• Mycobiology
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• 제48권1호
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• pp.37-43
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• 2020

A serious leaf disease caused by Colletotrichum dematium was found during the cultivation of Sarcandra glabra in Jingxi, Rong'an, and Donglan Counties in Guangxi Province, which inflicted huge losses to plant productivity. Biological control gradually became an effective control method for plant pathogens. Many studies showed that the application of actinomycetes in biological control has been effective. Therefore, it may be of great significance to study the application of actinomycetes on controlling the diseases caused by S. glabra. Strains of antifungal actinomycetes capable of inhibiting C. dematium were identified, isolated and screened from healthy plants tissues and the rhizospheres in soils containing S. glabra. In this study, 15 actinomycetes strains were isolated and among these, strains JT-2F, DT-3F, and JJ-3F, appeared to show antagonistic effects against anthracnose of S. glabra. The strains JT-2F and DT-3F were isolated from soil, while JJ-3F was isolated from plant stems. The antagonism rate of strain JT-2F was 86.75%, which was the highest value among the three strains. Additionally, the JT-2F strain also had the strongest antagonistic activity when the antagonistic activities were tested against seven plant pathogens. Strain JT-2F is able to produce proteases and cellulase to degrade the protein and cellulose components of cell walls of C. dematium, respectively. This results in mycelia damage which leads to inhibition of the growth of C. dematium. Strain JT-2F was identified as Streptomyces tsukiyonensis based on morphological traits and 16S rDNA sequence analysis.

• Mycobiology
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• 제43권1호
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• pp.31-36
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• 2015

We have previously isolated ${\varepsilon}$-COP, the ${\alpha}$-COP interactor in COPI of Aspergillus nidulans, by yeast two-hybrid screening. To understand the function of ${\varepsilon}$-COP, the $aneA^+$ gene for ${\varepsilon}$-COP/AneA was deleted by homologous recombination using a gene-specific disruption cassette. Deletion of the ${\varepsilon}$-COP gene showed no detectable changes in vegetative growth or asexual development, but resulted in decrease in the production of the fruiting body, cleistothecium, under conditions favorable for sexual development. Unlike in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, in A. nidulans, over-expression of ${\varepsilon}$-COP did not rescue the thermo-sensitive growth defect of the ${\alpha}$-COP mutant at $42^{\circ}C$. Together, these data show that ${\varepsilon}$-COP is not essential for viability, but it plays a role in fruiting body formation in A. nidulans.

• Mycobiology
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• 제45권3호
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• pp.192-198
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• 2017

The green peach aphid (Myzus persicae), a plant pest, and gray mold disease, caused by Botrytis cinerea, affect vegetables and fruit crops all over the world. To control this aphid and mold, farmers typically rely on the use of chemical insecticides or fungicides. However, intensive use of these chemicals over many years has led to the development of resistance. To overcome this problem, there is a need to develop alternative control methods to suppress populations of this plant pest and pathogen. Recently, potential roles have been demonstrated for entomopathogenic fungi in endophytism, phytopathogen antagonism, plant growth promotion, and rhizosphere colonization. Here, the antifungal activities of selected fungi with high virulence against green peach aphids were tested to explore their potential for the dual control of B. cinerea and M. persicae. Antifungal activities against B. cinerea were evaluated by dual culture assays using both aerial conidia and cultural filtrates of entomopathogenic fungi. Two fungal isolates, Beauveria bassiana SD15 and Metarhizium anisopliae SD3, were identified as having both virulence against aphids and antifungal activity. The virulence of these isolates against aphids was further tested using cultural filtrates, blastospores, and aerial conidia. The most virulence was observed in the simultaneous treatment with blastospores and cultural filtrate. These results suggest that the two fungal isolates selected in this study could be used effectively for the dual control of green peach aphids and gray mold for crop protection.

• Mycobiology
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• 제45권3호
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• pp.129-138
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• 2017

In this study, we aimed to characterize fungal samples from necrotic lesions on collar regions observed in different sweetpotato growing regions during 2015 and 2016 in Korea. Sclerotia appeared on the root zone soil surface, and white dense mycelia were observed. At the later stages of infection, mother roots quickly rotted, and large areas of the plants were destroyed. The disease occurrence was monitored at 45 and 84 farms, and 11.8% and 6.8% of the land areas were found to be infected in 2015 and 2016, respectively. Fungi were isolated from disease samples, and 36 strains were preserved. Based on the cultural and morphological characteristics of colonies, the isolates resembled the reference strain of Sclerotium rolfsii. Representative strains were identified as S. rolfsii (teleomorph: Athelia rolfsii) based on phylogenetic analysis of the internal transcribed spacer and large subunit genes along with morphological observations. To test the pathogenicity, sweetpotato storage roots were inoculated with different S. rolfsii strains. 'Yulmi' variety displayed the highest disease incidence, whereas 'Pungwonmi' resulted in the least. These findings suggested that morphological characteristics and molecular phylogenetic analysis were useful for identification of S. rolfsii.

