Linking biodiversity and ecology of fungi from pine and spruce needles

Přírodovědecká fakult

Revision of root-associated microfungi of Pinus wallichiana in Kashmir Himalaya

Fungi associated with roots of Pinus wallichiana were for the first time evaluated in the recently published study of Tyub et al. (2018). A culture-free approach using RFLP profiling and sequencing analysis of DNA extracted from fine root tips were used to identify ectomycorrhizal and other species present in the roots. However, numerous inconsistences in the interpretation of presented results indicated that the names assigned to particular sequences were incorrect. Therefore, sequences belonging to ascomycete microfungi (predominantly members of Helotiales) obtained in the study were reanalyzed to confirm their identification. A simple phylogenetic analysis utilizing also closely related sequences from GenBank showed that the sequences from this study were mostly misidentified (i.e. placed in different clades than sequences having the same name, but originating from taxonomic studies). Erroneous conclusions resulting from misidentified species and limited knowledge of relevant literature were corrected. Despite numerous inconsistences, the study of Tyub et al. (2018) brought valuable data about fungal diversity and potential taxonomic novelties among helotialean fungi associated with coniferous roots.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author

Ruminal effective degradability of neutral detergent fibre in ruminants

Seven clover sampes (Trifolium pratense L.) were collected at three different miters A (n = 3), B (n = 3) a C (n = 1) during the growing season from 10th of May to 3rd of August. The samples were analyzed for chemical composition, gross energy (BE) content, in vivo sheep digestibility of organic matter (KS OH) and gross energy (KS BE) and in situ rumen degradability of neutral detergent fibre (NDF). The contents of ash, crude protein (NL), crude fibre (CF), NDF, acid detergent fibre (ADF), acid detergent lignin (ADL) and BE were significantly (P {>} 0,05) affected by the date of cutting time. The averaged values were for ash 119,2 g/kg of dry matter, NL 197,7 g/kg of dry matter, CF 236,5 g/kg of dry matter, NDF 400,7 g/kg of dry matter, ADF 296,2 g/kg of dry matter, ADL 73,8 g/kg of dry matter and BE 18,2 MJ/kg of dry matter. KS OH and KS BE generally decreased with higher dates of cutting time. On average KS OH and KS BE amounted 72,4 % and 70,2 %, respectively. The effective ruminal degradability (ED) of NDF generally decreased (P {>} 0,05) with increasing date of cutting time with values of 66,1 % (May 10), 63,6 % (May 18), 59,2 % (May 25), 64,8 % (June 29), 57,4 % (July 7), 56,9 % (July 13) a 51,6 % ( August 3). In situ characteristics were in average 77,1 % for the potential degradable NDF fraction (parameter b), 0,0703 h-1 for the fractional rate of degradation (parameter c) and 77,8 % for the digestible NDF (parameter DNDF)

In situ ruminal degradation of organic matter of Trifolium pratense L.

Seven clover sampes (Trifolium pratense L.) were collected at three different miters I (n = 3), II (n = 3) and III (n = 1) during the growing season from 10th of May to 17th of August. The samples were analyzed for chemical composition, gross energy (BE) content, in vivo sheep digestibility of organic matter (KS OH) and gross energy (KS BE) and in situ rumen degradability of organic matter and neutral detergent fibre (NDF). The contents of ash, crude protein (NL), crude fibre (CF), NDF, acid detergent fibre (ADF), acid detergent lignin (ADL) and BE were significantly (P < 0,05) affected by the date of cutting time. The averaged values were for ash 119,2 g/kg of dry matter, NL 197,7 g/kg of dry matter, CF 214,1 g/kg of dry matter, NDF 400,7 g/kg of dry matter, ADF 296,2 g/kg of dry matter, ADL 73,8 g/kg of dry matter and BE 18,2 MJ/kg of dry matter. KS OH and KS BE generally decreased with higher dates of cutting time. On average KS OH and KS BE amounted 72,4 % and 70,2 %, respectively. The effective ruminal degradability of organic matter (EDOH) was in average 81,7 % for miter I, 79,7 % for miter II and 75,2 % for miter III. In situ organic matter degradability characteristics were in average 41,9 % for the immediately degradable (soluble) fraction (parameter a), 47,1 % for the potential degradable fraction (parameter b) and 0,105 h-1 for the fractional rate of degradation (parameter c). The effective ruminal degradability of NDF (EDNDF) also generally decreased (P < 0,05) with increasing date of cutting time with values of 63,0 % for miter I, 59,7 % for miter II and 51,6 % for miter III. Strong correlation (P < 0,05) was observed between the EDOH and EDNDF (r = 0,979)

