The Chinese list of plant quarantine pests currently includes 130 species of fungi. In this paper, intercepted quarantine fungi in Chinese ports during 2007 to 2016 together with their taxonomy, host, different quarantine work involved, and original countries or regions are summarized and analyzed. Suggestions are made towards upgrading the quarantine practice in China.
Taiwanofungus camphoratus is a precious edible and medicinal fungus endemic in Taiwan and exhibits various bioactivities such as liver protection, anti-tumor, and anti-cancer. Submerged fermentation is considered as one of the most efficient artificial culture way of T. camphoratus. However, large-scale submerged fermentation of T. camphoratus usually encounters engineering problems, such as tedious preparation of inoculum, complex mycelium morphology, poor repeatability of batch fermentations, and long fermentation period. This paper reviews recent advances in the submerged fermentation of T. camphoratus, and introduces several novel fermentation techniques such as arthroconidium-based fermentation, asexual reproduction-based fermentation, and precursor-induced fermentation. These novel fermentation techniques of T. camphoratus are beneficial for the stability of fermentation process and the improvement of production efficiency. Furthermore, the future development of the submerged fermentation of T. camphoratus is discussed.
Community composition and diversity of endophytic fungi from the branches of three ancient and endemic wild plants of Ulmaceae in China were investigated, and characteristics of fungal community composition in the different plants with same habitat condition were compared. Healthy branches of current year of Pteroceltis tatarinowii, Ulmus chenmoui, and Ulmus gaussenii were collected from Langyashan forest park, Anhui Province, the natural distribution areas of the plants. Endophytic fungi were isolated from branch tissue, and fungal strains were classified on the basis of morphology. From 1 778 tissue samples of the plants, 1 938 isolates of endophytic fungi belonging to 22 genera, 16 families, and 10 orders were identified. Unsporogenous strains were classified as Mycelia sterilia (10.2%). Ascomycetes were the most dominant in Pteroceltis tatarinowii (89.71%), Ulmus chenmoui (88.96%), and Ulmus gaussenii (80.72%), and next came the species of Hypocreales, Diaporthaceae, and Phomopsis. The most genera were isolated from Ulmus chenmoui (14 genera), and the less from Ulmus gaussenii (10 genera). The Shannon index (H′) ranked in sequence of Pteroceltis tatarinowii>Ulmus chenmoui>Ulmus gaussenii, while Margalef index (R) Ulmus chenmoui>Pteroceltis tatarinowii>Ulmus gaussenii and Evenness index (E) Pteroceltis tatarinowii>Ulmus gaussenii>Ulmus chenmoui. The community in Ulmus chenmoui and that in Ulmus gaussenii were most similar (Cs=0.62), while community in Pteroceltis tatarinowii and that in Ulmus chenmoui were the least similar (Cs=0.44). Fisher’s exact test showed no significant difference (P=0.26-0.50>0.05) between the composition of endophytes from Pteroceltis tatarinowii, Ulmus chenmoui, and Ulmus gaussenii.
Based on the collections made from the Greater and Lesser Hinggan Mountains, northeastern China, 23 species of Russula were recognized. Among them, three species, Russula amoenolens, R. atrorubens and R. nuoljae, originally described from Europe, were found from China for the first time. They belong to sect. Foeteninae, sect. Vidantinae and sect. Atropurpurinae respectively, and grow in mixed forests of Larix gmelini and Betula platyphylla. Comparison of the morphological characters and ITS sequences confirmed that our collections are conspecific with European and North American ones.
A new disease was found on Actinidia arguta with symptom of root rot in Dandong, Liaoning Province. The diseased plants initially showed wilting, withering and falling of the older leaves until plant death. A procedure of tissue isolation and single spore culture was carried out to generate the isolates HMQAU150043 and HMQAU150044. According to morphological characteristics and ef-1a and mtSSU sequence analyses together with pathogenicity test, the pathogen was identified as Fusarium commune. The species is firstly reported as the pathogen of bower kiwifruit root rot.
Due to its strong competitiveness and lack of the natural enemies, goldenrod (Solidago canadensis) spreads rapidly in eastern China, especially in Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Anhui provinces, resulting in seriously ecological problems. The rust disease on goldenrod was observed in the suburbs of Ningbo, Zhejiang Province in May 2015. The leaves infected by the rust showed yellow spots with uredinia and massive urediniospores, causing leaf distortion, blighting and defoliation. On the basis of its morphological and molecular characteristics, the causal agent was identified as Coleosporiµm asterum. TEM observation showed that teliospore formation and germination as well as basidial development were a continuous process. A sorus contained simultaneously both teliospore and basidia being in different level of development. Our studies provide scientific data for further research of infective cycle and dissemination of the rust in China.
