Rhizopus oryzae IFO 4697 was found to produce intracellular ribonuclease (RNase), and its growth and activity could be regulated under selected metal ion stress. The addition of Fe²⁺, Mg²⁺ and Zn²⁺ to the SLSR medium was essential to growth and RNase production. Ca²⁺ and Mo⁶⁺ stimulated RNase production. It is concluded that the addition of 100 mg/ml Ca²⁺, 5 mg/ml Mo⁶⁺, 0.7 mg/ml Zn²⁺, 2 mg/ml Fe²⁺, and 49 mg/ml Mg²⁺ to the SLSR medium was the best condition for producing RNase in high specific activity (3780 U/mg protein). This result indicates that a metal ion-regulated liquid medium is an efficient culture method for RNase production.

DNA fingerprinting was performed on 72 strains of Aspergillus oryzae and 9 strains of Aspergillus sojae isolated from chu (China) or koji (Japan) mold inoculum used in the production of traditional Oriental fermented beverages or foods including soy sauce, miso, and sake. The cultures were deposited with the ARS Culture Collection (NRRL) between 1909 and 2001. PstI digests of total genomic DNA from each isolate were probed using the pAF28 repetitive sequence. All strains of A. sojae that we examined produced an identical DNA fingerprint and belong to the same DNA fingerprint group (GTAo-9). Strains of A. oryzae were distributed among 41 DNA fingerprint groups, including GTAo-12 represented by 11 strains, GTAo-19 represented by 5 strains, GTAo-5 and GTAo-15 each represented by 4 strains, and GTAo-8, GTAo-17, and GTAo-24 each represented by 3 strains. Thirty-three single strain isolates of A. oryzae produced unique fingerprints. Our data offer evidence suggesting that (1) the successful domestication of A. parasiticus genotypes yielding A. sojae occurred far less frequently than among genotypes of A. flavus var. oryzae ; and (2) some Aspergillus genotypes employed in different fermentations and regions were derived from a common ancestral clonal population.

Infection of nematodes by two strains of Datylella ellipsospora was observed using video photomicrography and electron microscopy. By light microscopy, each cell with adhesive knobs contained a number of particles that were distributed evenly before capture of a nematode. The cytoplasmic particles moved to and fro at random. At the moment when the knob cell came into contact with a nematode, the particles accumulated at the place where the cell wall of the knob stuck firmly to the nematode cuticle and exuded adhesive at the same time. The adhesive can be seen near the point of contact between the cell wall of the knob and the cuticle of the nematode. At that point, the knob cell produced an infection peg in most cases, and the cell showed a preference to invade the body of the nematode rather than the tail and head. During capture, accumulation of cytoplasmic particles was seen until infection-bulb formation began. In electron micrographs of ultrathin sections, most of the particles could be seen as electron-dense vesicles, 0.2–0.6 μm in diameter. After attachment of the knob cell to the nematode cuticle, the vesicles were found to fuse with plasmalemma one after another to exude adhesive seen as an amorphous electron-dense substance.

Identifications of 30 species of polypores described by Corner were made by type examinations. The following new combinations are proposed: Antrodiella brunneimontana, A. diffluens, A. flavitubus, Ceriporiopsis aurantitingens, C. cremeicarnea, Dichomitus affixus, Oligoporus bambusicola, O. cretaceitextus, and Skeletocutis falsipileata. The following names are accepted in the original genus: Tyromyces corniculatus, T. corticola, T. hispidulinanus, T. inodermatus, T. interponens, and T. languidus. Tyromyces aurantilaetus was already combined with the proper genus. The following species are treated as synonyms: Tyromyces amyloideus, a synonym of Oligoporus caesius; T. citrinicarneus, a synonym of Rigidoporus dextrinoideus; T. coeruleivirens, a synonym of O. caesius; T. fagraeae, a synonym of T. corticola; T. flavidicera, a synonym of R. dextrinoideus; and T. inconsideratus, a synonym of Tinctoporellus epimiltinus. Tyromyces dianthicolor and T. favulus belong to difficult complexes, and allied species are cited for each species. The following species are dubious because of their poor or sterile condition: Tyromyces albovinaceus, T. carbonicola, T. dacrydii, and T. descendens. No authentic specimens were traced for T. cinnamomeiporus and T. citriniporus. Descriptions and line drawings are given for the accepted species.

Cochliobolus heterostrophus Pol2 and Pol5 mutants are pleiotropic, and each mutant gene is responsible for alterations of both unrelated phenotypes: reddish-brown pigmentation and polyoxin resistance. The three pigments accumulated in these mutants were isolated. Structural characterization by spectroscopic analyses indicated that these three pigments were polyhydroxyanthraquinones: emodin, chrysophanol, and citreorosein. Emodin is known to be an antidote against benzimidazole fungicide, although no antidoting activity against polyoxin was observed.

Ophiodothella caseariae sp. nov. from leaves of Casearia tremula in Venezuela is described and illustrated.

