• Mycobiology
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.235-239
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• 2005

The present study was carried out to explore the Cordyceps species and other entomopathogenic fungal flora around Kathmandu Valley and a few high altitude locations of Nepal. In this paper, we report eight Cordyceps species as new to Nepal: C. gracilis, C. ishikariensis, C. liangshanensis, C. martialis, C. militaris, C. pruinosa, C. sphecocephala and C. tricentri. We also mention a few allied genera such as Beauveria, Hirsutella and Paecilomyces from Nepal. Further collections from different ecological regions of Nepal will show the richness of entomopathogenic fungal floral diversity of Nepal.

• Journal of Sericultural and Entomological Science
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.18-30
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• 2005

Morphological characteristics of Cordyceps species and its allies collected in Korea were clarified. Through the survey conducted from June 1999 to October 2002 in 19 mountains in Korea, 667 samples of entomogenous fungi were collected. Cordyceps and its allies of 17 species of 5 genera were identified as Cordyceps gracilioides, C. japonica, C. longissima, C. martialis, C. militaris, C. myrmecophila, C. nutans, C. pruinosa, C. sphecocephala, C. tricentri, Hirsutella nutans, Paecilomyces cicadae, P. farinosus, P. tenuipes, Paecilomyces sp., Shimizuomyces paradoxa, Tilachlidiopsis nigra. The fungi with insect hosts have been collected mainly in the place of shade or mosses near brooks and streams that had high humidity. Overall the frequenct of fungal infection in natural ecosystem was relatively low as few as 10 collections per each species. However, many species were found in terms of the few number of colleciton sites with seasonal limitations. Occurrence of the fungi in Jeju island remote from inland of the Korean peninsula were diverse in their species due to the varied weather of vertical distribution following the altitude. Three most common species were C. nutans, P. tenuipes and C. militaris, mainly found early in August when the relative humidity and temperature were high, of which C. nutans occupied the highest frequency consisting of 65% in total collections. Neither variation in ascomata arrangement in stromata nor developement of secondary spores was recognizable, while the number, shape and colour of stromata varied with insect hosts and weather conditions.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.79-88
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• 2004

Cordyceps pruinosa grows upon dead pupae of Lepidoptera and produces one or $3{\sim}4$ club-shaped stromata per host. The stromata have distinct club-shaped head and long stalk. The length of stromata varies from $1{\sim}3\;cm$. Apical head consists of densely crowded semi-immersed perithecia, which are $360{\sim}400\;{\times}\;180{\sim}200\;{\mu}m$ in size. Asci are $150\;{\mu}m$ in length and $2.8{\sim}3\;{\mu}m$ in diameter. Ascospores, which are $124{\sim}141\;{\mu}m$ in length, have thin thread-like structures in the middle with part-spores attached on both sides. Each ascospore does not separate into part-spores after dispersal, but each part-spore germinates and together develops a colony. The imperfect form produces phialides of $15{\sim}24\;{\times}\;2{\sim}3\;{\mu}m$ size, with spherical or spindle shaped conidia of $4{\sim}6\;{\times}\;1.8{\sim}2.4\;{\mu}m$ size, The anamorph was identified as Mariannaea elegans Samson. YMA and SDAY agar media with pH 7 was produced abundant mycelial growth with high density. Best mycelial growth was observed when dextrin was used as a carbon source. Lactose, saccharose and sucrose also produced high mycelial growth. Peptone, yeast extract and tryptone produced abundant mycelial growth, when used as nitrogen sources. Highest mycelial growth and density was observed when C/N ratio was 1 : 1 at the concentration of 12.5 g/l each. $KH_2PO_4$ was the best mineral source for mycelial growth. Highest mycelial dry wt. was produced in YM and SDAY broths. Optimum inoculum for 100 ml of liquid broth was 6 mycelial discs. Similarly, optimum liquid culture period was 7 days.

