Investigation of Cgra and Cyp51a Gene Alternations in Aspergillus Fumigatus Strains Exposed To Kombucha Fermented Tea

Background and purpose: aspergillus fumigatus is one of the most common opportunistic fungus, which causes infection in immunocompromised and neutropenic patients. the current guidelines recommend voriconazole as the initial therapeutic and prophylactic agent for almost all cases, especially in patients with organ transplants, which leads to increased medication resistance in a. fumigatus. the aim of the present study was to evaluate the antifungal activity and effect of kombucha as a natural compound on a. fumigatus growth, as well as on the expression of cgra and cyp51a genes. materials and methods: a panel of 15 a. fumigatus strains with two quality controls of cm237 and cm2627 as susceptible and resistant strains were obtained from tehran medical mycology laboratory, tehran,iran(tmml).antifungal susceptibility testing assay was performed according to the clinical and laboratory standards institute (clsi) m38a2 document. moreover, the mycelial dry weight of the fungus was calculated before and after being treated with kombucha. in addition, the quantitative changes in the expression of cgra and cyp51a genes were analyzed by realtime polymerase chain reaction (realtime pcr) technique. results: in the present study, the minimum inhibitory concentration ranges of kombucha were measured at 6,170 and 12,300 μg/ml for ten a. fumigatus azolesusceptible strains and 24,700 μg/ml for five a. fumigatus resistant strains. moreover, changes in mycelial dry weight under kombucha treatment conditions underwent a significant reduction (p≤0.05). a coordinate downregulation of expression in cgra and cyp51a genes was observed in all azolesusceptible and resistant a. fumigatus strains, after treating the fungus with different concentrations of kombucha (p≤0.05). conclusion: according to the obtained results, kombucha as a natural antioxidant , can exert inhibitory effects against the growth and expression of some genes in a. fumigatusstrains.