Because of the obligate biotrophic nature, host relationships of powdery mildews have long been considered as conservative. Especially, no tree-parasitic powdery mildew species having wide host ranges have been known so far. However, previous reports revealed that powdery mildews occurring on eight genera of tropical fruits trees and other woody plants covering five families belong to a single species, Erysiphe quercicola. The authors found in Indonesia three additional tropical trees infected by E. quercicola, viz., Bauhinia purpurea, Durio zibethinus, and Nephelium lappaceum, which are cultivated widely in tropical regions as fruit trees, flower trees, or industrial crops. This result suggests that these tree species play important roles as alternative hosts for powdery mildew epidemics caused by E. quercicola in tropical regions. Investigations and surveys of the exact host range of E. quercicola are important for the management of this powdery mildew.

Chroogomphus mediterraneus, a species described from the Balearic Islands, is confirmed as belonging to the genus Chroogomphus, instead of the genus Gomphidius, as it appears in taxonomic databases. Chroogomphus mediterraneus shows macroscopic features similar to Chroogomphus fulmineus and C. rutilus, species with which it has been confused in the literature. However, analyses based on comparison of barcoding sequences (internal transcribed spacers of nuclear ribosomal DNA), and a review of the morphological features, support C. mediterraneus as a separate species close to C. albipes, a gasteroid fungus, and C. confusus, a species described from Yunnan, China. Chroogomphus mediterraneus is also reported for the first time in the Iberian Peninsula.

Based on morphological and molecular phylogenetic analyses, two new species, Tuber shidianense and T. calosporum, are described from southwest China. They are clearly different from any other taxon in the genus Tuber. Tuber shidianense belongs to the Puberulum group. It is characterized by whitish ascomata, pseudoparenchymatous peridium and globose ascospores with deep alveolar ornamentation. Tuber calosporum belongs to the Macrosporum group. It is recognized by yellow and brown ascomata, prosenchymatous peridium and large elliptic ascospores with low alveolate wall. Phylogenetic relationships and morphological differences between these two new species and their related species are discussed.

Aspergillus nidulans γ-glutamyl transpeptidase (AnγGT, EC 2.3.2.2) was partially purified from the fermentation broth of carbon stressed cultures. Its temperature and pH optimum was 45 °C and pH 8.0, respectively. AnγGT had little hydrolase activity. It utilized Gln, glutathione and less efficiently oxidized glutathione as γ-glutamyl donors (beside of γ-glutamyl-p-nitroanilide) and amino-acids and peptides (including Glu, Cys, Met, Gly-Gly and Cys-Gly) but not hydroxylamine as γ-glutamyl acceptors. We propose that the function of this enzyme is not to degrade, but to produce, γ-glutamyl compounds which may be related to the utilization of extracellular peptides and amino-acids in carbon stressed cultures.

Five compounds, (1R,2S)-1-phenylpropane-1,2-diol, isolactarorufin, lactarorufin A, 8α,13-dihydroxy-marasm-5-oic acid γ-lactone, and 7α,8α,13-trihydroxy-marasm-5-oic acid γ-lactone were isolated from the fruiting bodies of Russula vinosa. In the bioassay examining plant-growth regulatory activity using lettuce, all the compounds regulated the growth.

The thermo-alkali-stable xylanase from Myceliophthora thermophila BF1-7 was purified and characterized. The enzyme was purified using a procedure including ammonium sulfate precipitation, gel filtration and ion exchange chromatographies. The xylanase was purified to 77.1-fold apparent homogeneity with a recovery yield of 7.48% and maximum specificity was obtained as 2.31 U mg⁻¹ protein. The purified xylanase appeared as a single protein band on sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis with a molecular mass of approximately 14 kDa. Xylanase was most active at pH 12.0 and retained 55% of the original activity in the pH range of 9.0–12.0 after incubation at 4 °C for 24 h. The optimal temperature of the xylanase was 50 °C and it retained more than 77% and 56% of its original activity after heating at 50 °C for 30 and 60 min, respectively. Xylanase was inhibited by Hg²⁺ and stimulated by Mg²⁺, Cu²⁺, Ag⁺, Zn²⁺, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) at 1 mM. The K_m and V_max values of the purified xylanase were 9.67 mg/mL and 5.38 μmol/min/mg, respectively. The purified xylanase only showed activity on xylan and hydrolyzed beechwood xylan to yield mainly xylotetraose and xylobiose as end products which suggesting that it was an endo-xylanase.

