Mycologia Iranica
Volume:6 Issue: 1, Winter-Spring 2019

Two powdery mildew species have been collected from Iran. For the first time, Erysiphe magnifica on Magnolia sp. was identified from Iran based on morphological and molecular characteristics. Erysiphe corylacearum was collected for the second time in the country and reported for the first time from Guilan province. There are some polymorphisms in ITS-rDNA sequences of E. corylacearum between Iranian and GenBank sequences. This polymorphism is worth of attention for better understanding of the taxonomy of the species and role of ITS sequences for species delimitation. The ITS sequence of the Iranian specimen of E. magnifica was 100% identical to four ITS sequences of E. magnifica in GenBank. Morphologically, E. magnifica was characterized by curved, flexuous and relatively long foot cells, whereas, foot-cells of conidiophores have been reported in the literature as relatively short. According to these observations, it is recommended to check as many characters as possible for identification of morphologically and molecularly closely related species.

Mycophenolic acid (MPA) is a fungal metabolite possessing antiviral, antifungal, antibacterial, antitumor and anti-psoriasis activities. It is being used as an immunosuppressive agent in kidney, heart and liver transplantation patients. In the presence of MPA, the proliferation of the B and T lymphocytes is inhibited. The MPaB and MPaE genes reside in a 25 kb gene cluster in the genome of Penicillium brevicompactum. In this study, the genomic DNA was extracted from P. brevicompactum grown on potato dextrose (PD) medium. To amplify the MPaB and MPaE fragments, the specific primers were designed using Gene Runner software according to P. brevicompactum IBT23078 sequence database under HQ731031.1 accession number. The amplified MPaB and MPaE genes were cloned in the PTG19-T PCR cloning vector and transformed to Escherichia coli (E. coli) top 10 competent cells. The insertion of MPaB and MPaE in the PTG19-T cloning vector was further confirmed by PCR. The MPaB and MPaE amplification produced amplicons of 1477 and 780 (nt), respectively, with the same length according to the MPaB and MpaE genes deposited in the GenBank. However, the alignment results showed some differences at nucleotide and amino acid levels, implying a new strain of P. brevicompactum.

lichenized mycota of the southern part of Iran including Kerman province has been poorly studied compared to the Northern Iranian provinces such as Azerbaijan, Golestan or Mazandaran. Here we present the first lichen checklist for Kerman province, which comprises 57 species in 30 genera and 14 families. For this purpose, we reviewed both old and recent literature, examined herbarium collections and performed fieldwork in the province during 2009, 2010 and 2011. The results include 15 taxa new to the lichenized mycota of Kerman. Acarospora impressula Th. Fr., Anaptychia bryorum Poelt and Sarcogyne similis H. Magn. are new to the lichenized mycota of Iran. The following new combinations are proposed: Circinaria excrescens (J. Steiner) Sohrabi, C. scabridula(H. Magn.) Sohrabi and C. straussii(J. Steiner) Sohrabi.

Polypore fungi are an important group of wood-inhabiting basidiomycetes that have significant roles in biomass recycling in forests and woodland ecosystems. Figures on the polypore diversity in Iran have been partly made available through few checklists, but there have been no comparative studies on the pattern of geographic distribution of the species. The prevalence of the Mediterranean bioclimate in Iran, and scattered Mediterranean vegetation in the country have been well-documented. Here, intensive analyses were made for the first time to compare the composition of the polypore species in Iran and the Mediterranean area, based on field records and well-curated explicit checklists. Our analyses reveal a high resemblance of the polypore composition of Iran to the Mediterranean area. It is shown that the majority of the polypore species in Iran (87%) are shared with the Mediterranean region. Noteworthily, there are several rare to very rare, as well as extra European taxa among the shared species in Iran. Moreover, it is shown that about 5% of the Iranian polypore species seem to be ‘true Mediterranean’, with their major world distribution being in the Mediterranean region. Remarkable shared species are discussed and illustrated. The results of this study would be important in conservation management of the vulnerable forests ecosystems in Iran, especially in the Hyrcanian forests where most of the rare to very rare species arise.

In order to isolate and identify endophytic fungi of Phragmites australis, numerous samplings were conducted from the plants grown in the southern areas of the Caspian Sea in Guilan, Mazandaran and Golestan provinces and saline soils around the Lake Urmia at province of East Azarbaijan. Twenty-one isolates of the genus Radulidium were obtained from healthy tissues of P. australis plants. Morphological studies and molecular analysis based on ITS-rDNA sequence revealed that the isolates belong to the R. subulatum. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of R. subulatum from P. australis to the mycobiota of Iran.

Paspalum dilatatum spikelets with ergot symptoms were collected from Rice Research Institute of Iran in Rasht, Guilan province during the fall of 2018. Ergot symptoms usually are caused by different Claviceps species on grasses. Sclerotia of ergot were globular in shape, black in color and irregularly roughened on the surface that resembles a brain. Different fungi were isolated from the ergot symptoms such as Alternaria species mostly. Some isolates were identified as Epicoccum based on the morphological features. Morphological characteristics of the isolates were studied on both host substrate and culture media (potato dextrose agar, oat meal agar and malt extract agar) in vitro. Shape, color and size of conidia of fungus grown on host substrate (ergot) were similar to the grown conidia on culture media in vitro condition. This fungus was identified as Epicoccumandropogonis based on molecular data of ITS-rDNA sequence, morphological characteristics and host specificity, which usually grown on Claviceps honeydew and immature sclerotia and can be consider as an indicator of ergot disease on grasses. This is the first report of ergot symptoms on P. dilatatum as well as E. andropogonis species from Iran.