Blastomyces dermatitidis, PCR based detection of its DNA from natural soil samples. Tom Volk's Fungus of the Month for April 2007 by Joshua Burgess, William Schwan, and Tom Volk. Please click TomVolkFungi.net for the rest of Tom Volk's pages on fungi Oh no! Another repeat! This month's fungus, Blastomyces dermatitidis is featured once again to highlight some of our work. We wrote about this fungus earlier on this page, so I recommend reading that page first as a good intro to Blastomyces before going on with this paper. Burgess, Joshua, William Schwan, and Thomas J. Volk. 2006. PCR based detection of DNA from the human pathogen Blastomyces dermatitidis from natural soil samples. Medical Mycology 44:741-748. Abstract Blastomyces dermatitidis is the dimorphic fungal agent of blastomycosis, a disease that primarily affects humans and dogs. The clinical appearance of this mycosis is well characterized, but there is still little known about its environmental niche, having been isolated from nature only 21 times. We have developed a PCR-based assay to detect B. dermatitidis from soil samples using primers specific to a portion of the promoter region of the BAD1 virulence gene. An internal standard control, pTJV2-2, was constructed to validate the results from soil samples. The PCR detection limits for the control plasmid and B. dermatitidis genomic DNA were 0.1 and 500 femtograms, respectively. No PCR cross-reactivity was observed against bacteria, actinomycetes, and 13 other fungi that are genetically related or found in the same geographic areas. In spiked soil samples, this method was sensitive to 304 copies of pTJV2-2 DNA and 8,450 live B. dermatitidis yeast cells. Three of eight natural soil samples from a dog kennel near Lexington, KY in which dogs suffered from blastomycosis were positive using the described method, demonstrating its utility in detecting B. dermatitidis in its natural surroundings. You can read a PDF of the article by clicking here I hope you enjoyed learning about Blastomyces dermatitidis and its environmental niche. We hope that the methods described in this paper will lead to further studies in determining the natural niche of Blastomyces in nature If you have anything to add, or if you have corrections, comments, or recommendations for future FotM's (or maybe you'd like to be co-author of a FotM?), please write to me at This page and other pages are © Copyright 2007 by Thomas J. Volk, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. Learn more about fungi! Go to Tom Volk's Fungi Home Page --TomVolkFungi.net Return to Tom Volk's Fungus of the month pages listing
Tom Volk's Fungus of the Month for April 2007
by Joshua Burgess, William Schwan, and Tom Volk. Please click TomVolkFungi.net for the rest of Tom Volk's pages on fungi Oh no! Another repeat! This month's fungus, Blastomyces dermatitidis is featured once again to highlight some of our work. We wrote about this fungus earlier on this page, so I recommend reading that page first as a good intro to Blastomyces before going on with this paper. Burgess, Joshua, William Schwan, and Thomas J. Volk. 2006. PCR based detection of DNA from the human pathogen Blastomyces dermatitidis from natural soil samples. Medical Mycology 44:741-748. Abstract Blastomyces dermatitidis is the dimorphic fungal agent of blastomycosis, a disease that primarily affects humans and dogs. The clinical appearance of this mycosis is well characterized, but there is still little known about its environmental niche, having been isolated from nature only 21 times. We have developed a PCR-based assay to detect B. dermatitidis from soil samples using primers specific to a portion of the promoter region of the BAD1 virulence gene. An internal standard control, pTJV2-2, was constructed to validate the results from soil samples. The PCR detection limits for the control plasmid and B. dermatitidis genomic DNA were 0.1 and 500 femtograms, respectively. No PCR cross-reactivity was observed against bacteria, actinomycetes, and 13 other fungi that are genetically related or found in the same geographic areas. In spiked soil samples, this method was sensitive to 304 copies of pTJV2-2 DNA and 8,450 live B. dermatitidis yeast cells. Three of eight natural soil samples from a dog kennel near Lexington, KY in which dogs suffered from blastomycosis were positive using the described method, demonstrating its utility in detecting B. dermatitidis in its natural surroundings. You can read a PDF of the article by clicking here I hope you enjoyed learning about Blastomyces dermatitidis and its environmental niche. We hope that the methods described in this paper will lead to further studies in determining the natural niche of Blastomyces in nature If you have anything to add, or if you have corrections, comments, or recommendations for future FotM's (or maybe you'd like to be co-author of a FotM?), please write to me at This page and other pages are © Copyright 2007 by Thomas J. Volk, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. Learn more about fungi! Go to Tom Volk's Fungi Home Page --TomVolkFungi.net Return to Tom Volk's Fungus of the month pages listing