• Journal of Mushroom
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.149-156
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• 2004

This study was carried out to obtain basic data on physiological characteristics for an artificial cultivation of fruiting body of Cordyceps. Specimens such as Cordyceps longissima, C. militaris and C. pruinosa were collected at Mt. Halla of Cheju island in July, 2003. Among four different culture media which have been used for culture of mushrooms, MCM medium was selected for the favorable culture medium of the Cordyceps tested. The initial pH of solid medium for mycelial growth of Cordyceps was good in the range of pH 5.0~7.0 lower than 8.0. The mycelial growth of C. longissima was most favorable on culture media supplemented with glucose, one of monosaccharides. In C. militaris, nine carbon sources were favorable to the mycelial growth as compared with control among 11 carbon sources. Six nitrogen sources were favorable to the mycelial growth of C. longissima as compared with control among 9 carbon sources; namely, the mycelial growth of C. longissima was most favorable on culture media contained potassium nitrate, and followed in order by ammonium citrate and sodium nitrate in 4 weeks incubation.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.85-91
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• 2002

The sequences of the internal transcribed spacers (ITS1 and ITS2) and 5.8S ribosomal DNA gene from five Cordyceps species and one Paecilomyces japonica were determined. The total length of the ITSI, 5.8S and ITS2 regions ranged from 528 to 549 bp. When the C. militaris collected from Korea was used as a standard genotype, the sequence showed 88.4%, 88.6%, 91.1% and 86.8% identity to C. pruinosa, C. sphecocephala, C. scarabaeucika and R japonica, respectively, while the lowest identity was found with C. sinensis (75.4%). Interestingly, C. sinensis was phylogenetically distant from the other Cordyceps species. To test geographic variation, furthermore, sequences of the ITS regions in the 8 samples of C. militaris collected from two localities in Korea and China analyzed and compared with the GenBank-searched sequences from Japan and China. The total length of the ITS regions of C. militaris from Korea, Japan and China was completely identical to each other with 528 bp, and the sequence divergence among three localities in pairwise comparisons ranged from 0.2% (1 bp) to 0.4% (2 bp).

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.247-266
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• 2017

Cordyceps is a traditional Chinese medicinal herb well-known in China, Korea and Japan since B.C. 2,000. The original entomopathogenic fungus, Cordyceps sinensis belonging to the genus Cordyceps could not be found inside Korean peninsula due to the absence of the host insect for the corresponding entomogenous fungus. The development of artificial production methods of Korean type Cordyceps using the silkworm Bombyx mori as in vivo culture medium for the the entomopathogenic fungus Paecilomyces tenuipes is the first, and wonderful occasion in the research history of insect industry of this global world. The aim of this article is to review the historical research background, mass-production methods, and pharmacological effects of the silkworm-dongchunghacho (Paecilomyces tenuipes) which is a newly developed Korean medicinal insect-borne mushroom, and another non-insect-borne medicinal mushroom (Cordyceps militaris and Cordyceps pruinosa). Their biological actions include anti-tumor, immunostimulating, anti-fatigue, anti-stress, anti-oxidant, anti-aging, anti-diabetic, anti-inflammatory, anti-thrombosis, hypolipidaemic and insecticidal effects. The bioactive principles are protein-bound polysaccharides (hexose, hexosamin), cordycepin, D-manitol, acidic polysaccharide etc. Protein-bound polysaccharides and n-butanol fractions were demonstrated to show a significant anti-tumor activities but did not show a cytotoxicities. D-mannitol exhibited a significant prolongation of the life span in tumor bearing mice. Ergosterol did not show an efficient anti-tumor activity, but showed a significant phagocytosis enhancing activity. Anti-tumor activity of silkworm-dongchunghacho might be attributed to immuno-stimulating activities rather than cytotoxic effects [164]. Also this review comprises the breeding of Dongchunghacho varieties, optimization of culture conditions, improvement of learning and memory by Dongchunghacho, application of them as foods and chemical constituents.