Mycologia Iranica
Volume:1 Issue: 2, Summer and Autumn 2014

The history of mycology in Iran is presented in five periods. In the first period (until 1860) there is no sign of Iranian fungi in scientific literature. In the second period (1860–1941) the study of Iranian fungi was started by foreign mycologists who did not visit Iran but worked on plant material collected by botanists. In the third period (1941–1963) the study of Iranian fungi was started by a first generation of Iranian mycologists and also fungal plant pathology was started in Iran. A second generation of Iranian mycologists used pure culture technique in the fourth period (1963–2000). In this period mycology was taught separately from botany and plant pathology at universities, and MSc and PhD courses were initiated at some universities. In the fifth period (from 2000), a third generation of Iranian mycologists used molecular techniques to study Iranian fungi. An Asian Mycological Congress was held in Iran in 2001; the Iranian Mycological Society was founded in 2010; an MSc course of mycology was initiated at Esfahan University; the first Iranian Mycological Congress was held at Gilan University in 2013, and the first Iranian mycological journal (Mycologia Iranica) was launched.

In this paper the taxonomy of some previously reported taxa as Cercospora apii s.lat. in Iran, is discussed and some new records are listed. Cercospora species on Abelia grandiflora (C. deutziae), Erythrina crista-galli (C. erythrinicola), Euphorbia heterophylla (C. pulcherrimae) and Zanthedeschia aethiopica (C. richardiicola) are new for mycobiota of Iran. Cercospora iridis which was previously reported from Iran probably belongs to the genus Passalora, but more specimens should be examined for final conclusion.

Fusarium solain is the most important pathogen of huge range of plant hosts, especially potato in the word, which causes tuber rot in storage and root rot of potato plants in fields. Fifty four isolates from potato, bean, chickpea and cucurbit (melon, watermelon and cucumber) was subjected in a study through analysis of vegetative compatibility groups (VCGs) and rep-PCR DNA fingerprinting. Nit mutants were used to force heterokaryon formation to determine VCGs and Twenty three groups were determined which designated as VCG A to VCG W. VCG A, was the largest group with 18 members and VCG B, VCG C and VCG D were composed of 8, 6 and 3, respectively. Other groups were identified as two or single-member VCGs. Presence of high single-member VCGs indicates that there is a high level of genetic diversity among isolates and isolates of each host classify in different VCGs. Dendrogram generated using data of rep-PCR, suggests high level of genetic diversity among the isolates and no correlation between DNA fingerprinting groups and host and geographical origin of the isolates. Pathogenicity of twenty three F. solani isolates as VCGs representatives originated from mentioned hosts was examined on plants and tubers of Agria cultivar of potato. Except four and two isolates, other isolates were pathogenic on potato plants and tubers. Pathogenicity tests distinguished that F. solani isolates do not have host specific behavior and isolates obtained from non-potato hosts are able to cause disease on potato plants and tubers.

Fifteen non-aflatoxigenic strains of Aspergillus flavus, represent a wide range of geographic regions of Iran (six provinces include Fars, Ardebil, Guilan, Golestan, Kerman and Semnan) and vegetative compatibility groups (VCGs), were collected from corn (Zea mays L.), peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) and pistachio (Pistachia vera L.) soils and kernels, were screened for the presence of aflatoxin biosynthesis genes in relation to their capability to produce aflatoxins, targeting the regulatory genes afIR and aflJ, the structural genes aflT, pksA, ver-1, omtA, omtB, aflD, ordA, verA, norA, hypA, norB, cypA, sugar utilization gene glcA and flanking region gene C3 (5'' end) by PCR method. The result was the grouping of A. flavus strains into twelve different amplification patterns (I-XII), characterized by 10-14 different DNA bands. Our results revealed that, aflatoxin biosynthesis regulatory genes (aflR and aflJ) and the structural gene hypA are more important genes to detect non-aflatoxigenic strains of A. flavus. For non-aflatoxigenic strains of A. flavus, no relationship was observed between the deletion pattern and geographic origin/or VCG; this may indicate that our non-aflatoxigenic strains of A. flavus did not originate independently at each locality. It is concluded that the aflatoxin gene cluster variability existing in then non-aflatoxigenic populations of A. flavus can be useful for understanding the toxicological risk as well as the selection of biocontrol agents.

Rhizoctonia-like fungi were isolated from the infected roots of miniature rose (Rosa hybrida cv. Linda) plant with chlorosis and necrosis symptoms, grown in commercial glasshouse in Rafsanjan, Iran, during the autumn of 2011. All of the isolates were identified as binucleate Rhizoctonia sp. on the basis of hyphal characteristics and nuclei number. They were tested for detection of the anastomosis group, optimum growth temperature, rDNA-ITS region traits and pathogenicity on miniature rose in vivo and in vitro. The analysis of hyphal reaction anastomosis was carried out with the tester isolates of binucleate Rhizoctonia AG-A, AG-Ba, AG-G as well as multinucleate Rhizoctonia AG2-2IIB and AG4-HGI already detected on miniature rose. The optimum temperature for growth of binucleate Rhizoctonia sp. was 35°C. In in vivo test, the symptoms of root rot were observed 35 days after inoculation and mortality happened two weeks later. According to molecular and anastomosis test groups, our results showed that all the isolates have the maximum similarity to AG-G. This is the first report of anastomosis group G (AG-G) of binucleate Rhizoctonia sp., thecausal agent of root rot disease on miniature roses in Iran.

Fungi produce a wide range of secondary metabolites such as antibiotics, toxins, alkaloids, fatty acids, ketones and alcohols during active cell growth. The present study was aimed to identify secondary metabolites from some Penicillium species, using GC-MS. Many important compounds such as 3-oxoquinuclidine in Penicillium jenseii, formamidine in Penicillium pusillum, orcinol and 1,3,8-p-menthatriene in Penicillium canescens and limonene in Penicillium purpurogenum were identified. Moreover, fatty acids and hydrocarbons were produced by all tested species.

Pleosporaceae is an important Dothideomycetes family. To elucidate relationships among some selected anamorphic pleosporalean taxa, their Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS) and RNA polymerase second largest subunit (RPB2) were sequenced and compared. Phylogenetic analyses of both ITS and RPB2 regions were almost similar and generally congruent with previously described phylogenies and morphology based classification schemes. ITS was inefficient to show the taxonomic placement of some species, especially Alternaria species; but RPB2 was appropriate for this purpose.