Please click TomVolkFungi.net for the rest of Tom Volk's pages on fungi
Oh no! Another repeat! This month's fungus, Blastomyces dermatitidis is featured once again to highlight some of our work. We wrote about this fungus earlier on this page, so I recommend reading that page first as a good intro to Blastomyces before going on with this paper. Burgess, Joshua, William Schwan, and Thomas J. Volk. 2006. PCR based detection of DNA from the human pathogen Blastomyces dermatitidis from natural soil samples. Medical Mycology 44:741-748. Abstract Blastomyces dermatitidis is the dimorphic fungal agent of blastomycosis, a disease that primarily affects humans and dogs. The clinical appearance of this mycosis is well characterized, but there is still little known about its environmental niche, having been isolated from nature only 21 times. We have developed a PCR-based assay to detect B. dermatitidis from soil samples using primers specific to a portion of the promoter region of the BAD1 virulence gene. An internal standard control, pTJV2-2, was constructed to validate the results from soil samples. The PCR detection limits for the control plasmid and B. dermatitidis genomic DNA were 0.1 and 500 femtograms, respectively. No PCR cross-reactivity was observed against bacteria, actinomycetes, and 13 other fungi that are genetically related or found in the same geographic areas. In spiked soil samples, this method was sensitive to 304 copies of pTJV2-2 DNA and 8,450 live B. dermatitidis yeast cells. Three of eight natural soil samples from a dog kennel near Lexington, KY in which dogs suffered from blastomycosis were positive using the described method, demonstrating its utility in detecting B. dermatitidis in its natural surroundings. You can read a PDF of the article by clicking here I hope you enjoyed learning about Blastomyces dermatitidis and its environmental niche. We hope that the methods described in this paper will lead to further studies in determining the natural niche of Blastomyces in nature If you have anything to add, or if you have corrections, comments, or recommendations for future FotM's (or maybe you'd like to be co-author of a FotM?), please write to me at This page and other pages are © Copyright 2007 by Thomas J. Volk, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. Learn more about fungi! Go to Tom Volk's Fungi Home Page --TomVolkFungi.net Return to Tom Volk's Fungus of the month pages listing
Burgess, Joshua, William Schwan, and Thomas J. Volk. 2006. PCR based detection of DNA from the human pathogen Blastomyces dermatitidis from natural soil samples. Medical Mycology 44:741-748.
Abstract
Blastomyces dermatitidis is the dimorphic fungal agent of blastomycosis, a disease that primarily affects humans and dogs. The clinical appearance of this mycosis is well characterized, but there is still little known about its environmental niche, having been isolated from nature only 21 times. We have developed a PCR-based assay to detect B. dermatitidis from soil samples using primers specific to a portion of the promoter region of the BAD1 virulence gene. An internal standard control, pTJV2-2, was constructed to validate the results from soil samples. The PCR detection limits for the control plasmid and B. dermatitidis genomic DNA were 0.1 and 500 femtograms, respectively. No PCR cross-reactivity was observed against bacteria, actinomycetes, and 13 other fungi that are genetically related or found in the same geographic areas. In spiked soil samples, this method was sensitive to 304 copies of pTJV2-2 DNA and 8,450 live B. dermatitidis yeast cells. Three of eight natural soil samples from a dog kennel near Lexington, KY in which dogs suffered from blastomycosis were positive using the described method, demonstrating its utility in detecting B. dermatitidis in its natural surroundings.
You can read a PDF of the article by clicking here
I hope you enjoyed learning about Blastomyces dermatitidis and its environmental niche. We hope that the methods described in this paper will lead to further studies in determining the natural niche of Blastomyces in nature
Learn more about fungi! Go to Tom Volk's Fungi Home Page --TomVolkFungi.net
Return to Tom Volk's Fungus of the month pages listing
