This paper reviews the foundation and development of modern mycology in China and the achievements of the founder of modern mycology Tai Fang-Lan. The positive contribution of the ‘MYCOSYSTEMA’ during the period of the reform and open to the outside world, facing to the whole China, to the world, and to the future is also reviewed. This paper also analyzes the disadvantages that the current science and technology evaluation system in China restricted the international academic exchange of domestic academic journals and hinders the progress to the world scientific and technological innovation power. The establishment of bilingual publications on mycology in both Chinese and English, which are conducive to the exchange of domestic and international academic studies is actively proposed.
Cryptococcosis is a serious infectious disease that threatens the lives of renal transplant patients. The purpose of this article is to report the situation of cryptococcosis in Chinese renal transplant patients (C-KT). Comprehensive analysis of the collected data of 208 patients indicates that the onset time of cryptococcosis is 5.48±4.09 years after kidney transplantation. There is an interval of 27.28±30.69 days before seeing a doctor after the occurrence of symptoms. The average diagnosis time is 31.6±44.0 days. The misdiagnosis rate of C-KT patients is 23.1%, accounting for 37.5% of all deaths. It can attack all systems of the body, most commonly in the central nervous system (brain), respiratory system (lung), skin, etc. In addition to fever, headache and vomiting, the common clinical features are nausea, cough, chest tightness and shortness of breath, nodular erythema, abscess and ulcer with or without skin pain and tenderness. The main diagnostic methods are Indian ink staining, latex agglutinin test, etc. The detected specimens are mainly cerebrospinal fluid, blood, alveolar lavage fluid, lung and skin case biopsy tissue, etc. The preferred therapeutic agents are amphotericin B liposome, fluconazole, 5-fluorouracil, voriconazole, etc. There are reports of fluconazole-resistant cases in the clinic. The overall mortality rate of C-KT patients is 15.8%. This article provides reference for comprehensive understanding of the characteristics of C-KT and the diagnosis and treatment of this disease.
Edible mushrooms have become the fifth largest cultivation industry in China and played important roles in the battle of targeted poverty alleviation. Although rapid growth has been realized over the past 40 years, China’s edible mushroom industry is still facing many problems that need to be solved urgently. For example, we still rely heavily on cultivated varieties from abroad. With the development of new technologies such as gene sequencing and phenotyping, a series of breakthroughs have been made in "data-driven" biological research. These new technologies also bring opportunities to solve the problems faced by our mushroom industry. Among them, phenotyping using optical equipment and sensors digitizes the data of naked-eye observation and manual measurement. Combination of data of genomics and metabolomics generates big data of “edible-mushroom-omics” which provides new ideas for mushroom classification, germplasm resource evaluation, breeding, gene function research and cultivation. In this article, mushroom phenotyping was described and the development of plant phenotyping technology was reviewed, and the application and challenges for edible mushroom phenome research were discussed. Integrated study of multi-omics data, including genomics, phenomics, metabolomics will hopefully promote the development of “data-driven” genetic breeding and cultivation of edible mushrooms.
Many Trichoderma species are capable to produce cellulases. Trichoderma koningiopsis strain 8985 attracted our attention upon an extensive application capacity evaluation for cellulase producing strains of the genus. To optimize the culture conditions in solid state fermentation for strain 8985 to produce cellulase at a higher level, the Plackett-Burman experimental design was applied. Among eleven factors investigated, harvesting time, K2HPO4 concentration and wheat bran addition were found to be the key factors during the fermentation. The optimal concentration ranges of the three factors were examined by the steepest ascent path, and further determined according to the Box-Behnken design, which revealed as fermentation for 5 days with 5.18g/L K2HPO4 and 0.281g/g wheat bran, respectively. Under the optimal conditions, the maximum amount of FPase production reached 7.00IU/g of substrate, which approaches the theoretical value 7.03IU/g, is 1.37 times of that before optimization, and is 2.92 times of that by T. reesei strain QM9414. The results of this work provide useful information for potential application of cellulase producing fungi.
