Search

Severe leaf spot disease was observed on Aloe vera plants in the winters of 2011 and 2012 during a survey of various nurseries of Gwalior, India. Irregular, sunken, dark creamish brown spots having reddish brown margin were noticed on both surfaces of the leaves. The causal organism was consistently isolated from symptomatic leaves on potato dextrose agar media (PDA). A total 59 isolates of fungi were recovered from diseased A. vera leaves, and 37 isolates were identified as belonging to the genus Fusarium. On the basis of morphological characteristics and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of rDNA amplified using the primers ITS4/ITS5 the pathogen was identified as Fusarium proliferatum (Matsushima) Nirenberg and pathogenicity of the isolate was confirmed by using Koch’s postulates. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of leaf spot disease caused by Fusarium proliferatum on A. vera plants in India.

This article provides an outline of the classification of the kingdom Fungi (including fossil fungi. i.e. dispersed spores, mycelia, sporophores, mycorrhizas). We treat 19 phyla of fungi. These are Aphelidiomycota, Ascomycota, Basidiobolomycota, Basidiomycota, Blastocladiomycota, Calcarisporiellomycota, Caulochytriomycota, Chytridiomycota, Entomophthoromycota, Entorrhizomycota, Glomeromycota, Kickxellomycota, Monoblepharomycota, Mortierellomycota, Mucoromycota, Neocallimastigomycota, Olpidiomycota, Rozellomycota and Zoopagomycota. The placement of all fungal genera is provided at the class-, order- and family-level. The described number of species per genus is also given. Notes are provided of taxa for which recent changes or disagreements have been presented. Fungus-like taxa that were traditionally treated as fungi are also incorporated in this outline (i.e. Eumycetozoa, Dictyosteliomycetes, Ceratiomyxomycetes and Myxomycetes). Four new taxa are introduced: Amblyosporida ord. nov. Neopereziida ord. nov. and Ovavesiculida ord. nov. in Rozellomycota, and Protosporangiaceae fam. nov. in Dictyosteliomycetes. Two different classifications (in outline section and in discussion) are provided for Glomeromycota and Leotiomycetes based on recent studies. The phylogenetic reconstruction of a four-gene dataset (18S and 28S rRNA, RPB1, RPB2) of 433 taxa is presented, including all currently described orders of fungi., Nalin N. Wijayawardene thanks Mushroom Research Foundation and National Science Foundation of China (No. NSFC 31950410558) for financially supporting this project. Kevin D. Hyde acknowledges the Foreign Experts Bureau of Yunnan Province, Foreign Talents Program (2018; grant no. YNZ2018002), Thailand Research grants entitled Biodiversity, phylogeny and role of fungal endophytes on above parts of Rhizophora apiculata and Nypa fruticans (grant no: RSA5980068), the future of specialist fungi in a changing climate: baseline data for generalist and specialist fungi associated with ants, Rhododendron species and Dracaena species (grant no: DBG6080013), Impact of climate change on fungal diversity and biogeography in the Greater Mekong Subregion (grant no: RDG6130001). H.T. Lumbsch thanks support by the Grainger Bioinformatics Center. E. Malosso is grateful to CAPES for financial support (grant no. 88881.062172/2014-01). B.T. Goto, G.A. Silva and K. Jobim, L.C. Maia acknowledges CNPq (Brazilian Scientific Council, grants no. 465.420/2014-1, 307.129/2015-2 and 408011/2016-5) and CAPES for support. The study was partially supported by the National Science Centre, Poland, under Grants No. 2015/17/D/NZ8/00778 and 2017/25/B/NZ8/00473 to Julia Pawłowska. The research of Martin Kukwa received support from the National Science Centre (NCN) in Poland (project no 2015/17/B/NZ8/02441). Alan J.L. Phillips acknowledges the support from UID/MULTI/04046/2019 Research Unit grant from FCT, Portugal to BioISI. H. Zhang is financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project ID: NSF 31500017). S. Boonmee would like to thank the Thailand Research Fund (Project No. TRG6180001). Dong-Qin Dai and Li-Zhou Tang would like to thank