Volume 8 - 2025 - issue 1

1. Erratum to: Novel Botryosphaeriaceae records associated with epiphytic plants from South China

Authors: Hua Li et al.

Recieved: 02 January 2025, Accepted: 06 February 2025, Published: 21 March 2025

The original publication contains the following errors: The herbarium numbers of this publication overlap with the Dong et al. (2023). To rectify this mistake, we updated the herbarium numbers in the material examination section of all reported species in this study.

Keywords:

2. Two new species of Xerocomus (Boletales) from the Indian Himalaya

Authors: Nautiyal A, Ben Hassine Ben Ali M, Kannan R, Rawat GS, Krishnamurthy R, Stephenson SL

Recieved: 12 January 2024, Accepted: 10 February 2025, Published: 28 March 2025

Xerocomus garhwalensis and Xerocomus rishikeshinus (Boletales, Basidiomycota) are described as species new to science from specimens collected in the Himalayas of northwestern India. Both were found in forests dominated by banj oak (Quercus leucotrichophora A. Camus), and they presumably form ectomycorrhizal associations with this tree species. Xerocomus has been variously defined morphologically, and a number of the species now assigned to the genus are sometimes considered to be members of the genus Boletus. The two new species were placed in Xerocomus largely on the basis of DNA sequence data, which are still rather limited for the assemblage of macrofungi present in northwestern India.

Keywords: banj oak – Basidiomycota – Boletaceae – ectomycorrhizal fungi – new taxa

3. Phytohormone Induced Submerged Fermentation for Mycelia Biomass and Exopolysaccharide Production of Agrocybe cylindracea (DC.) Maire and Pleurotus djamor (Rumph. Ex Fr.) Boedijn

Authors: Diaz JC, Valentino MJG, Dulay RMR, Kalaw SP.

Recieved: 27 September 2024, Accepted: 17 February 2025, Published: 08 April 2025

Mushrooms are an excellent source of promising nutritional and pharmaceutical attributes. Several mushrooms from the wild are being investigated for their promising effect on health risk reductions. However, some mushrooms remain to be underutilized due to improper cultivation techniques, ineffective nutrient sources and extrinsic factors. Thus, the mycelial biomass and exopolysaccharide (EPS) production of Agrocybe cylindracea and Pleurotus djamor in submerged fermentation conditions was determined using selected commonly discarded fruits at varying concentrations. Saba banana puree (30%) at pH 7 yielded the highest mycelial biomass of both mushrooms. Supplementation of 5 ppm 6-BAP on saba banana puree (30%) at pH 7 for both mushrooms increased the mycelial biomass yield at 58% for A. cylindracea and 61% for P. djamor. In varying agitation conditions, A. cylindracea greatly increased its mycelial biomass yield and EPS production at 100 rpm and P. djamor at 150 rpm. The fermentation period highly influenced the mycelial biomass and EPS production of both mushrooms. The highest mycelial biomass yield was obtained by a fermentation period of 20 days for A. cylindracea and 15 days for P. djamor, but the highest EPS yield can be precipitated at a fermentation period of 10 days for A. cylindracea and 15 days for P. djamor. Overall, maximum mycelial biomass and EPS yield were achieved on optimum submerged fermentation conditions, which can be further used for mass production and bioactivity profiling, which can be utilized in the nutraceutical, cosmeceutical and pharmaceutical industries.

