Taxonomy of an anamorphic xylariaceous fungus from a termite nest found together with <Emphasis Type="Italic">Xylaria angulosa</Emphasis>

Two xylariaceous fungi were isolated from a nest of a termite, Odontotermes formosanus, that was incubated in a laboratory after collecting from Iriomote Is., Okinawa Pref., in Japan. One of the two fungi was identified as Xylaria angulosa on the basis of the morphology of branched stroma produced on medium, tiny asci, and ascospores having a germ slit. Another fungus is an anamorphic fungus that produces synnemata up to 50 mm long from which dendritic conidiophores branch out. Unicellular conidia are holoblastically produced on a sympodially proliferating conidiogenous cell. Such morphological characters resemble those of the genus Geniculosporium. However, its distinctive synnema formation and dendritic conidiophores do not assign the fungus to Geniculosporium or other known genera and warrant establishment of a new genus. The phylogenetic tree based on the ITS regions of rDNA shows that the fungus is nested in the cluster of the genus Nemania (Xylariaceae), whose species have mainly Geniculosporium-like anamorphs. We describe here the present anamorphic fungus as Geniculisynnema termiticola gen. et sp. nov., and discuss its phylogenetic and ecological relationships to xylariaceous fungi, especially termiticolous species.     

Two newhalophytophthora species,H. tartarea andH. masteri,from intertidal decomposing leaves in saltmarsh and mangrove regions

Two new pythiaceous fungi were obtained from decaying leaves submerged in saltmarsh environments of the east coast of the U.S.A., or fringing mangroves in the Bahama Islands, and are described here asHalophytophthora tartarea andH. masteri. The two species have superficially similar zoosporangia whose dehiscence tubes have ragged-looking apices. However, differences in fine structures and development of the dehiscence tube and plug, characteristics of the dehiscence plugs, and presence or absence of vesicles clearly distinguish the two species.Halophytophthora masteri is the only species ofHalophytophthora that has a zoospore release mechanism involving both an extruded plug and a vesicle. Cultural properties concerning growth and asexual reproduction at various salinities and temperatures are also different between the two, probably reflecting adaptation to their respective habitats. Though zoospore release inH. masteri occurs spontaneously from mature zoosporangia, it is remarkably enhanced inH. tartarea and alsoH. masteri by mildly dehydrating mature zoosporangia followed by rewetting with seawater, which suggests a possible relation between the asexual reproduction of these oomycetes and the tidal rhythm in their natural habitats.     

Cloning of bovine LYST gene and identification of a missense mutation associated with Chediak-Higashi syndrome of cattle

An inheritable bleeding disorder with light coat color caused by an autosomal recessive gene has been reported in a population of Japanese black cattle. The disease has been diagnosed as Chediak-Higashi Syndrome (CHS) of cattle which correspond to a human inheritable disorder caused by mutation in LYST gene. To characterize the molecular lesion causing CHS in cattle, cDNAs encoding bovine LYST were isolated from a bovine brain cDNA library. The nucleotide and deduced amino acid sequences of bovine LYST had 89.6 and 90.2% identity with those of the human LYST gene, respectively. In order to identify the mutation within the LYST gene causing CHS in cattle, cDNA fragments of the LYST gene were amplified from an affected animal by RT-PCR and their nucleotide sequences were completely determined. Notably, a nucleotide substitution of A to G transition, resulting in an amino acid substitution of histidine to arginine (H2015R) was identified in the affected animal. The presence of the substitution was completely corresponding with the occurrence of the CHS phenotype among 105 members of pedigrees of the Japanese black cattle and no cattle of other populations had this substitution. These findings strongly suggested that H2015R is the causative mutation in CHS of Japanese black cattle. Received: 25 May 1999 / Accepted: 26 July 1999     

The phylogenetic placement of hypocrealean insect pathogens in the genus Polycephalomyces: An application of One Fungus One Name

Understanding the systematics and evolution of clavicipitoid fungi has been greatly aided by the application of molecular phylogenetics. They are now classified in three families, largely driven by reevaluation of the morphologically and ecologically diverse genus Cordyceps. Although reevaluation of morphological features of both sexual and asexual states were often found to reflect the structure of phylogenies based on molecular data, many species remain of uncertain placement due to a lack of reliable data or conflicting morphological characters. A rigid, darkly pigmented stipe and the production of a Hirsutella-like anamorph in culture were taken as evidence for the transfer of the species Cordyceps cuboidea, Cordyceps prolifica, and Cordyceps ryogamiensis to the genus Ophiocordyceps. Data from ribosomal DNA supported these species as a single group, but were unable to infer deeper relationships in Hypocreales. Here, molecular data for ribosomal and protein coding DNA from specimens of Ophiocordyceps cuboidea, Ophiocordyceps ryogamiensis, Ophiocordyceps paracuboidea, Ophiocordyceps prolifica, Cordyceps ramosopulvinata, Cordyceps nipponica, and isolates of Polycephalomyces were combined with a broadly sampled dataset of Hypocreales. Phylogenetic analyses of these data revealed that these species represent a clade distinct from the other clavicipitoid genera. Applying the recently adopted single system of nomenclature, new taxonomic combinations are proposed for these species in the genus Polycephalomyces, which has been historically reserved for asexual or anamorphic taxa.     

