Frontiers in Fungal Biology
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2022 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sefinew Tilahun ◽  
Marye Alemu ◽  
Mesfin Tsegaw ◽  
Nega Berhane

Ginger diseases caused by fungal pathogens have become one of the most serious problems causing reduced production around the world. It has also caused a major problem among farmers in different parts of Ethiopia resulting in a huge decline in rhizome yield. However, the exact causative agents of this disease have not been identified in the state. Although there are few studies related to pathogenic fungus identification, molecular level identification of fungal pathogen was not done in the area. Therefore, this study was undertaken to isolate and characterized the fungal causative agent of ginger disease from the diseased plant and the soil samples collected around the diseased plant from Chilga district, Gondar, Ethiopia. Samples from infected ginger plants and the soil around the infected plant were collected. Culturing and purification of isolates were made using Potato Dextrose Agar supplemented with antibacterial agent chloramphenicol. The morphological characterization was done by structural identification of the isolates under the microscope using lactophenol cotton blue stains. Isolated fungi were cultured and molecular identification was done using an internal transcribed spacer (ITS) of ribosomal DNA (rDNA). A total of 15 fungal morphotypes including 11 Aspergillus spp. (73.3%), 2 Penicillium spp. (13.3%), and single uncultured fungus clone S23 were isolated from the samples representing all the plant organs and the soil. Aspergillus spp. (73.3%) was the most common and seems to be the major causative agent. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of ginger pathogenic fungi in Ethiopia identified using ITS rDNA molecular techniques. This study will lay foundation for the development of management strategies for fungal diseases infecting ginger.


2022 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiran Kanti Santra ◽  
Debdulal Banerjee

Endophytic entities are ubiquitous in nature with all-square bioactivity ranging from therapeutic effects toward animals to growth promoting attributes and stress tolerance activities in case of green plants. In the present study, the club moss Lycopodium clavatum for the first time has been subjected for the isolation of endophytic fungi. An exopolysaccharide (EPS) extracted from Colletotrichum alatae LCS1, an endophytic fungi isolated from L. clavatum Linn., was characterized as a β-glucan heteropolymer (composed of mannose, rhamnose, arabinose, glucose, galactose, and fucose) which plays a pivotal role in obliterating the drought stress in rice seedlings (Oryza sativa) when applied at an amount of 20, 50, and 100 ppm. The fresh weight contents of rice tissue (39%), total chlorophyll (33%), proline (41%), soluble sugar content (26%) along with antioxidant enzymes such as catalase, peroxidase, and super-oxide dismutase increased (in comparison to control of non-EPS treated seedlings) while malondialdehyde content had reduced markedly after 30 days of regular treatment. The drought resistance of rice seedling was observed at peak when applied at 50 ppm dosage. Vital parameters for EPS production like fermentation duration (5 days), medium pH (6), nutrient (carbon (glucose-7 g%/l), nitrogen (yeast extract-0.4 g%/l), and mineral (NaCl-0.10 g%/l) sources, oxygen requirements (O2 vector or liquid alkane-n-hexane, n-heptane, n-hexadecane), and headspace volume (250 ml Erlenmeyer flask- 50 ml medium, 200 ml-headspace volume) were optimized to obtain an enhanced EPS yield of 17.38 g/L−59% higher than the preoptimized one. The present study, for the first time, reported the β-glucan rich heteropolysaccharide from Colletotrichum origin which is unique in structure and potent in its function of drought stress tolerance and could enhance the sustainable yield of rice cultivation in areas facing severe drought stress.


2022 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Gerke ◽  
Anna M. Köhler ◽  
Jan-Peer Wennrich ◽  
Verena Große ◽  
Lulu Shao ◽  
...  

The soil microbiome comprises numerous filamentous fungi and bacteria that mutually react and challenge each other by the production of bioactive secondary metabolites. Herein, we show in liquid co-cultures that the presence of filamentous Streptomycetes producing antifungal glycopeptide antibiotics induces the production of the antibacterial and iron-chelating tropolones anhydrosepedonin (1) and antibiotic C (2) in the mold Aspergillus nidulans. Additionally, the biosynthesis of the related polyketide tripyrnidone (5) was induced, whose novel tricyclic scaffold we elucidated by NMR and HRESIMS data. The corresponding biosynthetic polyketide synthase-encoding gene cluster responsible for the production of these compounds was identified. The tropolones as well as tripyrnidone (5) are produced by genes that belong to the broad reservoir of the fungal genome for the synthesis of different secondary metabolites, which are usually silenced under standard laboratory conditions. These molecules might be part of the bacterium-fungus competition in the complex soil environment, with the bacterial glycopeptide antibiotic as specific environmental trigger for fungal induction of this cluster.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Damien Courtine ◽  
Xing Zhang ◽  
Jonathan J. Ewbank

