Some pyrenomycetous fungi found on Acer spp. in northeastern Asia are discussed. One of these (Eutypella albomaculata) is described as a species new to science.
A new disease of blueberry twig blight was found in Jiaonan of Shandong Province, causing necrosis and discolor of twigs and stems or even death of entire plants. The pathogen strain HMQAU140073 was isolated and purified by methods of tissue isolation and glass capillary. The pathogen was identified as Lasiodiplodia pseudotheobromae by morphological observation, sequence analyses of rDNA-ITS and EF1-α, and its pathogenicity was confirmed by Koch’s postulate. The fungal species is firstly reported as the pathogen of blueberry twig blight.
A total of 79 fungal species belonging to 11 genera of 2 families in Entomophthorales from China are reported. The names and their family placements of the insect hosts of these fungi are corrected and updated.
To monitor race dynamics and virulence spectrum variation of Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici (Pgt) is a basic and very essential work to wheat breeding for rust resistance. In spite of difficulty in finding or gaining samples in wheat fields, a total of 33 natural accessions including 11 asexual and 22 sexual ones were collected in 2012-2013. After isolation and purification from these accessions, 53 isolates including 23 asexual and 30 sexual ones were obtained. A newly established differential host system which possessed new function of discriminating Ug99 lineage was used for race and virulence characterization of the stem rust fungus. Four clusters or 13 physiological races were identified. Races 34C3RTGQM and 34OroII-MRGQM were the most prevalent with 13.2% occurrence frequency and race 34MRGQM secondly with 11.3% occurrence frequency. Six new races (34OroII-MTGSM, 34OroII-MRGQM, 34MRGQM, 34C3RTGQM, 34MTGSM and 34MRGSM) virulent to Sr5+Sr11 were found for the first time in China with occurrence frequencies of 1.9%-13.2%. The result of virulence spectrum characterization had shown that the single genes of Sr9e, Sr26, Sr31, Sr33, Sr37, Sr38, Sr47 and SrTt3 were all highly resistant to the tested isolates and the remainder 40 single Sr-gene lines were susceptible to at least one to all of the test isolates respectively. It is concluded that (1) the six new but dangerous races virulent to Sr5+Sr11 should be on the alert; (2) the single gene lines of Sr9e, Sr26, Sr31, Sr33, Sr37, Sr38, Sr47 and SrTt3 are all effective, while those of Sr22, Sr35, SrTmp, Sr30, Sr17 and Sr36 effective to most isolates and the remainder 34 lines have largely or totally lost their resistance; (3) the virulence structure of sexual cyclic isolates is different from that of asexual cyclic ones.
Effect of different carbon source, nitrogen source, initial pH and temperature on mycelial growth of Inonotus hispidus under the solid culture condition was investigated by orthogonal experiments. The optimal cultivation conditions for mycelial growth were 30°C for temperature, 6.5 for initial pH, xylose for the best carbon source and the yeast extract powder for the best nitrogen source. The natural substrates’ test indicated corn and sorghum significantly enhanced the initial and continuous growth. The best substrate formulation is composed of sawdust 78%, rice husk 2%, corn flour 17%, sugar 1%, lime 1%, gypsum 1% and water 60%-62%, which well supports the mycelial growth and sackful within 28 days, and accelerates primordium formation and fruitage.
Isolation, purification and characterization of aryl-alcohol oxidase from Pleurotus eryngii were studied. The single enzyme was purified by ammonium sulfate precipitation, DEAE-Sepharose Fast Flow weak negative ion-exchange chromatography, Sephacryl S-200 High Resolution gel filtration chromatography and Source 15Q strong negative ion-exchange chromatography. This enzyme was identified by peptide mapping analysis, and it was purified about 38.2-fold with a yield of 25.5%. The molecular mass and isoelectric point of aryl-alcohol oxidase were estimated by SDS-PAGE and IEF-PAGE at 70kDa and 4.2, respectively. The optimum reaction pH value and temperature were 6.0 and 70℃, respectively. The metal ions, Zn2+, Fe2+ and Cu2+, inhibited the enzyme activity significantly. The Km and Vmax of purified aryl-alcohol oxidase toward veratryl alcohol were 0.921mmol/L and 80U/mg, respectively.
Diseases caused by Candida albicans infection have been growing serious with the development of modern medical technology and abuse of antibiotics, while the increase of aged tendency of population also contributes to this problem. In this study, we found that the white phase of C. albicans can induce autophagy in the macrophage cells ignoring whether it is alive or heat-killed. At the same time, necrostatin-1, a selective inhibitor of necroptosis, can induce autophagy too. However, necrostatin-1 can attenuate the autophagy induced by white type C. albicans when treated with both of them. The expression of IL-6 was up-regulated, while TNF-α is down-regulated. All the results indicate that autophagy participates in the process of C. albicans invasion of macrophage cells. Autophagy has been reported to take part in the regulation of the fungistatic activity by immune system. Necroptosis, which belong to the three programmed cell death type, also participate in the regulation of immune system. Besides, it remains almost unknown whether necrostatin-1 has impacts on Candida albicans infection. Therefore our results have a contribution to the infection mechanism of C. albicans.