the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. NSFC 31760013, NSFC 31260087, NSFC 31460561), the Scientific Research Foundation of Yunnan Provincial Department of Education (2017ZZX186) and the Thousand Talents Plan, Youth Project of Yunnan Provinces for support. R. Phookamsak, M. Doilom, D. N. Wanasinghe, S.C. Karunarathna and J.C. Xu express sincere appreciations to Key Research Program of Frontier Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (grant no. QYZDY-SSW-SMC014) for research financial support. R. Phookamsak thanks the Yunnan Provincial Department of Human Resources and Social Security (grant no. Y836181261), Chiang Mai University and National Science Foundation of China (NSFC) project code 31850410489 for research financial support. S.C. Kaunarathna thanks CAS President’s International Fellowship Initiative (PIFI) for funding his postdoctoral research (No. 2018PC0006) and the National Science Foundation of China (NSFC) for funding this work under the project code 31851110759. S. Tibpromma would like to thank the International Postdoctoral Exchange Fellowship Program (number Y9180822S1), CAS President’s International Fellowship Initiative (PIFI) (number 2020PC0009), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation and the Yunnan Human Resources, and Social Security Department Foundation for funding her postdoctoral research. Yuri S. Tokarev, Elena S. Nassonova and Irma V. Issi are indebtful to Yuliya Y. Sokolova (Institute of Cytology RAS, St. Petersbug, Russia) and Anastasia V. Simakova (Tomsk State University, Tomsk, Russia) for kind permission of reproduction of electron microscopy images of Metchnikovella incurvata and Crepidulospora beklemishevi, respectively. Yuri S. Tokarev and Irma V. Issi thank Russian Foundation of Basic Research, grant number 17-04-00871 (taxonomy of Rozellomycota). Elena S. Nassonova thank Russian Foundation of Basic Research, grant number 18-04-01359 (early evolution of Microsporidia, phylogeny of Metchnikovellida). Adam Flakus and Pamela Rodriguez-Flakus are greatly indebted to all staff of the Herbario Nacional de Bolivia, Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, La Paz and the SERNAP (http://sernap.gob.bo), for their generous cooperation providing permits, assistance and facilities support for scientific studies. The research of AF and PRF were financially supported by the National Science Centre (NCN) in Poland (DEC-2013/11/D/NZ8/03274). Adam Flakus and Pamela Rodriguez-Flakus received additional support under statutory funds from the W. Szafer Institute of Botany, Polish Academy of Sciences, Krakow, Poland. The authors would like to thank Yunnan Innovation Platform for Development and Utilization of Symbiotic Fungi Resources for finance support. Li-Fang Zhang would like to thank grant-in-aid from Science and Technology Department of Yunnan Province (2018FD080) for finance support. Chun-Ying Deng thanks the Biodiversity Survey and Assessment Project of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, China (2019HJ2096001006). Yingqian Kang would like to thank Guizhou Scientific Plan Project [(2019) 2873]; Excellent Youth Talent Training Project of Guizhou Province [(2017) 5639]; Guiyang Science and Technology Project [(2017) No. 5-19]; Talent Base Project of Guizhou Province, China [FCJD2018-22]; Research Fund of Education Bureau of Guizhou Province, China [(2018) 481]. D. N. Wanasinghe would like to thank the CAS President’s International Fellowship Initiative (PIFI) for funding his postdoctoral research (number 2019PC0008), the National Science Foundation of China and the Chinese Academy of Sciences for financial support under the following grants: 41761144055, 41771063 and Y4ZK111B01. Yuri K. Novozhilov and Oleg N. Shchepin acknowledge support from the Russian Foundation of Basic Research, project 18-04-01232 А. Ivana Kušan, Neven Matočec, Armin Mešić and Zdenko Tkalčec are grateful to Croatian Science Foundation for their financial support under the project grant HRZZ-IP-2018-01-1736 (ForFungiDNA). K. Tanaka would like to thank the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS 19K06802)