Rhizoctonia solani anastomosis group 3 (AG3), the pathogen of potato black scurf, has been a threatening factor to potato production. Its sclerotia are the main survival structures of the pathogen in soil and the primary inoculum of the disease. The incidence and severity of the disease are directly affected by the density of sclerotia in soil. In this research, the SYBR Green I quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) detection assay for quantification of R. solani AG3 was successfully established using recombinant plasmid constructed by specific primer of internal transcribed spacer (ITS) amplified through primer pair RsTqF1/RsTqR1. The soil genomic DNA was extracted by wet-sieving combined with Fast DNA® Spin Kit for Soil and used to get Ct (cycle threshold) value by qPCR. The model of sclerotium density (n) (g/g soil) and Ct value was established as n=10(9.6917-Ct)/3.4558. The method of traditional selective medium was employed to validate the accuracy of wet-sieving qPCR method. The results showed that the detecting sensitivity for wet-sieving qPCR method was 10-fold higher than that of the conventional PCR. By comparison with the traditional method of selective medium, the wet-sieving qPCR method was more highly accurate and quicker in detecting the sclerotium density in soil.
Helitrons are eukaryotic rolling circle transposable elements. Their impact on the host genomes has been analyzed extensively in plants and animals, but relatively rarely reported in fungi. In this paper, the Helitron transposable elements in Hirsutella minnesotensis, a biological control agent for soybean cyst nematode, were analyzed comprehensively and two group of autonomous Helitron elements HmHeli1 and HmHeli2 were identified. Among them, HmHeli1 not only has conserved terminal sequences and structures, but also encodes highly similar or even identical RepHel transposase, indicating that it has been recently expanded and is still active in the genome. HmHeli1 has the same structure and encoding characteristics with the Helitron2 element: there are two conserved sequences “TCAG” and “TATTTT” at the respective 5′- and 3′- ends, a GC-rich hairpin near the 3′-end and asymmetric terminal inverted repeats making two ends pairing with each other. The transposase encoded by HmHeli1 contains the zinc finger, Rep and Helicase domains, but does not have the endonuclease domain. HmHeli1 is preferentially inserted into the gene-rich region even within the functional genes in the same direction as genes. Furthermore, there is an AT-rich motif at the target site. HmHeli1 does not have the ability to capture genes actively, but can accept the insertion of other transposable elements passively. HmHeli1 is a unique DNA transposable element with strong expansion ability which not only plays an important role in the evolution of H. minnesotensis genome, but also has the potential to be developed as a universal genetic analysis tool for biological research.
RAW264.7 mice macrophage cells cultured in vitro were induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and treated with different concentration of freeze-dried powder of Ganoderma lingzhi mycelium (FDPGLM). The differences between treating groups concerning cell viability, NO level, IL-6 level, TLR4 mRNA expression, iNOS mRNA expression, IκBa and phosphorylated NF-κB p65 protein expression were evaluated. The results showed that FDPGLM in a dose-dependent manner significantly inhibited NO production and IL-6 levels (P<0.01), down-regulated TLR4 mRNA expression (P<0.01), and significantly suppressed IκBa protein degradation and NF-κB p65 protein phosphorylation (P<0.01). FDPGLM may inhibit pro-inflammatory gene activation via TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathway and further suppressed the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines, for example IL-6. This study concludes that there is a medical application prospect for FDPGLM to control inflammation.
The static liquid fermentation conditions of Paecilomyces cicadae strain 122 producing N6-(2-hydroxyethyl) adenosine (HEA) were optimized. The detection of HEA was conducted by HPLC method. The results displayed that Czapek medium was the best one for producing HEA, and the yield was higher than that of Sabouraud and PD medium. The yield of HEA in Czapek medium at 26°C for 40 days reached the maximum. Dark conditions were better than light conditions for cultivation of P. cicadae. The optimal carbon sources were sucrose and glucose. The optimal nitrogen sources and inorganic salts were respectively diammonium phosphate and KH2PO4. The optimal additive and amino acid were respectively hypoxanthine and L-glutamic acid. The results of orthogonal test showed that the most important factor for producing HEA of strain 122 was sucrose. Under the optimal condition, the highest yield of HEA of the strain was (130.22±0.60)mg/L, increased by 9.73 times over the condition prior to optimization.
Using Ganoderma lucidum strain as inoculum and Ginkgo biloba leaves as matrix, the bi-directional liquid fermentation were conducted. Using antioxidation activity of fermenting product as the main index, the fermentation conditions were optimized through single factor and orthogonal test, and the active materials were detected. Result showed that the optimum fermentation conditions were as follows: Ginkgo biloba leaves of 0.15g/100mL, initial pH of 8.0, fermentation duration of 8d, addition of Ginkgo biloba leaves at the second day of fermentation. Under such a condition, the antioxidation activity of fermentation product was the highest, and the reducing power was 0.731, and the yield of polysaccharide, triterpene compound and total flavonoid were 245.20mg/g, 70.96mg/g and 10.98mg/g and increased by 2.38, 1.96, and 2.10 times respectively as compared with the control.