Effect of various nitrogen sources on triterpene liquid submerged fermentation was studied by using Ganoderma lingzhi G0119 as test strain, glucose as carbon source, and ammonium sulfate, ammonium chloride, fish meal peptone, tryptone, yeast powder, yeast extract and autolysed yeast as nitrogen source. The autolysed N-10 yeast was affirmed as the appropriate nitrogen source to improve the fermentation medium. The effects of initial concentration of autolysed N-10 yeast during the fermentation process on biomass of mycelium, glucose consumption and production of triterpenes were studied and the optimal initial concentration of autolysed N-10 yeast was also determined. Central composite design was used for the optimization of fermentation medium. The results showed that, the optimal concentration of glucose, autolysed N-10 yeast, potassium dihydrogen phosphate and epsom salt were 31.06g/L, 2.76g/L, 1.77g/L and 1.99g/L, respectively. Using this optimized medium, the theoretical yield of triterpenes was 21.166g/kg dry mycelium and the experimental yield of triterpenes was 21.153g/kg dry mycelium. Comparing with the original process, triterpene yield of the improved process was increased by 6.22%.
The effects of Auricularia heimuer on hemorheology of hyperlipidemic rabbits were investigated by examining hemorheology parameters, e.g. whole blood viscosity (WBV), plasma viscosity (PV) and hematocrit (HCT) of red blood cells of rabbits, in order to provide new quantitative evidence concerning its dietary safety associated with medicinal function. Forty male rabbits were randomly assigned to five groups (n=8): a control group, a hyperlipidemic model group, and three other groups comprised of animals fed low, medium and high doses of Auricularia heimuer. After the hyperlipidemic model was established, the hemorheology parameters were measured every four weeks and they were continuously determined for 20 weeks. By comparing the data between detection times and groups, our results showed that all hemorheology parameters, the WBV, PV and HCT, of red blood cells of rabbits were significantly decreased (P<0.05) after feeding A. heimuer and the medium dose is the optimal dosage for these adult male New Zealand rabbits. In conclusion, prevention of hyperlipemia by treatment with A. heimuer was dose-dependent and the medium dose group of A. heimuer treatment had a positive effect on hemorheology.
Cordycepin and N6-(2-hydroxyethyl)-adenosine were separated and purified from Cordyceps militaris fruit bodies by high speed couter-current chromatogrphy (HSCCC). The partition coefficient was assessed by HPLC method to select the suitable solvent systems. A solvent system that consisted of ethyl acetate, n-butanol, 1.5% ammonia in water (1:4:5, V/V/V) was applied to the separation system. The upper phase was used as the stationary phase, while the lower phase was the mobile phase. The apparatus was rotated at 850r/min and the flow rate was operated at 1.5mL/min. The detection wave lengh was set at 254nm. A high efficiency of separation and purification by HSCCC was achieved. The target compounds, cordycepin (10.8mg) with a purity of 99% and N6-(2-hydroxyethyl)-adenosine (6.1mg) with a purity of 98%, were obtained from 200mg crude sample of Cordyceps militaris fruit bodies in one-step separation. The established method is simple and suitable for large-scale separation of cordycepin and N6-(2-hydroxyethyl)-adenosine from C. militaris fruit bodies, which could provide the material basis for the pharmacological research of cordycepin and N6-(2-hydroxyethyl)-adenosine.
β-glucan is one of key bioactive components of Ganoderma lingzhi polysaccharides. Single factor experiment revealed that the key parameters affecting β-glucan yield in Ganoderma lingzhi submerged fermentation was as follows: starch (A) 40g/L, peptone (B) 8g/L, K2HPO4 (C) 1.5g/L. Based on the results, Box-Benhnken design combined with response surface methodology was applied to optimize the levels of three key parameters and study their interaction on β-glucan production. The results showed that the three factors and the interaction of AB and AC were extremely significant for production of β-glucan. A polynomial model was established to predict the β-glucan production as Y=8.68+0.22A-0.13B+0.096C+0.13AB+0.16AC+ 0.045BC-1.17A2-0.81B2-1.06C2. Analysis of response surface optimization suggested that the optimum medium for β-glucan production was starch 40.47g/L, peptone 7.86g/L, and K2HPO4 1.53g/L, and the yield of β-glucan from Ganoderma lingzhi mycelia reached 8.68mg/g under the condition.
Zhangzhou of Fujian Province is an important production base of export potted banyan Ficus microcarpa. For many years, banyan anthracnose occurred seriously. The pathogen was identified as Colletotrichum gloeosporioides through pathogenicity test and rDNA-ITS and actin gene sequence analysis. This is the first report of C. gloeosporioides on potted banyan F. microcarpa in China.