An updated analysis of the diversity of rust fungi in Himachal Pradesh is provided herein as a product of field surveys, of mycological analysis, and of all forms of published documentation and literature. The results of all forms of analysis revealed that Himachal Pradesh has 167 species of rust fungi belonging to the class Pucciniomycetes. The class is represented by 11 families, 23 genera with 167 species. The Pucciniaceae (96 species) followed by Phragmidiaceae (14 species) are the largest families of rust fungi reported from the state. Rest of the families were found associated with 1–10 species of rust fungi. The rust fungi (19 species) with uncertain placement are placed in incertae sedis. The rust genera reported from Himachal Pradesh so far are Aecidium, Chrysomyxa, Coleosporium, Frommea, Gymnosporangium, Kuehneola, Kweilingia, Melampsora, Monosporidium, Ochrospora, Peridermium, Phakopsora, Phragmidium, Pileolaria, Puccinia, Pucciniastrum, Pucciniostele, Ravenelia, Skierka, Uredinopsis, Uredo, Urocystis, and Uromyces.

This study aimed to determine the alterations in major biochemical contents of Aloe vera infested by Colletotrichum gloeosporioides. Effects of fungal pathogen C. gloeosporioides on chlorophyll-a, chlorophyll-b, total chlorophyll, total soluble sugar, total phenols, total anthraquinones, total flavonoids, carotenoids and vitamin E were analyzed in artificially infested leaves of A. vera. While significant decrease in the contents of chlorophyll-a, chlorophyll-b, total chlorophyll, carotenoids and total soluble sugar was observed, an increased concentration of total phenolics, total anthraquinones, total flavonoid and vitamin E contents was recorded in infested leaves as compared to control. Being a medicinal plant, A. vera suffers a huge loss in its yield due to the attack of number of fungal pathogens. Moreover, changes in the concentration of its main biochemical groups were directly associated with the adverse effect of pathogens during the progression of infection on plant leaves. Therefore, control of the fungal diseases by applying appropriate management strategies is the important thrust to protect the plant of an enormous commercial value.

Aloe vera (L.) Burm. f., an important medicinal plant suffers with a huge loss in its yield due to the attack of number of fungal pathogens. The aim of the present study was to analyze the biochemical changes in A. vera infected by Fusarium proliferatum (Matsushima) Nirenberg causing leaf spot disease in plant. Artificially infested leaves were examined to study the effect of fungal pathogen on chlorophyll-a, chlorophyll-b, total chlorophyll, total soluble sugar, total phenols, total anthraquinones, total flavanoids and vitamin E. Results showed a significant decrease in the contents of chlorophyll-a, chlorophyll-b, total chlorophyll and total soluble sugar in infested leaves as compared to control leaves. Whereas, total phenolics, total anthraquinones, total flavonoid and vitamin E contents were significantly increased in infested leaves as compared to control. Changes in the concentration of biochemical were directly associated with the adverse effect of pathogen during the progression of infection on A. vera leaves.

Gautam AK, Avasthi S. 2017. Short Communication: Some additions to powdery mildews (Erysiphales: Fungi) of Northwestern Himalayas. Nusantara Bioscience 9: 52-56. During the regular mycological collections, between October to December 2015 in North-West Himalayas of Himachal Pradesh, four powdery mildews parasitic on higher plants were gathered. After study they were found to be Pseudoidium cryptolepidis on Cryptolepis buchanani, Erysiphe trifoliorum on Trifolium repentis, Podosphaera xanthii on Coreopsis lanceolata and Podosphaera euphorbiae-hirtae on Euphorbia hirta. All the powdery mildew fungi are additions to Himachal Pradesh as well as north-west Himalayas.

A leaf spot disease caused by Phoma eupyrena Sacc. on Aloe vera was reported from Madhya Pradesh, India. Disease symptoms were observed as irregular to elongated, sunken lesion on both leaf surfaces which later turns creamish brown with maroon margin. The fungal colonies were whitish or light pale to dark grey colour. The pycnidia were glabrous and solitary, papillate, and indistinctly uniostiolate averages 100–260 μm in diameter. Conidia were ellipsoidal, 4.5–7.5 × 2.5–3.75 μm in size, with two large guttules. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of P. eupyrena causing leaf spot disease on A. vera in India.

Avasthi S, GautamAK, Bhadauria R. 2015. Occurrence of leaf spot diseases on Aloe vera (L.) Burm.f. caused by Curvulariaspecies from Madhya Pradesh, India. Biodiversitas 16: 79-83. During 2010-2011, occurrence of leaf spot diseases was observed on Aloevera plants grown in various nurseries of Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India. The typical disease symptoms were observed on the abaxialsurface, tips and spiny margins of leaves. Disease spots were sunken, dry, necrotic, dark maroon to dark brown in color. On the basis ofmorphological and microscopic characteristics of the fungus, two species of Curvularia i.e. Curvularia lunata and Curvularia ovoidea,were found to be associated with the leaf spot diseases. Koch’s postulate was applied to confirm the causal organisms of the diseases.According to the literature, this is the first report of leaf spot disease on A. vera caused by Curvularia lunata from Madhya Pradesh, andthe first report of Curvularia ovoidea from India.Key words: Aloe vera, Curvularia lunata, Curvularia ovoidea, leaf spot, India

A rust infection was recently observed on Grewia tiliifolia Vahl during an exploration of rust fungi in Himachal Pradesh, India, in October 2015. An examination identified the rust fungus as Puccinia tiliaefolia T. S. Ramakr. & Sundaram. This finding represents a new record for the northwestern Himalayas and the first finding of Puccinia tiliaefolia in India in the last 46 years. A geographical distribution map of P. tiliaefolia is presented.