Keywords: exopolysaccharides – mushrooms – mycelia biomass – phytohormones – submerged fermentation

4. The cytochrome P450 system is involved in the light emission of higher fungi

Authors: Ronzhin NO, Posokhina ED, Mogilnaya OA, Puzyr AP, Baron AV, Gitelson JI†, Bondar VS

Recieved: 06 May 2024, Accepted: 19 February 2025, Published: 11 April 2025

The present study reports experimental data that suggest the participation of the cytochrome P450 system in light emission by higher fungi. The luminous mycelia of the basidiomycetes Neonothopanus nambi, Armillaria borealis, Panellus stipticus, and Mycena citricolor were used to prepare “cold” extracts, which contained luminescent enzyme systems responsible for the in vitro luminescence of the extracts. A “hot” extract from the mycelium of the nonluminous higher fungus Pholiota squarrosa was used as a substrate for the luminescent reaction. The conditions for preparing “cold” extracts (treatment of mycelial biomass with ultrasound and clarification of homogenates by centrifugation at 40000g) indicate the presence of membrane structures in them, microsomes, in particular, which are formed during ultrasonic destruction of the endoplasmic reticulum. In samples of the extracts treated with sodium dithionite and CO, differential spectroscopy revealed two absorption peaks, at 410 and 450 nm, which indicates the presence of cytochromes b5 and P450 in them. The luminescence of extracts is stimulated by reduced pyridine nucleotides, but it has been found that the addition of NADPH leads to a higher level of luminescence compared to NADH. The addition of NADPH results in the Vmax values of light emission higher by a factor of almost 2 and the apparent Km values lower by a factor of 2 compared to the addition of NADH. It has been shown that the addition of hydrogen peroxide substantially increases the luminescence intensity of extracts activated by NADPH and the reaction substrate. It has been found that fluconazole additives considerably inhibit the light emission of extracts when they are activated by NADPH and the reaction substrate. The results obtained in this study suggest that the mechanism of luminescence of higher fungi may involve the cytochrome P450 system associated with endoplasmic reticulum membranes, involving in the process the electron transport enzyme systems. In that case, cytochrome P450 carries out the hydroxylation of hispidin, the precursor of the substrate of the luminescence reaction, with the formation of luciferin, and catalyzes its oxidation in the presence of reactive oxygen species (hydrogen peroxide, in particular) with the emission of visible light quanta.

Keywords: luminous mycelium – luminescent system – mechanism of light emission – cytochrome P450 system – hispidin – reduced pyridine nucleotides – fluconazole – hydrogen peroxide

5. Evaluation of seed-treating chemicals against seed-borne fungi on germinating wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) seeds

Authors: Sultana S, Mannan M, Islam R, Jahan N.

Recieved: 28 March 2024, Accepted: 14 February 2025, Published: 14 April 2025

Seed-borne pathogens of wheat play a vital role in causing plant diseases and constrain wheat productivity in Bangladesh. An experiment was conducted to evaluate four seed-treating chemicals, namely Knowin 50 WP, Sunvit 50 WP, Neuben 72 WP and Tilt 250 EC, against wheat seed-borne fungi in the plant protection laboratory, Agrotechnology Discipline, Khulna University Khulna, Bangladesh from January, 2021 to October, 2021. The experiment was carried out to isolate the associated seed-borne fungi in two wheat varieties and determine the efficacy of fungicides to control these seed-borne fungi of wheat. Wheat seed samples (Farmer's seed) of two (Triticum aestivum L.) varieties (BARI Gom-25 and BARI Gom-26) were collected from the Regional Agricultural Research Station, Jashore. The experiment was conducted following the complete randomized design (CRD) with four replications. Different seed-borne fungi, Alternaria spp., Bipolaris spp., Curvularia spp. and Aspergillus spp., were identified as associated fungi from these two varieties of seeds. The prevalence of different seed-borne fungi varied independently and individually across wheat varieties. In the case of germination between two wheat varieties, the highest germination percentage was recorded in BARI Gom-26. All the tested fungicides increased the germination percentage compared to untreated seeds. Knowin 50 WP showed a superior influence on the germination of the wheat variety BARI Gom-26 over untreated seeds using the Blotter method. Among the tested fungicides, Tilt 250 EC showed strong effectiveness in controlling all the fungi associated with wheat seeds.

Keywords: Seed-borne fungi – Germination – Pathogen – Blotter method