Tubulicium curvisporum sp. nov. frequently grows on the Japanese andromeda Pieris japonica on Honshu Island, Japan. Molecular phylogenetic analysis revealed that this species belongs to the genus Tubulicium, of the family Hydnodontaceae (Trechisporales). The present species is morphologically distinguishable from the other Tubulicium species, because of its strongly curved, sickle-shaped basidiospores, measuring 16.5–25.5 × 4.5–7 μm. In this study, the morphological descriptions, illustrations, and cultural characteristics of T. curvisporum are provided, as well as a key to the species of this genus.

The genus Olpidiopsis of the Oomycota includes several species that are aquatic parasites and hyperparasites. Despite their widespread occurrence and potential ecological importance, only a handful of these species has been subjected to phylogenetic investigations, so far. Most species have not been observed and reported for several decades. In the current study, the freshwater diatom parasite Olpidiopsis gillii (de Wild.) Friedmann was rediscovered from the river Main in Germany and investigated for its phylogenetic placement using nuclear small ribosomal subunit (SSU) sequences. The absence of a zoospore diplanetism is a characteristic of the genus Olpidiopsis, which is in contrast to the diplanetism observed in species of Ectrogella. The phylogenetic reconstruction revealed that Olpidiopsis gillii is a basal lineage within the oomycetes, grouping together with the recently-described marine diatom parasite Olpidiopsis drebesii with high support, and loosely associated with Olpidiopsis species parasitising red algae. However, as there are no sequence data available for the type species of both Olpidiopsis and Ectrogella the taxonomic assignment of these simple holocarpic parasites of algae and diatoms remains fraught with uncertainty.

In the present study, the copy number of mitochondrial DNA in Grifola frondosa was estimated at several developmental stages by quantitative real-time PCR, revealing that it decreases gradually during fruiting body development. We investigated the relationships between copy number of mitochondrial DNA and transcription levels of genes that are related to activity and number of mitochondria. The lowest expression levels were observed in expression of mitochondrial DNA encoded cytochrome C oxidase subunit 1 gene and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 4 gene at the mature fruit body stage. These results indicate that G. frondosa may deactivate the respiratory chain by decreasing the number of mitochondria during fruiting body development.

The ability to produce monokaryotic fruiting bodies and clamp cells in culture was examined in monokaryotic strain isolated from several dikaryotic parental strains of the edible mushroom, Mycoleptodonoides aitchisonii (Bunaharitake). We describe a single dikaryotic M. aitchisonii strain, TUFC50005, and 20 monokaryons derived from it, which exhibited a wide spectrum of monokaryotic fruiting types. Most strains formed primordia, or young fruiting body-like structures, but only one of the monokaryons, strain TUFC50005-4, formed a fruiting body, even though it had only one nucleus and produced only two spores after meiosis. We demonstrated that dikariotization was not required for clamp cell formation, fruiting body formation, or meiosis, in this mushroom.

Many Agaricomycotina species are saprobes, playing a fundamental role in nutrient cycling in forest ecosystems by decomposing wood. Little is known about factors affecting diversity of wood-inhabiting fungi in the neotropical, warm temperate native forests of Uruguay. Most of these native forests are riparian harboring about 300 tree species. In this study, we assessed the diversity of wood-inhabiting fungi on wood of different size classes in riparian forests of Uruguay. We recovered 186 species of Agaricomycotina, including 113 corticioid and 58 polyporoid taxa. Eleven taxa accounted for 38% of the all the samples. The highest number of species was found on fine woody debris (FWD, 2−10 cm diam) than coarse woody debris (CWD, >10 cm diam) and very fine woody debris (VFWD, <2 cm diam). Species-accumulation curves did not reach an asymptote for any of the groups or wood diameter classes studied. Polyporoids were more frequently recorded on CWD (61% of collections) and corticioids on VFWD (77%). Species richness estimated by non-parametric estimators indicates an Agaricomycotina species richness between 450 and 700 taxa. Our results show that Uruguayan riparian forests, despite its limited area and fragmentation, support a wood-inhabiting Agaricomycotina diversity comparable to less fragmented forests with more plant diversity.

Two strains of yeast-like achlorophyllous alga belonging to the genus Prototheca were isolated from the water and soil, respectively, from a mangrove forest in Thailand. Cultures of both strains were achlorophyllous when grown under light and dark conditions, and they reproduced by release of sporangiospores. Phylogenetic analyses, based on the D1/D2 region of the large subunit ribosomal RNA gene and the small subunit ribosomal RNA gene nucleotide sequences, revealed these two strains were closely related to Prototheca cutis. The strains grew well at 25 ℃, weakly or slowly at 30 ℃, but not at 35 ℃ and higher, and were found to be susceptible to 50 mg/disk clotrimazole, as determined by the disk diffusion test. They assimilated a limited number of carbon/nitrogen compounds; glucose, galactose, trehalose, ethanol, glycerol, propylene glycol, lactic acid, fructose and mannose as sole sources of carbon, and ammonium, lysine and cadaverine as sole sources of nitrogen. The two strains are clearly distinguished from P. cutis by the abilities to assimilate polypropylene glycol and the inability to grow at 35 ℃ and higher. In this study, the ninth member of the genus Prototheca, Prototheca paracutis sp. nov. (ex-type strain YMTW3-1^T = JCM 32112^T = TBRC8745^T ), is proposed. The MycoBank number is MB 821626. In addition, P. paracutis sp. nov. was observed to accumulate lipid at up to 21% of the cell dry weight, characterizing it as an oleaginous microorganism.

