نشریه رستنیها
سال شانزدهم شماره 2 (پیاپی 50، پاییز و زمستان 1394)

In the present study, nine species of Aspergillus, viz., A. alliaceus, A. ochraceus, A. persii, A. leproris, A. parasiticus, A. fumigatiaffinis, A. sydowii, A. niger, A. tubingensis and Eurotium amstelodami were obtained and identified from soils of the National Park of Urmia Lake, based on cultural and morphological characteristics. All of the species are newly recorded from hypersaline soils in Iran. Three species, namely, A. persii, A. fumigatiaffinis and A. leproris represent new records to the mycobiota of Iran. An identification key is also provided for Aspergillus species in soils of the National Park of Urmia Lake.

A new species from Iran is described and illustrated here as Kickxia iranica (Plantaginaceae). Kickxia iranica is morphologically similar to K. commutata, a species native to Mediterranean region, however it can be distinguished from the latter by leaf shape, color of corolla, habit, stem branching and length of leaf, petiole, pedicel and corolla. Notes on its distribution, ecology and phenology are also presented.

Based on the limited resources available to algal flora in Yazd province in the center of Iran, cultivation, purification and identification of soil algae from seven sites was performed in summer 2013. The soil samples were processed for analysis of Cd, Pb contents. The present paper attempts to analyze survey of soil blue-green algal identification in different types of stations, using morphological, physiological and molecular characterization. Pb bioremediation assay, determination of chlorophyll, carotenoid and phycobiliproteins content measurements was investigated as physiological characterization. Kamptonema animale, Leptolyngbya breviarticulata and Kamptonema sp. are new to Iran and Oscillatoria tenuis with high heavy metal absorption could play an important role as biomonitoring agent.

The wild-relative gene pools of wheat are a rich source of genetic variation for wheat improvement.Karyotypes of eight genotypes of Triticum monococcum subsp. aegilopoides and eight genotypes of Aegilops cylindrica,which grown wild next to each other in different regions in the west of Iran were studied. Root tips were treated in α-bromonaphthalene solution, fixed in chromic acid-formaldehyde fluid, hydrolyzed in 1 N NaOH and staining with hematoxylin. Variation observed in karyotypic formulas of A. cylindrica showing some structural changes of the chromosomes. Aegilops cylindrica classified in 3A class and T. m. subsp. aegilopoides classified in 1A class of Stebbin's classification. Triticummonococcum. subsp. aegilopoides has been suggested to be a relatively old origin because possessing metacentric chromosomes while submetacentric and subtelocentric chromosomes in A. cylindrica suggest a relatively recent origin of the species. The karyotypic symmetry indices used in this study pointed to a much more asymmetric karyotype of A.cylindrica than T. m. subsp. aegilopoides.

The Urmia Lake National Park (NW Iran) represents a unique ecosystem owing to special ecological conditions prevailing the region. The Urmia Lake National Park comprises a range of normal to extreme environments, with variable range of salinity between 120-300 g/L. The present study was aimed to characterize ascomycetous yeast mycobiota inhabiting hypersaline soils in this region. Soil samples were collected from different sites in Urmia Lake basin as well as islands inside the lake. Yeast isolates were recovered using Dichloran Rose Bengal agar (DRB) chloramphenicol culture medium. Pure cultures were established using routine microbiological techniques. Yeast isolates were identified based on the sequence data from the D1/D2 domain of nuclear ribosomal DNA. The present study reports six ascomycetous yeast species, viz., Meyerozyma guilliermondii, Metschnikowia sinensis, Debaryomyces hansenii, Debaryomyces subglobosus, Torulaspora delbrueckii and Candida baotianensis from soils of this region. A phylogeny inferred using sequence data based on the D1/D2 region clustered our isolates with the representative sequences for each of the species from GenBank. All of six species identified in this study, represent new records for the mycobiota of Iran. Additionally, Candida baotianensis, Debaryomyces subglobosus, Metschnikowia sinensi and Torulaspora delbrueckii are newly recorded from hypersaline soils throughout the world.

During study on biodiversity of Penicillium and Talaromyces species occurring on grape berries and raisin in vineyards of East- & West Azarbaijan and Gazvin provinces of Iran, five species of Penicillium and Talaromyces, namely, Penicillium crocicola, P. olsonii, P. sumatrense, Talaromyces atroroseus and T. minioluteus were characterized based on combination of morphological data and β-tubulin gene sequence. A phylogeny inferred based on sequence data of β-tubulin gene clustered our isolates together with representative type strains for each species from GenBank. All five species are new for the mycobiota of Iran. This work presents the first study on biodiversity of Penicillium and Talaromyces species on grape and raisin in this region of Iran.