Stripe rust disease caused by Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (Pst) is an important biological disaster on wheat, which seriously threatens the safety of wheat production. Application of resistant cultivars is the most economical and effective approach to control wheat stripe rust. However, the frequent variation of the virulence of Pst causes rapid loss of resistance to wheat stripe rust, triggering a new pandemic of stripe rust. Sexual reproduction is an important way for the virulent variation of stripe rust. In the present study the relationship between virulence variation and sexual reproduction is investigated by means of self-cross of epidemic race CYR29 of Pst on alternate host Berberis shensiana. The teliospores derived from a single urediniospore of CYR29 isolate were used to produce basidiospores for inoculating B. shensiana to finish the sexual process. Eighty-one aecial selfed progenies and the parental isolate were tested on differential hosts including 20 wheat lines with single Yr genes. The progenies and parental isolates were all avirulent to Yr5, Yr8, Yr10, Yr15, Yr24, Yr32, YrSP, YrTr1, Yr26 and all virulent to Yr1, Yr31, Yr44 and YrTye. Different levels of segregation ratio were identified for Yr6, Yr7, Yr9, Yr17, Yr27, Yr43 and YrExp2, and the result indicated that the parental isolate was heterozygous at these loci. The eighty-one selfing progenies can be divided into 24 virulence phenotypes. One of the phenotypes which contains twenty-two progeny isolates was identical to the parental isolate, and the other twenty-three phenotypes which contains fifty-seven progeny isolates were different. The ratio of variation reached 72.8 percent. The variant progenies possess a larger virulence spectrum than the parent. The data revealed that new phenotypes could be acquired through sexual reproduction of CYR29. This proves ulteriorly that sexual reproduction is one of the reasons for high genetic diversity of Pst.
Macrofungi, as an important component in forest ecosystems, consist of most members of Basidiomycota and some members of Ascomycota, having important economical value and ecological functions. Extensive field investigations have been carried out in almost whole types of the Chinese forests during the past 30 years, and 112 000 specimens were collected. Based on morphological examination and phylogenetic analyses in combination with ecology and biogeography, 4 250 species belonging to 21 orders in Baidiomycota and Ascomycota were identified, including two new families, four new subfamilies, 69 new genera and 885 new species. Yunnan Province is the richest in macrofungal diversity among provinces or regions in China, and 314 new species were described from this province, accounting for 35% of all the new species described from China by the authors. Our studies have made contributions to deepening the understanding of global diversity of macrofungi. The names of some important Chinese medicinal fungi were revised, the diversity characteristics of Chinese poisonous mushrooms were revealed, and the pathogenetic wood-decaying species were ascertained. These data improved our knowledge on utilization of natural resources and protection of forest health. Based on molecular evidences, the origin of some forest representative fungal genera or species complex were deduced, and their dispersal and speciation were discussed, for the purposes of providing some data for evolutionary study at level of family, order or class of macrofungi henceforth.
Genetics is one of the important branches in research field of edible mushrooms. In the past 40 years, many scientific activities in the studies of the genetics of edible mushrooms have been actively carried out in China, focusing on mushroom breeding, application of the molecular biology technology and solving scientific problems in mushroom production. Nine research topics on the genetics of edible mushrooms were sorted out in this paper, including investigation of germplasm resources and local cultivated varieties, molecular localization of agronomic trait control genes and molecular auxiliary breeding technology, genetic regularity of cross-breeding, genetic stability of cultivated strains and variation risk monitoring, molecular mechanism of cultivation substrate decomposition and nutrient storage and transport, molecular mechanism in response to the changes of environmental factors, molecular regulation mechanism of fruiting body development, molecular mechanism of secondary metabolite biosynthesis, and molecular mechanism of metabolic physiology in preservation of fresh products after picking. At present, some of these research topics are becoming research hotspots, some are in need of perfectness, and some lack enough interest and attention. Hopefully, in the future development edible mushroom genetics can form a complete knowledge system and theoretical system, so as to provide a scientific basis for promoting the high-quality development of edible mushroom industry in China.
From 2000 to 2020, mycological studies in China has achieved encouraging progress in several aspects, such as discovery of new species, construction of new taxonomic schemes for important groups, biodiversity conservation and bio-resource exploitation. In this paper, the research progress of newly published fungal names in China, especially those from Chinese scholars are statistically summarized and presented based on the data retrieved from Index Fungorum, Fungal Names and MycoBank. The result shows that the number of Chinese scholars, and their research outputs have increased greatly in the new century, together with the increasing contribution to the world taxonomy of fungi. At least 9 430 new fungal names, including 7 120 new taxa (i.e. 3 new classes, 24 new orders, 88 new families, 4 new subfamilies, 492 new genera, 3 new subgenera, 23 new sections and subsections, 6 404 new species and 79 new intraspecific taxa), 1 868 new combinations, 61 new revised names and 381 other new names, were published by 1 491 Chinese scholars in 4 029 articles and 36 monographs, accounting for ca. 1/7 of all names published worldwide. These new fungal names belonged to 11 phyla, 43 classes, 173 orders, 525 families and 1 997 genera, among which ascomycetes and basidiomycetes have received more attentions. Most new fungal species were discovered from southern China, while Yunnan is the most important source of new discoveries accounting for ca. 1/4 of total in China.