• Mycobiology
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• 제42권4호
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• pp.346-352
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• 2014

Recently, the Q biotype of tobacco whitefly has been recognized as the most hazardous strain of Bemisia tabaci worldwide, because of its increased resistance to some insecticide groups. As an alternative control agent, we selected an Isaria javanica isolate as a candidate for the development of a mycopesticide against the Q biotype of sweet potato whitefly. To select optimal mass production media for solid-state fermentation, we compared the production yield and virulence of conidia between 2 substrates (barley and brown rice), and we also compared the effects of various additives on conidia production and virulence. Barley was a better substrate for conidia production, producing $3.43{\times}10^{10}$ conidia/g, compared with $3.05{\times}10^{10}$ conidia/g for brown rice. The addition of 2% $CaCO_3+2%$ $CaSO_4$ to barley significantly increased conidia production. Addition of yeast extract, casein, or gluten also improved conidia production on barley. Gluten addition (3% and 1.32%) to brown rice improved conidia production by 14 and 6 times, respectively, relative to brown rice without additives. Conidia cultivated on barley produced a mortality rate of 62% in the sweet potato whitefly after 4-day treatment, compared with 53% for conidia cultivated on brown rice. The amendment of solid substrate cultivation with additives changed the virulence of the conidia produced; the median lethal time ($LT_{50}$) was shorter for conidia produced on barley and brown rice with added yeast extract (1.32% and 3%, respectively), $KNO_3$ (0.6% and 1%), or gluten (1.32% and 3%) compared with conidia produced on substrates without additives.

• 한국균학회소식:학술대회논문집
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• 한국균학회 2014년도 추계학술대회 및 정기총회
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• pp.19-19
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• 2014

Pleurotus ostreatus, P. eryngii, and Flammulina velutipes are major edible mushrooms that account for over 89% of total mushroom production in Korea. Recently, Agrocybe cylindracea, Hypsizygus marmoreus, and Hericium erinaceu are increasingly being cultivated in mushroom farms. In Korea, the production of edible mushrooms was estimated to be 614,224 ton in 2013. Generally, about 5 kg of mushroom substrate is needed to produce 1 kg of mushroom, and consequently about 25 million tons of spent mushroom substrate (SMS) is produced each year in Korea. Because this massive amount of SMC is unsuitable for reuse in mushroom production, it is either used as garden fertilizer or deposited in landfills, which pollutes the environment. It is reasonably assumed that SMS includes different secondary metabolites and extracellular enzymes produced from mycelia on substrate. Three major groups of enzymes such as cellulases, xylanases, and lignin degrading enzymes are involved in breaking down mushroom substrates. Cellulase and xylanase have been used as the industrial enzymes involving the saccharification of biomass to produce biofuel. In addition, lignin degrading enzymes such as laccases have been used to decolorize the industrial synthetic dyes and remove environmental pollutions such as phenolic compounds. Basidiomycetes produce a large number of biologically active compounds that show antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, cytotoxic or hallucinogenic activities. However, most previous researches have focused on therapeutics and less on the control of plant diseases. SMS can be considered as an easily available source of active compounds to protect plants from fungal and bacterial infections, helping alleviate the waste disposal problem in the mushroom industry and creating an environmentally friendly method to reduce plant pathogens. We describe extraction of lignocellulytic enzymes and antimicrobial substance from SMSs of different edible mushrooms and their potential applications.

