PMC6613454_01
CT scan aspects of the pulmonary tissue: at D51, before starting the caspofungin treatment (A) and at D78, after the appropriate treatment was done (B).
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Another CT scan performed on D51 revealed multiple condensation areas throughout both lungs (Figure 1A). The last CT scan performed on D78 showed a marked reduction of condensation areas in both lungs (Figure 1B).
Morphological aspects of the T. crustaceus isolate in scanning electron microscopy (ESEM Quanta 200-FEI, Hillsboro - USA): chains of conidia; (A) subspherical to hemispherical, non-ostiolate ascoma; (B) 8-spored asci; (C) thick-walled, finely echinulate ascospores (D).
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The main morphological aspects are shown in the Figure 2A-D. Conidia varied from ellipsoidal to cylindrical, rounded at both ends, smooth-walled, hyaline to pale brown, 7-10x3-6 mum (Figure 2A). Superficial ascomata were appearing in crusts, subspherical to hemispherical, non-ostiolate, yellowish-orange to reddish-orange, mostly 600-800 mum diameter, surrounded by a loose cover of aerial hyphae (Figure 2B). Agar, 8-spored, subspherical, irregularly arranged in the centrum (Figure 2C). Ascospores were pale yellow to pale brown, ovoidal to ellipsoidal, 7-8x4.5-6 mum, thick-walled, finely echinulate (Figure 2D).
Macroscopic aspects of the T. crustaceus isolate after 5 days incubation at different temperatures on Potatoes Dextrose Agar: 30 C (A); 37 C (B).
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There was a clear difference between the colonies developed at 30 C and 37 C respectively, with the first exhibiting numerous ascomata on their surface (Figure 3A and B).
Phylogenetic tree of Thermoascus crustaceus based on confidently aligned internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences available in GenBank (constructed with BLASTN 2.9.0+).
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High percentages of similarity with other T. crustaceus strains were achieved for our isolate (Figure 4): 98.55% to T. crustaceus NRRL 1563 (GenBank accession No.