Domestication provides a window into adaptive change. Over the course of 2 decades of laboratory culture, a strain of the nematode-specific fungus Drechmeria coniospora became more virulent during its infection of Caenorhabditis elegans. Through a close comparative examination of the genome sequences of the original strain and its more pathogenic derivative, we identified a small number of non-synonymous mutations in protein-coding genes. In one case, the mutation was predicted to affect a gene involved in hypoxia resistance and we provide direct corroborative evidence for such an effect. The mutated genes with functional annotation were all predicted to impact the general physiology of the fungus and this was reflected in an increased in vitro growth, even in the absence of C. elegans. While most cases involved single nucleotide substitutions predicted to lead to a loss of function, we also observed a predicted restoration of gene function through deletion of an extraneous tandem repeat. This latter change affected the regulatory subunit of a cAMP-dependent protein kinase. Remarkably, we also found a mutation in a gene for a second protein of the same, protein kinase A, pathway. Together, we predict that they result in a stronger repression of the pathway for given levels of ATP and adenylate cyclase activity. Finally, we also identified mutations in a few lineage-specific genes of unknown function that are candidates for factors that influence virulence in a more direct manner.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre-Henri Clergeot ◽  
Åke Olson

The mitochondrial and nuclear genomes of Eukaryotes are inherited separately and consequently follow distinct evolutionary paths. Nevertheless, the encoding of many mitochondrial proteins by the nuclear genome shows the high level of integration they have reached, which makes mitonuclear genetic interactions all the more conceivable. For each species, natural selection has fostered the evolution of coadapted alleles in both genomes, but a population-wise divergence of such alleles could lead to important phenotypic variation, and, ultimately, to speciation. In this study in the Basidiomycete Heterobasidion parviporum, we have investigated the genetic basis of phenotypic variation among laboratory-designed heterokaryons carrying the same pair of haploid nuclei, but a different mitochondrial genome. Radial growth rate data of thirteen unrelated homokaryotic parents and of their heterokaryotic offspring were combined with SNP data extracted from parental genome sequences to identify nuclear and mitochondrial loci involved in mitonuclear interactions. Two nuclear loci encoding mitochondrial proteins appeared as best candidates to engage in a genetic interaction affecting radial growth rate with a non-conserved mitochondrial open reading frame of unknown function and not reported apart from the Russulales order of Basidiomycete fungi. We believe our approach could be useful to investigate several important traits of fungal biology where mitonuclear interactions play a role, including virulence of fungal pathogens.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric C. Otto ◽  
Benjamin W. Held ◽  
Trevor J. Gould ◽  
Robert A. Blanchette

Thinning operations that occur in managed red pine (Pinus resinosa) stands, create tree stumps that can serve as a habitat for fungi, especially Heterobasidion irregulare, the cause of a serious root disease. Different fungi can colonize stumps early and the community of fungi can change over time as initial fungal species become replaced. Samples were collected from both the native and non-native range of red pine from stumps that were cut at different time periods. Stumps that were harvested at 0–1, 2–3, 5–6, and 10–12 years before sampling were used to provide data on the diversity of fungi that colonize tree stumps and how these communities can change over time as well as how they influence colonization of H. irregulare. Traditional culturing methods and Illumina MiSeq sequencing were used to identify the fungi in the samples. Of particular interest was Phlebiopsis gigantea, which can colonize cut stumps and prevent H. irregulare from becoming established. Overall, P. gigantea was the most abundant fungus isolated and sequenced via Illumina MiSeq. Results show that Phlebiopsis gigantea was isolated from 90% of all stumps sampled for sites harvested within 3 years of sampling in the native range of red pine compared to 33% in the non-native range. For Illumina MiSeq, 5,940 total amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) were detected. P. gigantea represented 14% of the total reads and composed 19% of the reads in the native range and 8% in non-native range of red pine. Furthermore, P. gigantea represented 38% of the reads for stumps that were harvested within 3 years of sampling in the native range of red pine compared to 14% in the non-native range. These results help demonstrate that a higher amount of P. gigantea is present in the native range of red pine and could be acting as a native biological control agent. Additional fungi, including Resinicium bicolor, Hypochnicium cremicolor, Leptographium spp., and others identified at different cutting times are also discussed. Finally, different diversity indices revealed similar, but slightly higher diversity for southern sites via Shannon and Simpson Diversity indices. Beta diversity demonstrated a similar species composition in stumps harvested at different times with these stumps being grouped together based on harvesting years.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia A. Ramírez-Valdespino ◽  
Erasmo Orrantia-Borunda