The flourish and popularity of molecular phylogenetic study greatly promoted the systematic study of fungi. Nowadays, naming taxa by “monophyly + phenotypes” is the most popular method applied in taxonomic studies, and the taxonomic systems of lots of historically problematic groups were thus revised, supplemented or reconstructed. Those more objective and natural systems for those monophyletic groups could be the greatest progress we have ever made in fungal taxonomy. However, a phylogenetic topology could not correspond to a taxonomic system as there do not have a universal criterion in ranking these monophyletic groups as genera, families, orders and classes (above species level), and that caused the unstable fungal taxonomic system. In practice, different taxonomists have different opinions in choosing criterion to rank taxa which greatly influenced the stability of fungal taxonomic system. With the advances of molecular clock analyses, estimation of divergence times of living taxa becomes available. Thus, based on phylogenetic and phenotypic studies, using divergence time as an additional criterion (“monophyly + phenotype + divergence time”) to rank higher-level taxa has been practiced. In this paper, the work which firstly rebuilt a standardized taxonomic system for the genus Agaricus by using divergence time as an additional criterion was reviewed, and the divergence time ranged from family to phylum in Ascomycota and Basidiomycota was revealed and the achievements of using divergence time as an additional criterion to rank taxa were enumerated. The key factors which influence divergence time estimation were discussed and corresponding suggestions were given. Generally, using divergence time as an additional criterion to build fungal taxonomic system can make the taxonomic system reflect the temporal dimension of evolution, and make the new system approach the evolutionary process and greatly promote the stability of related taxonomic system.
Citizen science is a scientific research performed by the public with professional scientists’ guidance. Macrofungi are a group of fungi producing distinct fruiting bodies visible to the naked eye in a moment of life history. The important economic value and ecological function of macrofungi can be developed and utilized based on taxonomical knowledge and understanding of species diversity. Macrofungi are closely related to the public livings, and thus the public wishes to identify the species of macrofungi. On the other hand, Chinese macrofungi with an extremely huge species diversity are impossible to be comprehensively recognized, let alone to be utilized only by the efforts of a few professional taxonomists in a short time. Besides, after a simple pretreatment, the fruiting bodies of macrofungi can be brought to laboratories for taxonomic studies. Given the above, we propose to launch Citizen Science Initiative in Taxonomy of Macrofungi in China 1.0. In the frame of this initiative, the public is mainly responsible for providing environmental niche information, field photos, samples, pretreatment and mailing of fruiting bodies of macrofungi. The fruiting bodies of macrofungi will be forever preserved in the fungarium of Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and be morphologically examined and molecular sequenced. This initiative is expected to promote public’s scientific knowledge, improve the development of taxonomy of macrofungi and provide a basis for the Initiative 2.0.
Mycorrhizal fungi have an extensive symbiotic relationship with about 97% of vascular plants across the world. Quantities of researches show that mycorrhizal plants own higher tolerance to drought than non-mycorrhizal plants, indicating that mycorrhizal fungi play an important role in plant drought resistance. In this paper, the mechanism of mycorrhizal fungi in assisting host plants to resist drought was summarized. Three main aspects are included: the effect of mycorrhizal fungi on physiological characteristics of plants under drought stress, molecular mechanisms of mycorrhizal fungi in enhancing drought resistance of plants, and influence of mycorrhizal fungi on plant secondary metabolic pathways. Currently researches on physiological mechanisms of plant drought resistance under enhancement of mycorrhizal fungi are comparatively deepgoing, while the researches of other two aspects are relatively weak. With the development of molecular biology technology, the molecular mechanism of mycorrhizal fungi enhancing plant drought resistance and related metabolic pathways will be further revealed. Hopefully this paper provides a helpful reference to Chinese researchers in theoretical research of mycorrhizal interaction and development of functional drought-resistant agent.
The genus Tuber is one of ecologically and economically important ectomycorrhizal ascomycetes, which can establish mutualism relationship with the roots of trees. Some species of Tuber are known worldwide for their unique flavors of fruiting bodies. As a kind of famous commodities of international trade, Tuber has been paid more attention in scientific and technological researches in recent years. The research progress on chemical constituents and pharmacological effects of Tuber is reviewed, especially concerning volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and polysaccharides. The problems existing in the researches and the prospective development are discussed.
