A substance inducing teliospore production in Puccinia recondita f. sp. tritici was found in water and methanol extracts of wheat leaves with telia of the wheat leaf rust just before harvest time. Methanol (MeOH) and water extracts from uninfected wheat leaves also showed telia-inducing activity. However, the MeOH and water extracts from wheat leaves covered with telia showed much stronger activity than those from uninfected wheat leaves. We obtained a fraction (0.2 mg) showing activity at 2 ng/ml by purification of the water extract.

Variation in the number of nuclei and cellular ploidy were observed in eight strains of Helicobasidium mompa. The basidiospores, single-spore isolates and field-isolated strains were all dikaryons. The cellular ploidy, which was assessed by analyzing the fluorescence emitted by DAPI-stained nuclei, was unstable: monokaryotic strains derived from the original dikaryotic strains by successive subcultures were mainly tetraploid, although the original dikaryon was in most cases diploid. On the other hand, a dikaryotic strain derived by treatment with benomyl was haploid. These results suggest that diploid dikaryon is a normal nuclear phase of H. mompa in nature, and the alternation of ploidy may be due to a feature of the mating system of this fungus.

Halosarpheia unicellularis sp. nov. is described from decayed attached wood of Avicennia marina collected from two mangrove sites in the Red Sea, Egypt. The ascomycete is compared with other marine taxa having ascospores with polar unfurling appendages. It is also compared with other marine genera with oval, round or ellipsoid, hyaline, unicellular ascospores, but for which appendages have not been reported. Molecular data confirms the assignment of the fungus toHalosarpheia which forms a clade with the type species Halosarpheia fibrosa.

Leaf discs provided better recovery of Cylindrocladium candelabrum from soil than stem or twig segments. Leaf discs of eucalypt (Eucalyptus grandis), azalea (Rhododendron sp.), and geranium (Pelargonium sp.) were the best of seven plant baits evaluated. Twig segments of azalea and eucalypt also provided a high percentage of pathogen recovery, whereas stem segments of pine seedlings (Pinus elliottii) proved unsatisfactory. Although slightly less effective, twig segments were easier to handle than leaf discs, which were quickly decomposed in soil. Colonization of eucalypt twig segments by Cylindrocladium spp. varied with inoculum level, soil moisture content, and incubation period. The highest percentage of recovery of C. candelabrum (approx. 95%) was calculated at a field capacity moisture level of 155.9% after 75 h of incubation.

During an examination of Coniothyrium collections occurring on Proteaceae one species, C. leucospermi, was repeatedly encountered. However, it was not always possible to identify this species from host material alone, whereas cultural characteristics were found to be instrumental in its identification. Conidium wall ornamentation, which has earlier been accepted as crucial in species delimitation is shown to be variable on host material, making cultural comparisons essential. Using standard culture and incubation conditions, C. leucospermi is demonstrated to have a wide host range in the Proteaceae. In addition, microcyclic conidiation involving yeast-like budding from germinating conidia and hyphae in culture is newly reported for this species.

Dematiaceous mitosporic fungi darkening decaying fir needles on the ground were studied. Fungal communities on decaying, blackish fir needles were investigated in nine sites of the Kanto district, Japan, using a washing method. A total of 108 taxa was recorded from 540 sampled needles. Among abundantly occurring dematiaceous fungi, Anungitea continua, A. uniseptata, and Endophragmiella uniseptata were recognized as the major colonizers, forming a hyphal network on the surface of decaying fallen needles and darkening them. The effects of climate on the distributions of seven dematiaceous fungi, including the major colonizers, were analyzed. The abundance (proportion of needles colonized by a fungal species) of Chaetopsina fulva showed a significantly positive correlation with annual mean air temperature at each sampling site. No other significant correlations between the selected climatic factors and the distributions of dematiaceous fungi were recognized.

Three noteworthy taxa of soil-borne onygenalean fungi are described and illustrated: Kraurogymnocarpa trochleospora. comb. nov., Kuehniella aurea, comb. nov., and Nannizziopsis albicans. In addition, Aphanoascus boninensis, which was previously described as a new species, is considered to be a synonym of Uncinocarpus orissi.

Eurotium taklimakanense, a new species isolated from desert soil in the Taklimakan desert, Xinjiang Province, China, is described and illustrated. It is characterized by light yellow to reddish yellow colonies on Czapek's agar with 70% (w/v) sucrose, yellow ascomata, broadly lenticular ascospores with conspicuously irregular equatorial crests and tuberculate or verrucose convex surfaces, and an Aspergillus anamorph. Eurotium cristatum is also described as a new record from China. It is characterized by light yellow colonies on Czapek's agar with 70% sucrose, yellow ascomata, broadly lenticular ascospores with two equatorial crests and echinulate convex surfaces, and small tuberculate conidia.

RLGS is a technique to detect DNA polymorphism using restriction sites as landmarks. It identifies the landmarks through direct end-labeling, two-dimensional electrophoresis, and autoradiography, giving a profile with many spots to allow the scanning of numerous DNA loci. We successfully performed the technique on fungi using isolates of Colletotrichum acutatum and C. gloeosporioides in anamorphic Ascomycotina, Rhizopus oryzae in Zygomycotina, Phytophthora nicotianae in Mastigomycotina (or Oomycota), and Rhizoctonia solani in anamorphic Basidiomycotina. RLGS of total genomic DNA digested with three restriction enzymes, Not I, EcoR V and Mbo I, reproducibly gave specific profiles of ca. 400 to 1,600 spots for each isolate. A polymorphic spot appearing to reflect a genetic difference between the two Colletotrichum species was found in the profiles of the isolates. No other common spots were found in any combination of isolates of the two Colletotrichum species, and thus the other spots on the profiles were regarded as unique to each isolate. These results indicated that RLGS could be applied as a powerful fingerprinting technique based on genetic information from the whole genomic DNA, to search for useful DNA markers for taxonomic and genomic studies on many fungal species.

Our previous study revealed that, when exposed to light from below, fruit-bodies of humus-borne agarics grow straight downward both in the 'Coprinus Type' and 'Non-Coprinus Type' species and that, in the latter, gills tilt by gravitropism, caps swell and wave, and stipes twist. The present study revealed that fruit-bodies of some lignicolous agarics also grew straight downward. Among them, Flammulina velutipes and Hypsizygus marmoreus fruit bodies showed almost the same behaviour as the 'Non-Coprinus Type', but Pleurotus ostreatus (assumed Polyporus Type) fruit-bodies did not show the gill tilting and cap waving. Rather, it redifferentiated to produce new gills or new fruit bodies, possibly by gravimorphogenesis, or formed spiral stipes. Based on these results, graviresponses in hymenomycetes are overviewed.