Biochemical roles of the representative enzymes involved in carbon metabolism of glucose were investigated in relation to the fruit-body formation of the basidiomycete Flammulina velutipes. Changes in specific activities of the enzymes of the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle and glyoxylate (GLOX) and gluconeogenesis pathways were measured at different stages of development of the fungus. The enzyme activities of malate synthase (MS) and fructose bisphosphatase (FBP) as the key enzymes for the GLOX-gluconeogenesis pathways increased in mycelia during the fruit-body formation. The activities of isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) for the TCA cycle and NADP-linked glutamate dehydrogenase (GLTDH (NADP)) for glutamate synthesis increased more markedly. Moreover, the mycelial mat of the cultures producing fruit bodies yielded greater enzyme activities of isocitrate lyase (ICL), MS, FBP, and IDH than that of the cultures that did not produce fruit bodies. These results suggest that the GLOX-gluconeogenesis pathways as well as the glutamate synthesis have a strong correlation with the fruit-body formation of F. velutipes.

Serious outbreaks of powdery mildew by a fungus belonging to the mitosporic genus Oidium subgenus Pseudoidium have been reported on soybean (Glycine max) in a wide area of eastern Asia since 1998. The taxonomic and phylogenetic placement of the causal fungus has not yet been determined because of lack of the perfect stage. We found ascomata having mycelioid appendages on a single leaf of soybean infested by powdery mildew. Molecular phylogenetic analysis was conducted based on a total of 14 sequences of the rDNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region from 13 soybean and wild soybean (Glycine soja) materials collected in Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and the United States, combined with 47 sequence data obtained from the DNA databases. It was revealed that two Erysiphe species were associated with the outbreak of soybean powdery mildew. There was 16% difference between the two species in genetic divergence of the ITS sequence. One species with perfect stage has an ITS sequence identical to that of Erysiphe glycines on Amphicarpaea and is identified as Erysiphe glycines based on the ITS sequence and morphology of ascomata. The second species, without the perfect stage, is likely to be Erysiphe diffusa (= Microsphaera diffusa), known as the fungus causing soybean powdery mildew in the United States, because the ITS sequences are identical to those from materials collected in the United States. However, we need materials having ascomata of E. diffusa to confirm the species name.

Four new species of Crinipellis and Marasmius (Agaricales, Basidiomycetes) in eastern Honshu, Japan, are described and illustrated: (1) Crinipellis conchata sp. nov. (section Excentricinae), forming a conchate pileus and a strongly excentric, short stipe, was found on a dead twig of Trachelospermum asiaticum in Mt. Takao, Tokyo; (2) Marasmius funalis sp. nov. (section Androsacei), forming a densely white-hispid, dark brown stipe bearing numerous setiform caulocystidia, was found on a dead twig of Cryptomeria japonica or on leaf litter in Tokyo and Kanagawa; (3) Marasmius maculosus sp. nov. (section Sicci), having a relatively large, reddish-brown pileus distinctly mottled with pale colored spots and Siccus-type cheilocystidia and pileipellis cells with relatively long setulae, was found on leaf litter in the lowland forest of Kanagawa and Chiba; and (4) Marasmius sasicola sp. nov. (section Marasmius), having a small, plicate-sulcate pileus, a filiform, wiry, blackish stipe, collariate lamellae, and Siccus-type cheilocystidia and pileipellis elements, was found on fallen dead leaves of grass bamboo in Kanagawa.

Two new species from Japan, Amanita areolata and Amanita griseoturcosa, are described. The former, found in a broad-leaved forest in Aichi Prefecture, is a medium- to large-sized mushroom characterized by an areolate, brownish pileus, a nonstriate and appendiculate margin of the pileus, and amyloid basidiospores. The latter, found in forests with Fagaceae or Pinaceae in Tokyo, Chiba Prefecture, and Miyagi Prefecture, is a medium-sized mushroom characterized by a grayish-turquoise pileus, a nonstriate margin of the pileus, a saccate volva, an apical membranous annulus, and amyloid basidiospores.

A new species and a new variety of Cortinarius sect. Defibulati are described and illustrated from Niigata, Japan. Cortinarius rugosolilacinus sp.nov., found in deciduous forests, is most similar to Cortinarius livido-ochraceus (=C. elatior), but differs mainly in its longer basidiospores, slender basidiocarp, and pale violet lamellae in the button stage. Cortinarius pseudosalor var. niigatensis var. nov., found in deciduous forests, is distinguished from the type variety by its brown to dark brown pileus with a wrinkled surface even when young. The differences between the two taxa and similar species are briefly discussed.

Four corticioid fungi (Basidiomycota), collected from Tottori Prefecture, are reported as new records from Japan. They are Bulbillomyces farinosus, Melzericium rimosum, Sistotremella cystidiolophora, and Tubulicrinis orientalis. Their morphological descriptions, illustrations, and remarks based on the Japanese specimens are provided.