Endophytic fungi are generally recognized for their close, asymptomatic association with the internal tissues of all higher plants. There is growing interest in the symbiotic relationship between these fungi and their plant hosts due to benefits the relationship provides to the plant in areas such as development and defense. Secondary metabolites produced by endophytic fungi are of potential interest as factors in the regulation of plant communities and the herbivores that consume them. The secondary metabolites produced by endophytic fungi have been identified as sources of bioactive compounds useful in the pharmaceutical, medical and agriculture industries. Some metabolites exhibit pesticidal activities that may be effective as biocontrol agents against various agricultural pathogens. These metabolites also contribute in plant fitness by improving their adaptivity to biotic and abiotic stresses and promoting defense mechanisms. Reports on the identification of endophytic fungi and their secondary metabolites are rapidly increasing. There are variety of bioactive compounds derived from fungal endophytes, available commercially to farmers for use in pest control. The role of fungal metabolites in plant-pathogen and plant-insect interactions is receiving increased attention because of their potential use in pest control; however, the physiology and regulation of the plant–endophyte interaction requires more research. Therefore, future studies should focus on understanding the ecology of endophytic fungi, their role in plant interactions with other microbes, and their potential as biocontrol agents against pathogenic. This chapter sets out to present general biological characteristics of fungal endophytes, their diversity, their production of secondary metabolites inside host plants, and their role as biocontrol agents. The interaction between fungal endophytes and plant pathogens is also discussed in order to understand their role in protection of plants from various pathogens. Examples of bioactive compounds isolated from fungal endophytes with potent biocontrol activity are also discussed in this chapter.

Pistacia integerrima is a deciduous tree species belonging to the family Anacardiaceae. The plant possesses numerous phytochemicals of ethno-medicinal importance. In a routine mycological survey carried out from July 2013 to June 2014, leaves of P. integerrima were found infected with fungi causing rust and blight diseases. The morphological and microscopic observations revealed three fungi, namely Skierka himalayensis, Pestalotiopsis sp., and Pileolaria pistaciae, which were found to cause rust and blight diseases. One new species of rust fungi, namely Skierka himalayensis sp. nov., and Pestalotiopsis sp. are reported for the first time from India. The detailed descriptions and illustrations of these three phytopathogenic fungi are provided in this paper.

Leaf spot disease of A. vera was observed in nurseries of Gwalior city afterthe post-rainy season. As the disease progressed, the tip of the leaf shrank, then dried and eventually broke. The causal agent was identified as Phoma betae A.B. Frank. This is the first report of leaf spot disease on Aloe vera caused by P. betae in India.

Leaf spot symptoms were observed on the leaves of Boehravia diffusa L. plants from different regions of Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh, India. The symptoms initially appeared as a small light-pale coloured, circular spots enlarge gradually and ultimately leading to drying of the leaves. The disease was found to be caused by a fungus. The fungus was cultured on potato dextrose agar medium and identified as Colletotrichum gloeosporioides. According to the literature, this is thefirst report of anthracnose disease of B. diffusa caused by C. gloeosporioides in India.

The present study describes the antifungal potential of fruit and powdered ingredients of triphala churna, i.e. Emblica officinalis (Garetn.) (Amla), Terminalia bellirica (Gaertn.) Roxb. (Baheda) and Terminalia chebula (Retz.) (Harada), collected from the market of Gwalior (M.P.), India. Water extracts of all the fruits and powdered samples were tested (in vitro) for their antifungal activities by poisoned food technique against different Aspergillus species (A. flavus, A. fumigatus, A. versicolor, A. terreus and A. niger) associated with them during storage. All extracts displayed varied levels i.e. very low to very high antifungal activities on four Aspergillus species. The aqueous extracts of fresh fruits (37.96 +/- 7.59%) was observed to be most effective than dry fruits (34.95 +/- 7.59%) and powder (25.07 +/- 6.05%). Terminalia chebula (fresh and dry) extracts were found most active against the four Aspergillus species with 49.15 and 40.8% inhibition, respectively. None of the extracts were found effective against the growth of A. niger. All fruits and powdered aqueous extracts were observed to be ineffective against the A. niger. The variability in antifungal activity of aqueous extracts in the present study may be useful to study the relationship between antifungal potential of herbal drugs and prevalence of fungal contaminant during their storage.