• 한국균학회소식:학술대회논문집
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• 한국균학회 2014년도 추계학술대회 및 정기총회
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• pp.49-49
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• 2014

In order to find indigenous beneficial fungal species from crop field soils of Nigeria, 23 soil samples were collected from various places of Nigeria in June, 2013 and fungi were isolated through serial dilution technique. Isolated fungi were purified and differentiated according to their morphological and microscopic characteristics. In total, 38 different representative isolates were recovered and the genomic DNA of each isolates was extracted using QIAGEN$^{(R)}$ Plasmid Mini Kit (QIAGEN Sciences, USA) and the identification of fungi was carried out by sequence analysis of internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of the 18S ribosomal DNA (18S rDNA). Recovered isolates belonged to 9 fungal genera comprising Fusarium, Aspergillus, Chaetomium, Coniothyrium, Dipodascaceae, Myrothecium, Neosartorya, Penicillium and Trichoderma. Aspergillus spp., Penicillium spp. and Trichoderma spp. were the most dominant taxa in this study. The antagonistic potentiality of species belonged to Trichoderma against 10 phytopathogenic fungi (F. oxysporum, C. gloesporoides, P. cytrophthora, A. alternata, A. solani, S. rolfsii, F. solani, R. solani, S. sclerotiorum and P. nicotiana) was assessed in vitro using dual culture assay. The dual culture assay results showed varied degree of antagonism against the tested phytopathogens. The potential Trichoderma spp. will be further evaluated for their antagonistic and plant growth promotion potentiality under in vivo conditions.

• Mycobiology
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• 제43권3호
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• pp.280-287
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• 2015

In this study, transcriptome analysis of twelve laccase genes in Pleurotus ostreatus revealed that their expression was differentially regulated at different developmental stages. Lacc5 and Lacc12 were specifically expressed in fruiting bodies and primordia, respectively, whereas Lacc6 was expressed at all developmental stages. Lacc1 and Lacc3 were specific to the mycelial stage in solid medium. In order to investigate their biochemical characteristics, these laccases were heterologously expressed in Pichia pastoris using the pPICHOLI-2 expression vector. Expression of the laccases was facilitated by intermittent addition of methanol as an inducer and sole carbon source, in order to reduce the toxic effects associated with high methanol concentration. The highest expression was observed when the recombinant yeast cells were grown for 5 days at $15^{\circ}C$ with intermittent addition of 1% methanol at a 12-hr interval. Investigation of enzyme kinetics using 2,2-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS) as a substrate revealed that the primordium-specific laccase Lacc12 was 5.4-fold less active than Lacc6 at low substrate concentration with respect to ABTS oxidation activity. The optimal pH and temperature of Lacc12 were 0.5 pH units and $5^{\circ}C$higher than those of Lacc6. Lacc12 showed maximal activity at pH 3.5 and $50^{\circ}C$, which may reflect the physiological conditions at the primordiation stage.

• Mycobiology
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• 제38권2호
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• pp.102-107
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• 2010

We identified a gene for $\beta$-1,3-glucan synthesis (GBG1), a nonessential gene whose disruption alters cell wall synthesis enzyme activities and cell wall composition. This gene was cloned by functional complementation of defects in $\beta$-1,3-glucan synthase activity of the the previously isolated Saccharomyces cerevisiae mutant LP0353, which displays a number of cell wall defects at restrictive temperature. Disruption of the GBG1 gene did not affect cell viability or growth rate, but did cause alterations in cell wall synthesis enzyme activities: reduction of $\beta$-1,3-glucan synthase and chitin synthase III activities as well as increased chitin synthase I and II activities. GBG1 disruption also showed altered cell wall composition as well as susceptibility toward cell wall inhibitors such as Zymolyase, Calcofluor white, and Nikkomycin Z. These results indicate that GBG1 plays a role in cell wall biogenesis in S. cerevisiae.

• Mycobiology
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• 제45권4호
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• pp.392-400
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• 2017

Peanut yield and quality are seriously affected by pod rot pathogens worldwide, especially in China in recent years. The goals of this study are to analyze the structure of fungal communities of peanut pod rot in soil in three peanut cultivars and the correlation of pod rot with environmental variables using 454 pyrosequencing. A total of 46,723 internal transcribed spacer high-quality sequences were obtained and grouped into 1,706 operational taxonomic units at the 97% similarity cut-off level. The coverage, rank abundance, and the Chao 1 and Shannon diversity indices of the operational taxonomic units were analyzed. Members of the phylum Ascomycota were dominant, such as Fusarium, Chaetomium, Alternaria, and Sordariomycetes, followed by Basidiomycota. The results of the heatmap and redundancy analysis revealed significant variation in the composition of the fungal community among the three cultivar samples. The environmental conditions in different peanut cultivars may also influence on the structure of the fungal community. The results of this study suggest that the causal agent of peanut pod rot may be more complex, and cultivars and environmental conditions are both important contributors to the community structure of peanut pod rot fungi.