing fungi are presented, as well as screening methodologies are discussed. Finally, strategies related to process parameters and variables, simultaneous production, process optimization through statistical and genetic tools, downstream processing and some aspects of commercial products formulations are presented.

[Intellectual exchange between Germany and Latin America: an interview with Stefan Rinke]. / Trocas intelectuais entre Alemanha e América Latina: entrevista com Stefan Rinke.

Current and former students of the Casa de Oswaldo Cruz/Fiocruz interviewed German historian Stefan Rinke, of the Freie Universität Berlin, who specializes in examining the historical development of Latin America as it fits into the international context. Rinke's work uses dimensions such as economic and diplomatic relations, migratory flows, and ethnic conflict as tools in his analyses of the networks of interdependence that have tied Latin America to Europe and the USA. His lens goes beyond the Latin American continent to approach globalization as a historical process, with national and regional contexts placed within a general framework. In this interview, Rinke talks about his academic career, global and transnational history, and joint projects between Germany and Latin America.

Malaria and quinine resistance: a medical and scientific issue between Brazil and Germany (1907-19).

This article addresses the discussion about quinine-resistant malaria plasmodium in the early decades of the twentieth century. Observed by Arthur Neiva in Rio de Janeiro in 1907, the biological and social resistance of malaria sufferers to preventive and curative treatment with quinine was corroborated three years later by Oswaldo Cruz during the construction of the Madeira-Mamoré Railway in the Brazilian Amazon. Likewise in 1910, ailing German workers were transferred from Brazil to Hamburg's Institute for Maritime and Tropical Diseases, where quinine resistance was confirmed by Bernard Nocht and Heinrich Werner. When the First World War saw failures in treating and preventing malaria with quinine along with violent outbreaks of the disease on the Turkish and Balkan fronts, resistance to this alkaloid became the topic of the day within the field of experimental medicine in Germany. New attempts were made to account for the resistance, especially by the physician Ernst Rodenwaldt, who explored the topic by applying modern theories on heredity. The present article offers a preliminary survey and analysis of pronouncements about quinine resistance, shedding new light on the circulation of knowledge in the field of tropical medicine.

[Dissemination of German medicine in Spain and Latin America: the "Revista Médica de Hamburgo" and the "Revista Médica Germano-Ibero-Americana" (1920-1933)]. / La "Revista Médica de Hamburgo" y la "Revista Médica Germano-Ibero-Americana": diseminación de la medicina Germánica en España y América Latina (1920-1933).

This article presents the development of the journals "Revista Médica de Hamburgo" and "Revista Médica Germano-Ibero-Americana," which were created to promote and disseminate the German science among the medical community in Latin America and Spain between the two World Wars. Shaken by the loss of Germany's colonies in Africa, the difficulties faced due to post-war economy, and the restrictions imposed by the armistice, the Germans sought to restore their cultural and scientific prestige through such initiative.

La Revista Médica De Hamburgo y la Revista Médica Germano-Ibero-Americana: Diseminación de la medicina germánica en España y América Latina (1920-1933) / Dissemination of the Germanic medicine in Spain and Latin America: The Medical Magazine Of Hamburg and the Medical Magazine Germano-Ibero-Americana (1920-1933)

El trabajo aborda la trayectoria de la Revista Médica de Hamburgo (RMH) y la Revista MédicaGermano-Ibero-Americana (RMGIA), publicaciones creadas para promover y difundir la cienciaalemana entre las comunidades médicas de América Latina y España en el contexto de entreguerras.Sacudidos por la pérdida de las colonias en África, por las dificultades enfrentadas por laeconomía y por las condiciones impuestas por el armisticio, los alemanes pretendían con esa iniciativarecuperar el prestigio cultural y científico(AU)

This article presents the development of the journals Revista Médica de Hamburgo and RevistaMédica Germano-Ibero-Americana, which were created to promote and disseminate the Germanscience among the medical community in Latin America and Spain between the two World Wars.Shaken by the loss of Germany’s colonies in Africa, the difficulties faced due to post-war economy,and the restrictions imposed by the armistice, the Germans sought to restore their cultural andscientific prestige through such initiative(AU)

[Railroads, disease, and tropical medicine in Brazil under the First Republic]. / Ferrovias, doenças e medicina tropical no Brasil da Primeira República.

The article explores the impact of malaria on infrastructure works--above all, railroads--under the republican drive towards modernization. Railways helped tie the territory together and foster the symbolic and material expansion of the Brazilian nation. The scientists entrusted with vanquishing such epidemic outbreaks did not just conduct campaigns; they also undertook painstaking observations of aspects of the disease, including its relations to hosts and the environment, thus contributing to the production of new knowledge of malaria and to the institutionalization of a new field in Brazil, then taking root in Europe's colonies: "tropical medicine." The article shows the ties between these innovations (especially the theory of domiciliary infection) and the sanitary campaigns that helped the railways, which in the 1920s were followed by a new phase in Brazil's anti-malaria efforts.