This project is concerned with spore dispersal in the black mold Stachybotrys chartarum, a toxin-producing fungus of growing public health concern as a contaminant of water-damaged buildings. Human exposure to its spores has been associated with a variety of respiratory and neurological illnesses, including a cluster of idiopathic pulmonary hemorrhage (IPH) cases in infants in Ohio. The biological activity of Stachybotrys toxins is a subject of intensive research effort in other laboratories, but little attention has been paid to the mechanisms of spore dispersal that cast these compounds into the air. This project is motivated by the following question: How do the sticky spores of this mold move and contaminate the indoor environment? The first set of experiments will examine the effects of airflow, substrate vibration, and water movement on spore dispersal. The possibility that insects may act as vectors for dispersal of Stachybotrys spores will be the focus of a second aim. Thirdly, spore germination will be assessed using a multi-well plate method in relation to water availability, substrate composition, temperature, conidial age, and density of conidial deposits. These experiments will clarify both the mode of human exposure (an issue of major clinical significance), and the way that the mold spreads through buildings. Many of the proposed experiments are perfectly suited for undergraduate students. Students involved in this work will benefit by gaining extremely valuable laboratory experience, and by making important contributions to our understanding of the biology of Stachybotrys.
| Tucker, Kathryn; Stolze, Jessica L; Kennedy, Aaron H et al. (2007) Biomechanics of conidial dispersal in the toxic mold Stachybotrys chartarum. Fungal Genet Biol 44:641-7 |
