Highly thermostable β-xylanase produced by newly isolated Thermomyces lanuginosus THKU-49 strain was purified in a four-step procedure involving ammonium sulfate precipitation and subsequent separation on a DEAE-Sepharose fast flow column, hydroxylapatite column, and Sephadex G-100 column, respectively. The enzyme purified to homogeneity had a specific activity of 552 U/mg protein and a molecular weight of 24.9 kDa. The optimal temperature of the purified xylanase was 70°C, and it was stable at temperatures up to 60°C at pH 6.0; the optimal pH was 5.0–7.0, and it was stable in the pH range 3.5–8.0 at 4°C. Xylanase activity was inhibited by Mn²⁺, Sn²⁺, and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid. The xylanase showed a high activity towards soluble oat spelt xylan, but it exhibited low activity towards insoluble oat spelt xylan; no activity was found to carboxymethylcellulose, avicel, filter paper, locust bean gum, cassava starch, and p-nitrophenyl β-D-xylopyranoside. The apparent K_m value of the xylanase on soluble oat spelt xylan and insoluble oat spelt xylan was 7.3 ± 0.236 and 60.2 ± 6.788 mg/ml, respectively. Thin-layer chromatography analysis showed that the xylanase hydrolyzed oat spelt xylan to yield mainly xylobiose and xylose as end products, but that it could not release xylose from the substrate xylobiose, suggesting that it is an endo-xylanase.

Ascothailandia grenadoidia gen. et sp. nov. is described and illustrated from submerged wood (Wrightia tomentosa) in a stream at Hala Bala Wildlife Sanctuary, southern Thailand. The new genus (teleomorph) is characterized by perithecoid, globose, dark brown, ostiolate ascomata, paraphysate, asci cylindrical, unitunicate with a prominent J-refractive apical ring and versicolurus, 3-euseptate ascospores. Ascospores germinated producing a Canalisporium (C. grenadoidia sp. nov.) anamorph. The morphological characterization of this new fungus is reported and compared with the genera Ascotaiwania and Savoryella. Phylogenetic analyses of the combined partial 18S, 28S ribosomal DNA and internal transcribed spacer, including 5.8S regions, of Ascothailandia grenadoidia and 10 Canalisporium species were undertaken and analyzed with maximum parsimony and Bayesian methods. The molecular data indicate that A. grenadoidia is closely related to Canalisporium elegans in the Sordariomycetes, Hypocreomycetidae, order incertae sedis. Both morphological and molecular characterization provides sufficient evidence to support the description of a new genus. A key to Canalisporium species is provided.

A study was conducted to identify Botrytis spp. isolated from bulb onion, green onions, garlic, and garlic chives grown in Hubei Province of China. Based on colony morphology and conidial characteristics, 367 strains of Botrytis spp. were identified as five distinct species, namely, B. cinerea, B. squamosa, B. porri, B. byssoidea, and an undescribed Botrytis species (Botrytis sp.), which accounted for 64.3, 29.9, 3.3, 0.3, and 2.2%, respectively. The previously undescribed species is herein described as a new species, B. sinoallii sp. nov., which is characterized by production of numerous small sclerotia on potato dextrose agar. Phylogenetic analysis using partial sequences of three nuclear genes (G3PDH, HSP60, and RPB2) showed that B. sinoallii forms a unique lineage, which is closely related to B. squamosa, a well-known species on Allium crops, but distantly related to the other species of Botrytis on Allium crops, including B. cinerea, B. porri, B. aclada, B. allii, B. byssoidea, B. globosa, and B. sphaerosperma. Results of inoculation tests showed that B. sinoallii is a newly identified agent that can cause leaf blight of green onion, garlic, and garlic chives. Potential impact of B. sinoallii on production of Allium crops in China is discussed.

A species of Aphanomyces was isolated from the ice fish Salangichithys microdon living in brackish water in Japan. White cotton-like growth was found on the heads and fins of the fish. Hyphae penetrated into the dermal layers, subcutaneous tissues, muscular layers, and cartilaginous tissue of the mandible and maxilla; these hyphae were associated with cellular debris and lesions in host tissue. White fluffy colonies from subcultures of these growths were isolated on glucose–yeast agar plates with 0.5% sodium chloride (NaCl). These isolates consisted of delicate, slightly wavy, and moderately branched hyphae. Zoosporangia were isodiametric with the vegetative hyphae. Oogonia were abundant and approximately 21–33 μm in diameter, with irregular short papillae. Generally they were spherical or subspherical and only rarely pyriform. Individual oogonia usually contained a single oospore, which was spherical and 19–27 μm in diameter, with a large shiny vesicle. Antheridial branches, when present, were usually androgynous; however, they were sometimes monoclinous or diclinous. The optimal growth temperature of the isolates was 20 °C, and cultures grew well at low salinity (0–0.5% NaCl). Phylogenic analysis based on the internal transcribed space 1-5.8S-ITS 2 of the ribosomal RNA gene indicates that these isolates will be an as-yet unidentified species of Aphanomyces.

A novel acidophilic fungus was isolated by an acidic enrichment culture of microbial mats and biofilms collected at an extremely acidic and high temperature hot spring. In culture studies, this fungus was revealed to produce ascomycetous teleomorph structures. Molecular phylogenetic study and morphological observation showed this fungus is a new species of the genus Teratosphaeria (Capnodiales, Dothideomycetes) and is phylogenetically close to Acidomyces acidophilus and Bispora sp., which were previously reported as acidophilic anamorphic fungi. This new fungus is described here as a new species of Teratosphaeria, and its physiological properties adapting to its habitat are demonstrated. This is the first report of a teleomorphic fungus having highly acidophilic and thermophilic properties.

Circumstantial evidence, mostly morphological and ecological, points to ten different mushroom host species for up to fifteen species of the mycoparasitic genus Squamanita. Here, molecular evidence confirms Cystoderma amianthinum as the host for S. paradoxa, a sporadically occurring and rarely collected mycoparasite with extreme host specificity. This is only the second study to use molecular techniques to reveal or confirm the identity of a cecidiocarp of Squamanita species. Phylogenetic analysis of combined nuclear ribosomal RNA genes suggests the monophyly of Squamanita, Cystoderma, and Phaeolepiota, a clade referred to as the tribe Cystodermateae. If true, S. paradoxa and C. amianthinum would represent a relatively closely related species pair involved in a mycoparasitic symbiosis.