Linked Life Data

15670708

Source:http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/pubmed/id/15670708

Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
2
pubmed:dateCreated
2005-1-26
pubmed:abstractText
Fungi are relatively rare causes of life-threatening systemic disease in immunologically intact mammals despite being frequent pathogens in insects, amphibians, and plants. Given that virulence is a complex trait, the capacity of certain soil fungi to infect, persist, and cause disease in animals despite no apparent requirement for animal hosts in replication or survival presents a paradox. In recent years studies with amoeba, slime molds, and worms have led to the proposal that interactions between fungi and other environmental microbes, including predators, select for characteristics that are also suitable for survival in animal hosts. Given that most fungal species grow best at ambient temperatures, the high body temperature of endothermic animals must provide a thermal barrier for protection against infection with a large number of fungi. Fungal disease is relatively common in birds but most are caused by only a few thermotolerant species. The relative resistance of endothermic vertebrates to fungal diseases is likely a result of higher body temperatures combined with immune defenses. Protection against fungal diseases could have been a powerful selective mechanism for endothermy in certain vertebrates. Deforestation and proliferation of fungal spores at cretaceous-tertiary boundary suggests that fungal diseases could have contributed to the demise of dinosaurs and the flourishing of mammalian species.
pubmed:grant
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Feb
pubmed:issn
1087-1845
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:volume
42
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
98-106
pubmed:dateRevised
2010-11-18
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
2005
pubmed:articleTitle
Fungal virulence, vertebrate endothermy, and dinosaur extinction: is there a connection?
pubmed:affiliation
Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 1300 Morris Park Ave, Bronx, NY 10461, USA. casadeva@aecom.yu.edu
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S., Review