Sanghuang is a general designation for a group of precious and rare Chinese medicinal fungi. As one of their main active ingredients, polysaccharides have a broad spectrum of pharmacological properties, including anti-tumor, antioxidant, anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, and immunomodulatory activities. Research advances on extraction, isolation and purification, structural characterization, and medicinal values of the polysaccharides from sanghuang were elucidated in this paper with the purpose of providing references for pharmacological research and exploitation as natural foods, health products, or drugs.
The material reported in this paper was obtained in subtropical regions of southern China. A new anamorphic species, Uredo longan, is described; epitype is designated and additional description is given for telial stage of Skierka nephelii; a new Chinese record, Uredopeltis congensis, is reported; Phakopsora clemensiae comb. nov. and Phakopsora digitariae comb. nov. are proposed. The collections studied have been deposited in Herbarium Mycologicum Academiae Sinicae (HMAS) in Beijing.
Cenococcum geophilum, as one of the common ectomycorrhizal fungi, is widely distributed in various ecosystems and has highly genetic diversity and important ecological function. The population genetic diversity and structure of C. geophilum were analyzed based on internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) sequences of 219 root samples collected from the plants of Betulaceae, Fagaceae and Pinaceae in 10 Chinese forest sites, using high-throughput sequencing techniques. In total, 137 haplotypes (Hap_1-Hap_137) were obtained from 4 380 ITS2 sequences of C. geophilum. Of these haplotypes, Hap_1 was dominant in the plants of Betulaceae, Fagaceae and Pinaceae and occurred in all sampling sites; 48 haplotypes distributed in a few sites, and 88 haplotypes occurred only in one site. Kruskal-Wallis test showed that not host plant family but sampling site significantly affected the haplotype richness and diversity of C. geophilum. The analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) showed that genetic differentiation was evident within each geographical population and population in each host plant family. The neighbor-joining tree based on K-2P genetic distance showed that 10 geographical populations of C. geophilum were divided into 3 groups, and genetically C. geophilum population in Fagaceae was distant from population in Betulaceae and Pinaceae. The haplotype composition of C. geophilum was conspicuously different in the 10 sampling sites and 3 plant families, and some common haplotypes showed remarkably strong preferences for site and plant family. Further revealing the ecological function of the genetic diversity of C. geophilum is needed.
Pathogenic fungi are the main casual agents of apple diseases in the world, accounting for 93.4% of apple pathogens. In this paper, fungal agents of apple diseases in China including 149 fungi and 6 oomycetes are listed based on previous reports, accounting for 90.6% of apple pathogens in China. In the list, revised scientific names together with synonyms appeared in Chinese literature, taxonomic status of species, disease names and references concerned are given. This checklist aims at providing helpful reference for apple researchers in plant pathology and plant protection, horticulturists, industrial managers and other users in China.
Both Sanghuangporus lonicericola and Cordyceps militaris can produce active polysaccharides. Co-fermentation mode is a potential way to produce new compounds or improve the content or bioactive efficacy of compounds. In this study, the co-fermentation of S. lonicericola and C. militaris was performed to produce polysaccharides, and the antioxidant activities of the mycelial polysaccharides were tested. The two fungal strains separately prefermented for 3 days and 1 day, and then in the same flask continuously fermentated. It was found that the total amount of biomass and the yield of total polysaccharides were significantly higher than those of the two strains when they were fermented individually. The suitable medium for co-fermentation was optimized, and the optimized medium was as follows: soluble starch 30g/L, beef powder 12g/L, potassium hydrogen phosphate 1.5g/L, and magnesium sulfate 1.5g/L. The content of polysaccharides and flavonoids in co-fermentation mycelium were higher than those in mycelium of the two strains fermentated individually, but there was no significant difference in triterpenoid content between co-fermentation mycelium and S. lonicericola mycelium of separated fermentation. Antioxidant activity test showed that either the co-fermented polysaccharides, or separately fermented S. lonicericola polysaccharides and C. militaris polysaccharides had scavenging effect on DPPH· free radical, hydroxyl free radical and superoxide anion free radical, but the scavenging effect of co-fermented polysaccharides was significantly stronger than that of the polysaccharides obtained from the two strains individually fermented. The results suggest that the co-fermentation of S. lonicericola and C. militaris was feasible.