1-Octen-3-ol is considered a major contributor to the characteristic mushroom aroma. It has been proposed that in the oyster mushroom Pleurotus ostreatus, 1-octen-3-ol is synthesized through two pathways comprising either 13-hydroperoxy-9Z,11E-octadecadienoic acid (13-HPOD) or 10-hydroperoxy-8E,12Z-octadecadienoic acid as an intermediate, and that 13-HPOD is produced by the oxidation of linoleic acid by lipoxygenase (LOX). However, information on 1-octen-3-ol in this mushroom remains limited. This study investigated variations in 1-octen-3-ol and the LOX gene (Polox1 and Polox2) expression together with LOX activity in P. ostreatus, according to fruiting body development, tissue specificity, maturity, and postharvest storage. 1-Octen-3-ol content was abundant in the stipe of medium-sized fruiting bodies (40–50 mm cap diam), but decreased after 2 d of storage at 4 °C. During fruiting body development, changes in LOX activity mimicked changes in transcript levels of Polox1, which was much more abundantly expressed than Polox2. The changes in LOX activity were different from changes in 1-octen-3-ol levels according to fruiting body development, maturity, and postharvest storage. Our investigation suggests that medium-sized fruiting bodies that were not subjected to long-term storage would have a good aroma quality and that there is no correlation between 1-octen-3-ol synthesis and LOX activity, which is largely dependent on Polox1 expression.

Melanoderma boninense is described and illustrated as a new species from the Bonin Islands, Japan, on the basis of morphological and phylogenetic investigations. This species is characterized by sessile basidiocarps with an ungulate pileus, a black crust on the pileus surface, pores 4–6/mm, a dimitic hyphal system comprising clamped generative hyphae and cyanophilous skeletal binding hyphae with or without a dextrinoid reaction, cylindrical basidiospores measuring 5.5–7.5 × 2–3 μm, and cystidioles on the sides of tubes and near the pore surface. Morphological examination of authentic specimens of other Melanoderma species revealed that the genus is variable in terms of the shape and size of cystidioles. A black crust on the pileus surface composed of palisade and highly agglutinated hyphae is a distinctive diagnostic morphological feature of Melanoderma that differentiates it from allied genera. Melanoderma boninense, which is currently known from a restricted area of the Bonin Islands, is potentially threatened by environmental reduction of the type locality due to the invasive tree Bischofia javanica.

A new wood-inhabiting fungal species, Xylodon kunmingensis, is proposed based on morphological and molecular evidences. The species is characterized by an annual growth habit, resupinate basidiocarps with cream to buff hymenial, odontioid surface, a monomitic hyphal system with generative hyphae bearing clamp connections and oblong-ellipsoid, hyaline, thin-walled, smooth, inamyloid and indextrinoid, acyanophilous basidiospores, 5–5.8 × 2.8–3.5 μm. The phylogenetic analyses based on molecular data of ITS sequences showed that X. kunmingensis belongs to the genus Xylodon and formed a single group with a high support (100% BS, 100% BP, 1.00 BPP) and grouped with the related species X. astrocystidiatus, X. crystalliger and X. paradoxus. Both morphological and molecular evidences confirmed the placement of the new species in Xylodon.

Two Pyrenopeziza species, P. protrusa and P. nervicola known to have similar morphology, were newly reported from Japan. This study clarified that P. protrusa morphologically differs from P. nervicola in (1) more protruded outermost cells in ectal excipulum, (2) smaller ascospores, and (3) longer and thinner asci. Pyrenopeziza protrusa produces chlamydospore-like brown cells under culture while P. nervicola forms more complex, brown bulbils. These species formed distinct clades based on ITS-5.8S rDNA in the phylogenetic analysis. The two species did not share the same host.

All experiments on genetic modifications of Lecanicillium species performed so far used laborious PEG-mediated protoplast transformation and Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation. In this study we demonstrated that simple and effective method of electroporation of germinated conidia can be used for transformation of this fungus. Electroporation of L.muscarium (strain VL 72) germinated conidia by the pBARGPE1 vector harboring an eGFP gene, showed a transformation efficiency 65.7 ± 1.4 phosphinothricin-resistant colonies per 2.5 μg of linearized plasmid DNA and expression of fluorescent protein without affecting fungal growth and virulence. By analysis of GFP-expressing isolates by fluorescent microscopy and immunoblotting, we found that the Aspergillus nidulans PgpdA promoter and trpC terminator in the pBARGPE1 vector provide an effective synthesis of heterologous proteins in L. muscarium cells.

Hydnum repandum and its relatives are gourmet edible ectomycorrhizal mushrooms. However, no reliable pure cultures have been reported in this genus. Here, we report for the first time the successful isolation of mycelial strains from basidiospores in the genus Hydnum. Basidiospores obtained from basidioma samples were aseptically inoculated onto modified Norkran's C (MNC) medium, MNC containing n-butyric acid (n-MNC), or MNC with gellan gum instead of agar (G-MNC). Although basidiospore germination was observed in most samples, the isolation rate was higher from MNC (91.7%) and G-MNC (93.8%) than from n-MNC (36.4%). Most established isolates were monokaryotic and lacked a clamp connection, but three were dikaryotic and had clamp connections. Established isolates were identified by molecular phylogenetic analysis of the internal transcribed spacer region of the rRNA gene. These results suggest that basidiospores can be used to establish monokaryotic and dikaryotic isolates of Hydnum species.