Iran is the largest producer of saffron (Crocus sativus) in the world. More than 80% of higher plant species have a mutual relationship with mycorrhizal fungi, which enhances the plant growth and its productivity. With identification of native arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and their application, it could be possible to expand saffron cultivated area and increase the performance of arable lands. In the present study, native AMF species associated with saffron roots in Khorasan Razavi and Southern Khorasan provinces (north east of Iran), and nine species of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, viz., Claroideoglomus claroideum, C. etunicatum, Corymbiglomus tortuosum, Funneliformis caledonius, F. geosporum, F. mosseae,Paraglomus albidum, Rhizophagus aggregatus and R. manihotis were identified which are all newly recorded for saffron mycoflora of Iran. Rhizophagus manihotis and F. mosseae were the most frequent species in all soil samples. Although, the maximum plants and fungal growth and root colonization usually take place in spring, but in case of saffron, results showed that, this happened in autumn which indicates, the fungus has adapted itself to host plant life cycle. On the other hand, correlation coefficient between spore population and root colonization was very low for Torbat specimens, which could be related to other factors e.g. environmental and geographical conditions.

Picoa species are hypogeous desert truffles, which can be found in semi-arid ranges of North Africa, West Asian, South of Europe and Middle East, including Iran (Moreno et al. 2000, Jamali & Banihashemi 2012, 2013). Picoa species form symbiosis mainly on roots of annual and perennial herbaceous plants of the Helianthemum, including H. ledifolium and H. salicifolium var. salicifolium (Jamali & Banihashemi 2012, 2013), H. nummularium (Riousset et al. 1989, 1996), H. sessiliflorum (Sbissi et al. 2010), H. squamatum and H. kahiricum (Moreno et al. 2000). In Iran, mycorrhizal association between sedge and desert truffles is little known. Ammarellou et al. (2007) isolated the sedge roots (Kobresia bellardii) directly from under zone of Terfezia boudieri. During 2013–14, roots of Carex stenophylla Wahlenb were collected from various rangeland sites in Iran. The field and anatomical studies showed that, C. stenophylla have ectomycorrhizal associations with P. lefebvrei in the studied areas. In general, external mycelium was observed around all the mycorrhizal plants. The ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 gene region was amplified with the genomic DNA extracted from roots by nested polymerase chain reaction using the universal fungal primer pair ITS1/ITS4 and specific primer pair FLE (5´GTA CCT TAC CTG TTG CTT CCG TG) and RLE (5´ATC CCT ACC TGA GCC GAG GTC AA) which were designed based on ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 gene region of Picoa lefebvrei. Nested PCR of ITS1/ITS4 amplified product with FLE/RLE primers resulted in amplification of 500 bp products in C. stenophylla roots. Sequences of PCR products amplified by FLE/RLE in two randomly root samples were similar (100%) with previously published DNA sequences of P. lefebvrei specimens and confirmed the existence of P. lefebvrei in mycorrhizal roots of C. stenophylla in the rangelands of Iran. Moreover, nested PCR increased the sensitivity of FLE/RLE primers to 10 fg DNA concentration.

In October 2012, in a survey in order to study the flora of paddy fields and aquatic ecosystems of Gilan province (N Iran), we encountered an unknown species in “Aynak lagoon” in southeast of Rasht, covered surface of about 12 ha pond densely. Comparing the flora of pond with previous years or adjacent ponds showed that, the new weed was dominant in interference with natural flora of aquatic ecosystems in the area and almost all indigenous flora of this pond were disappeared by the introduction of new weed. Studying weed morphology using scientific resources indicated that new plant was Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) Solms. belonging to Pontederiaceae family (Holm et al. 1977) with common name Water Hyacinth. Some features makes it unique and easy to identify E. crassipes including: glossy green oval-shaped leaves have a waxy round 10–20 cm across, 50 to more than 100 cm height, floating above the water surface, bulbous spongy and inflated stalks, the feathery freely hanging roots and purple-black, erect stalk supports a single spike of 8–15 conspicuously attractive flowers, mostly lavender to pink in color with six petals. Water Hyacinth panicle is up to 30 cm long. The flowers have six stamens and fruit capsule containing the seeds are chambered (Langeland & Burks 1998).

During isolation of Venturia inaequalis (Cooke) G. Winter from apple leaves and fruits in the laboratory, some fungi appeared as culture contaminants. From these, an isolate was identified as Aspergillus medius R. Meissn. (teleomorph known as Eurotium medium C.F.W. Meissn.), based on morphological and molecular data (sequences of ITS rDNA).