Effects of large-scale forest fire followed by illegal logging on the regeneration of boreal forests in Mongolia

Landscape and Ecological Engineering - We aimed to test the hypothesis that large-scale forest fire followed by illegal logging inhibits the regeneration of boreal forests in Mongolia. For this...     

Do spatial effects appear at low dilution rate in chemostat?

The chemostat theory on two species competition has shown that the dilution rate where transition of dominance occurs – transition-dilution rate – is independent of limiting-nutrient concentration. However, we obtained the experimental data indicating that the transition-dilution rate changed with variations in limiting-ammonium concentrations, using the chemostat mixed-culture of the cyanobacterium Microcystis novacekii and the green alga Scenedesmus quadricauda. The transition-dilution rate was dependent on the concentration of limiting ammonium in the influx culture medium. We tried to simulate the experimental results. Though the dilution rate has been considered independent of nutrient concentration, we introduce the effective dilution rate that depends on nutrient concentration (ammonium concentration in this study). A hyperbolic Monod-type function is used to represent the effective dilution rate for each species. The maximum dilution rate of the function is set to be the mechanical dilution rate (nominal dilution rate) of the chemostat culture. The calculation shows that the nominal transition-dilution rate where transition of dominance occur decreases with increased concentration. This simulation is well consistent with our experimental data. These results may suggest that the species-specificity of limiting nutrients, here nitrogen. Or they may imply that the depreciation of nitrogen becomes critical when both dilution rate and concentration are very low, especially for the green algae. In the latter case, spatial effects are induced internally in the ecosystem.     

Thielavia aurantiaca, a new species from Japanese soil

A new species ofThielavia (T. aurantiaca) isolated from field soil collected from Osaka is described and illustrated. The fungus is distinguished from other known species by having ascomata covered with yellowish orange mycelium and smaller size of ascomata and ascospores. A chlamydospore-like anamorph is formed.     

Trichoderma eijii and T. pseudolacteum, two new species from Japan

Trichoderma eijii and T. pseudolacteum, are described here as new species from Japan. These species were isolated from decaying wood in the Tomakomai Experimental Forest in Hokkaido Prefecture and from bedlogs on shiitake mushroom (Lentinula edodes) farms, respectively. The species were characterized using a combined approach that included cultural studies, holomorph morphology, and phylogenetic analyses of internal transcribed spacer and protein coding gene sequences (RNA polymerase subunit II, translation elongation factor 1-α, endochitinase, and actin). The results of phylogenetic analyses of these gene sequences indicate that T. eijii belongs to the Hamatum clade and is closely related to Hypocrea pezizoides, H. flaviconidia, and H. atroviridis/T. atroviride, from which it differs mainly in part-ascospore size and anamorphic characteristics. Trichoderma pseudolacteum, which was previously recognized as H. lactea sensu Doi, is morphologically distinct from H. lactea (= Hypocrea citrina) and is strongly supported as a separate lineage based on our phylogenetic analyses.     

Two new ascomycetous anamorphic yeast species related to <Emphasis Type="Italic">Candida friedrichii</Emphasis>—<Emphasis Type="Italic">Candida jaroonii</Emphasis> sp. nov., and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Candida songkhlaensis</Emphasis> sp. nov.—isolated in Thailand

In a study of yeast diversity in Thailand, eight strains of hitherto undescribed anamorphic yeasts were isolated: four from insect frass, two from Marasmius sp. fruiting bodies, one from a flower, and one from jackfruit exudates. Phylogenetic analysis of the D1/D2 domain of 26S ribosomal DNA nucleotide sequences indicated that the eight strains represented two new species related to Candida friedrichii. Genetic separation of the two new species was further supported by DNA-DNA hybridization analysis, which resulted in between-species similarity values of less than 48%, and by electrophoretic karyotyping. The two new species are C. jaroonii sp. nov. (type strain, ST-300(T) = NBRC 103209(T) = BCC 11783(T) = CBS 10790(T)) and C. songkhlaensis sp. nov. (type strain, ST-328(T) = NBRC 103214(T) = BCC 11804(T) = CBS 10791(T)).     

Suppression of ethanol and lipopolysaccharide-induced liver injury by extracts of Hydrangeae Dulcis Folium in rats

In female SD rats that were injected with 4 g/kg BW ethanol p.o. followed by a 5 mg/kg BW lipopolysaccharide (LPS) i.v. injection, serum glutamic pyruvic transaminases (GPT) activity increased to about eight times that of normal rats. In this model, rats that had been fed a diet containing 1% Hydrangeae Dulcis Folium (HDF) extracts for fifteen days showed significantly lower serum GPT activity (380.0+/-58.2 IU/l) than the control group (3527.0+/-774.1 IU/l). HDF's efficacy was far superior to milk thistle in this model (2950.0+/-915.9 IU/l). When mouse macrophages were treated with HDF extracts at 50 microg/ml, TNF-alpha production induced by LPS was suppressed to about 10% of the control. Rat serum TNF-alpha levels induced by LPS was decreased to 58.7% of the control by administering 1000 mg/kg BW HDF extract p.o. These results indicate that HDF prevents alcohol-induced liver injury through the inhibition of TNF-alpha production.