Due to their unique properties and functionalities, nanomaterials can be found in different activities as pharmaceutics, cosmetics, medicine, and agriculture, among others. Nowadays, formulations with nano compounds exist to reduce the application of conventional pesticides and fertilizers. Among the most used are nanoparticles (NPs) of copper, zinc, or silver, which are known because of their cytotoxicity, and their accumulation can change the dynamic of microbes present in the soil. In agriculture, Trichoderma is widely utilized as a safe biocontrol strategy and to promote plant yield, making it susceptible to be in contact with nanomaterials that can interfere with its viability as well as its biocontrol and plant growth promotion effects. It is well-known that strains of Trichoderma can tolerate and uptake heavy metals in their bulk form, but it is poorly understood whether the same occurs with nanomaterials. Interestingly, Trichoderma can synthesize NPs that exhibit antimicrobial activities against various organisms of interest, including plant pathogens. In this study, we summarize the main findings regarding Trichoderma and nanotechnology, including its use to synthesize NPs and the consequence that these compounds might have in this fungus and its associations. Moreover, based on these findings we discuss whether it is feasible to develop agrochemicals that combine NPs and Trichoderma strains to generate more sustainable products or not.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oscar M. Rollano-Peñaloza ◽  
Patricia A. Mollinedo ◽  
Susanne Widell ◽  
Allan G. Rasmusson

Symbiotic strains of fungi in the genus Trichoderma affect growth and pathogen resistance of many plant species, but the interaction is not known in molecular detail. Here we describe the transcriptomic response of two cultivars of the crop Chenopodium quinoa to axenic co-cultivation with Trichoderma harzianum BOL-12 and Trichoderma afroharzianum T22. The response of C. quinoa roots to BOL-12 and T22 in the early phases of interaction was studied by RNA sequencing and RT-qPCR verification. Interaction with the two fungal strains induced partially overlapping gene expression responses. Comparing the two plant genotypes, a broad spectrum of putative quinoa defense genes were found activated in the cultivar Kurmi but not in the Real cultivar. In cultivar Kurmi, relatively small effects were observed for classical pathogen response pathways but instead a C. quinoa-specific clade of germin-like genes were activated. Germin-like genes were found to be more rapidly induced in cultivar Kurmi as compared to Real. The same germin-like genes were found to also be upregulated systemically in the leaves. No strong correlation was observed between any of the known hormone-mediated defense response pathways and any of the quinoa-Trichoderma interactions. The differences in responses are relevant for the capabilities of applying Trichoderma agents for crop protection of different cultivars of C. quinoa.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grazia Cecchi ◽  
Simone Di Piazza ◽  
Stefano Rosatto ◽  
Mauro Giorgio Mariotti ◽  
Enrica Roccotiello ◽  
...  

The co-growth and synergistic interactions among fungi and bacteria from the rhizosphere of plants able to hyper accumulate potentially toxic metals (PTMs) are largely unexplored. Fungi and bacteria contribute in an essential way to soil biogeochemical cycles mediating the nutrition, growth development, and health of associated plants at the rhizosphere level. Microbial consortia improve the formation of soil aggregates and soil fertility, producing organic acids and siderophores that increase solubility, mobilization, and consequently the accumulation of nutrients and metals from the rhizosphere. These microorganism consortia can both mitigate the soil conditions promoting plant colonization and increase the performance of hyperaccumulator plants. Indeed, microfungi and bacteria from metalliferous soils or contaminated matrices are commonly metal-tolerant and can play a key role for plants in the phytoextraction or phytostabilization of metals. However, few works deepen the effects of the inoculation of microfungal and bacterial consortia in the rhizosphere of metallophytes and their synergistic activity. This mini-review aimed to collect and report the data regarding the role of microbial consortia and their potentialities known to date. Moreover, our new data had shown an active fungal-bacteria consortium in the rhizosphere of the hyperaccumulator plant Alyssoides utriculata.


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