An asexual stage of powdery mildew was found on Persea americana in West Java and North Sumatera, Indonesia. Based on phylogenetic analyses as well as morphological investigations, a new species, Podosphaera perseae-americanae, is proposed for this fungus including detailed descriptions and illustrations of morphology. Also its generic affinity and phylogeny are discussed.

Three species of Helvella were collected from Jiuzhaigou Natural Reserve, southwestern China. Helvella maculatoides sp. nov. is described and illustrated from specimens collected on moss. Helvella subglabra and H. ulvinenii are recorded for the first time from China. Our new collections were confirmed to be divergent from other species of Helvella based on morphological examination and molecular phylogenetic analyses of ITS and 28S sequence data. Descriptions and figures are provided for the taxa which are compared with allied taxa.

To characterize the pathway and sink activity for the translocation of amino acids and their metabolites in the extraradical mycelium (ERM) of ectomycorrhizal (ECM) symbiosis, we locally labeled a part of the ERM of Pinus thunbergii seedlings colonized by a Pisolithus isolate with [¹⁴C(U)]-L-alanine (¹⁴C-Ala) or [¹⁴C(U)]-L-glutamine (¹⁴C-Gln) and followed the ¹⁴C distribution in the ERM by autoradiography. After ¹⁴C-Ala or ¹⁴C-Gln labeling, ¹⁴C was mainly distributed in a bundle of rhizomorphs extending from the labeled part towards ECM root tips of the host, but not in thick roots or the aboveground part of the seedling. When ¹⁴C-Ala was added after seedling removal, no ¹⁴C bundle appeared in the remaining ERM. These results indicate that ¹⁴C amino acids and their metabolites are translocated unidirectionally towards the ECM root tips, where strong sink activity for amino acids is localised. ¹⁴C was also distributed diffusely over a broad region in ERM surrounding the labeled part. This result suggests that ¹⁴C amino acids and their metabolites are also translocated multidirectionally in the ERM by sink activity distributed diffusely all over the whole ERM.

The obscure species Exobasidium sawadae and the enigmatic hyphomycetous genus Elaeodema transform fruits of Cinnamomum species to galls. Fresh collections from Guangxi in China and Taiwan island were studied with microscopy and analysis of partial large subunit (LSU) ribosomal RNA gene sequences. Study of young stages and of isotype material of El. cinnamomi revealed the presence of basidia. Haustoria are demonstrated in both species for the first time. Sterile elements were found between basidia in galls of El. cinnamomi, whereas sterile elements were absent in Ex. sawadae. Based on the morphology of spore germination and the anamorphic yeast stage in culture, and a phylogenetic species concept, these two species were combined into Clinoconidium. Elaeodema is considered a synonym of Clinoconidium. The data indicate high specificity of Clinoconidium species to their lauraceous hosts.

Austre Brøggerbreen is located in Ny-Ålesund in the Svalbard archipelago, Norway, and is known as one of the most retreating glaciers in the world. We selected five sites in the retreating area and investigated the mycoflora in each of them. A total of 58 fungal strains were isolated and classified into 14 species (Cryptococcus gilvescens, Cryptococcus victoriae, Mrakia gelida, Mrakia robertii, Mrakia psychrophila, Rhodotorula glacialis, Rhodotorula psychrophenolica, Cladosporium cladosporioides, Thelebolus microsporus, Mortierella alpina, Mortierella polygonia, Mortierella elongata, Mortierella horticola, and Mucor hiemalis). We showed that the mycoflora clearly changes with distance from the glacier terminus in Austre Brøggerbreen deglaciation area.