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High levels of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi colonisation of 90-100%, as well as high vesicular and arbuscular colonisation were found in the roots of the rare and endangered wild grapevine (Vitis vinifera subsp. sylvestris) along the Neretva River in southwestern Bosnia and Herzegovina, surpassing colonisation in region vineyads. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fungal chitinase I obtained fromThermomyces lanuginosusSSBP, a thermophilic deuteromycete, has an optimum growth temperature and pH of 323.15 K and 6.5, respectively.This enzyme plays an important task in the defence mechanism of organisms against chitin-containing parasites by hydrolysing β-1, 4-linkages in chitin. It acts as both anti-fungal and biofouling agents, with some being thermostable and suitable for the industrial applications. Three-dimensional model of chitinase I enzyme was predicted and analysed using various bioinformatics tools. The structure of chitinase I exhibited a well-defined TIM barrel topology with an eight-stranded α/β domain. Structural analysis and folding studies at temperatures ranging from 300 to 375 K using 10 ns molecular dynamics simulations clearly showed the stability of the protein was evenly distributed even at higher temperatures, in accordance with the experimental results. We also carried out a number of 20 ns constant pH molecular dynamics simulations of chitinase I at a pH range 2–6 in a solvent. This work was aimed at establishing the optimum activity and stability profiles of chitinase I. We observed a strong conformational pH dependence of chitinase I and the enzyme retained their characteristic TIM barrel topology at low pH. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, a new species,Cystolepiota pseudofumosifolia, is introduced.C.pseudofumosifoliais characterized by granulose or powdery pileus with an anatomic structure that is loosely globose, as well as ellipsoid cells in chains in the pileus covering the cheilocystidia. This new species is compared to the related and similarCystolepiotaspecies in morphology and molecular phylogeny based on Internal transcribed spacer sequences. Both types of data support our specimens as a new species in the genusCystolepiota. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Graphidaceae is a large family of over 2000 predominantly tropical, lichenized fungal species encompassing a remarkable range of morphological and chemical diversity. The majority of species belongs in subfamily Graphidoideae, which also exhibits the greatest amount of variation. Various phenotype characters have traditionally been used for classification at the genus and species levels, but their correlations with phylogenetic clades are poorly known. Using a multilocus approach, we reconstructed a phylogeny for 224 taxa, representing all main genera within subfamily Graphidoideae, and employed ancestral character reconstruction and character transformation analyses to understand the evolution of morphological, anatomical and chemical characters within this group. In addition, we examined the changes of habitat and photobiont types over the phylogeny. For this purpose, we focused on 10 characters, including thallus and ascoma features and chemistry. Since previous studies have shown that results may differ depending on the reconstruction method used, both Maximum-parsimony and Maximum-likelihood approaches were employed and multistate coding of characters was used. We reconstructed the ancestral states for 64 well-supported major clades in the family and found support for the ancestor of Graphidoideae being a tropical species with a trentepohlioid photobiont, apothecioid, solitary ascomata lacking both a columella and lateral paraphyses, and having non-amyloid ascospores. The frequency of transformations of morphological and chemical characters over the phylogeny of Graphidaceae was computed, resulting in a high frequency of reversible transformations for some characters, such as secondary chemistry, whereas other characters, such as photobiont, hymenial persistence or ascoma aggregation, exhibited low frequency of transformations. However, we found that even in the character with the highest number of transformations, secondary chemistry, the shifts were highly structured phylogenetically, suggesting that the evolution of the character, rather than the character state itself, can be used to predict phylogenetic relationships with certain accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The phylogeny of taxa with poroid and lamellate hymenophores in Auriculariales as yet has not been well studied. Here we sequenced the nLSU and ITS regions of poroid and lamellate representatives from the genera Elmerina, Protodaedalea and Protomerulius to establish the phylogenetic position of these morphologically similar taxa. Our analyses suggest that (i) Elmerina foliacea is divergent from all other Elmerina species sampled; (ii) Protodaedalea hispida (the type of monotypic genus Protodaedalea) and Protomerulius efibulatus should be transferred to Elmerina as E. hispida and E. efibulata respectively; (iii) after exclusion of P. efibulatus, Protomerulius becomes monophyletic and represents the core of a "Protomerulius family" clade that potentially includes species from Tremellodendropsis, Heterochaetella and Protodontia; and (iv) the presence or absence of gloeocystidia serves as the most reliable morphological feature in delimiting Elmerina s.l. and Protomerulius. Concepts of Elmerina s.l. and Protomerulius are redefined, and diagnostic keys for these two genera are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ten species of Pluteus are described and illustrated from specimens recently collected at three remnants of Atlantic forest in Sao Paulo State, Southeast Brazil. Two new taxa are proposed: Pluteus aureovenatus and P. dominicanus var. hyalinus, as well as a new status, P. sublaevigatus to P. chrysophlebius subsp. sublaevigatus. The occurrence of P. fuligineovenosus, P. jamaicensis, and P. riberaltensis var. conquistensis represent the first records from Brazil. Pluteus albostipitatus, P. fluminensis, P. harrisii and P. xylophilus are also described and illustrated. In addition, a molecular study was performed based on parsimony analyses of nLSU and ITS + 5.8S sequences of Brazilian and other Pluteus species. The generated phylogenetic trees revealed a well-supported clade with all Pluteus species. In the nLSU analyses, it was possible to identify a clade with all species of section Pluteus and another including members of both sections Hispidoderma and Celluloderma. In the ITS + 5.8S analyses, it was possible to identify three major clades, each of them corresponding to the majority representatives of sections Celluloderma, Hispidoderma and Pluteus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microbial coal liquefaction/solubilization of three low-rank Turkish coals (Bursa-Kestelek, Kütahya-Seyitömer and Muğla-Yatağan lignite) was attempted by using a white-rot fungus (Phanerochaete chrysosporium DSM No. 6909); chemical compositions of the products were investigated. The lignite samples were oxidized by nitric acid under moderate conditions and then oxidized samples were placed on the agar medium of Phanerochaete chrysosporium. FTIR spectra of raw lignites, oxidized lignites and liquid products were recorded, and the acetone-soluble fractions of these samples were identified by GC-MS technique. Results show that the fungus affects the nitro and carboxyl/carbonyl groups in oxidized lignite sample, the liquid products obtained by microbial effects are the mixture of water-soluble compounds, and show limited organic solubility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To test whether the timing of transition to mating competency affected mitochondrial transmission patterns in D. iridis. Reciprocal crosses were made by combining mating compatible strains that differed in their competency to mate. The results were compared to crosses where both mating strains were competent at the time of combining and crosses where somatic fusion of plasmodia was allowed. The results show that the mating competency of the parental strains at the time of confronting a compatible mate does not affect mitochondrial transmission patterns, mating efficiency or the likelihood of biparental inheritance. However the timing of plasmodial formation is delayed when precompetent and competent strains are mated compared to when both strains are competent at the time of mixing. We also observed that somatic fusion of plasmodia did not appreciably increase the incidence of biparental inheritance compared to crosses where individual plasmodia were isolated. These results provide additional evidence of the variable nature of mitochondrial inheritance in D. iridis within crosses and between mating trials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]