Microfungi from Nicaragua in a historical collection kept at the herbarium of the charles university in Prague

A set of historical specimens collected by the American mycologist Charles Leonard Smith in southeastern Nicaragua during 1896 and currently deposited at the Herbarium of the Charles University in Prague (PRC) was examined for the presence of microfungi. Despite the age of the specimens, twenty-two taxa were identified, seventeen of them to species level and other five to generic level. All of them are recorded for the first time from Nicaragua. Cryptophiale cf. kakombensis and Sporoschisma juvenile were found associated with their putative teleomorphic states. Historical facts surrounding the expedition source of these samples and bibliographical data about Smith are also given.</p

Leptodophora gen. nov. (Helotiales, Leotiomycetes) proposed to accommodate selected root-associated members of the genus Cadophora

Cadophora orchidicola, a root-associated asexual species, did not have a clear placement within the paraphyletic genus Cadophora because it was not represented by sequences derived from the type material. Based on four newly obtained molecular marker sequences from the ex-type strain, a new genus, Leptodophora, is proposed, typified with C. orchidicola, as well as new combinations for three recently described and closely related species. In addition, a new species, Collembolispora disimilis, is proposed for a fungus producing phialidic conidiogenous cells and previously treated as Cadophora sp

Brassicaceous roots as an unexpected diversity hot-spot of helotialean endophytes

A high number of fungal strains were isolated from roots of Brassicaceae species collected across western and southern Europe, resulting in an unexpectedly rich collection of Cadophora species. These isolates enable us to present a new and comprehensive view of the ecological, morphological, and phylogenetic traits of root-inhabiting members of this helotialean genus. We provide phylogenetic placement of all of our isolates based on a four-gene dataset, analyze their phenotypic traits in relation to their phylogenetic relationships, and infer the potential distribution ranges of the species by sequence comparisons with available databases. We consider seven well supported phylogenetic lineages as species new to science. Six further lineages probably also represent new species but remain undescribed due to the lack of diagnostic morphological characters. Our results show that Cadophora, as currently circumscribed, is paraphyletic and encompasses a broad spectrum of morphologies and lifestyles. Among the new species, only two (C. ferruginea and C. constrictospora) form phialides and conidia typical of Cadophora, three species (C. echinata, C. gamsii and C. variabilis) produce chains of swollen hyphal segments that may function as holoblastic conidia, and one species (C. fascicularis) produces chains of holoblastic ramoconidia and conidia. Ancestral state reconstruction analysis suggests that phialidic conidiogenesis evolved several times in Cadophora s. lat. from a putatively holoblastic common ancestor. Most Cadophora lineages are rare as estimated from the availability of sequence data, in spite of having relatively wide distribution ranges, whereas five lineages may represent endemic relationships given their restricted distributions. Our dataset, probably the most comprehensive available for Cadophora, nevertheless shows knowledge gaps concerning the phylogenetic relationships within this genus and highlights a need for further investigation

Panama, a hot spot for Hermatomyces (Hermatomycetaceae, Pleosporales) with five new species, and a critical synopsis of the genus

Five new species belonging to Hermatomyces (Hermatomycetaceae, Pleosporales) are described based on morphological investigations of specimens collected on rotten twigs and stems of various plants in Panama as well as phylogenetic analyses of sequence data of nuclear ribosomal and protein coding genes (EF1-α, RPB2, β-TUB). The new species are described as: Hermatomyces bifurcatus, H. constrictus, H. megasporus, H. sphaericoides, and H. verrucosus spp. nov. Previously described species such as H. sphaericus and H. tucumanensis were identified among the studied specimens. The new combination, H. reticulatus, is made for Subicularium reticulatum based on examination of the holotype and fresh collections. Hermatomyces subiculosus, originally described from Thailand, is reduced to synonymy with H. reticulatus; H. tectonae is synonymized under H. sphaericus based on morphological and molecular evidence; and H. chiangmaiensis and H. thailandicus are considered later synonyms of H. krabiensis and H. indicus, respectively. The type material of Scyphostroma mirum was found to be conspecific with H. tucumanensis and, therefore, the generic name Hermatomyces should be conserved or protected against the older name Scyphostroma and the binomial H. tucumanensis against S. mirum. Sixteen species of Hermatomyces are recognized, their distinctive characteristics are highlighted in line drawings and a key is provided for their identification. The peculiar morphology and consistent phylogeny of new and previously known Hermatomyces species supports the recognition of the recently introduced monotypic family Hermatomycetaceae as a well delimited monophyletic taxon within the order Pleosporales