Morphology and Phylogeny of Neoscytalidium orchidacearum sp. nov. (Botryosphaeriaceae)

A coelomycete with characters resembling the asexual morphs in the family Botryosphaeriaceae was isolated from a fallen leaf of an orchid collected in Thailand. Morphological and phylogenetic analyses placed the strain in Neoscytalidium. Phylogenetic relationships among Neoscytalidium species were inferred by analyzing internal transcribed spacers and large subunit of rRNA sequence data and indicate that our strain is a new species, which is introduced and illustrated herein as Neoscytalidium orchidacearum sp. nov.

Screening and taxonomic identification of endophytic fungi with antitumor and antioxidant activities from Artemisia lactiflora / 中国中药杂志

Artemisia lactiflora is an important medicinal plant in China. The antitumor and antioxidant activities of the extracts of 54 endophytic fungi from the plant were screened via MTT assay and DPPH scavenging radical assay, respectively. The bioactive strains were identified based on similarity of 5.8S gene and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences. The results showed that extracts from ten (18.5%) isolates exhibited antitumor activity, and which from two (3.7%) isolates exhibited antioxidant activity. The Alternaria sp. GYBH47 strain was simultaneously having antagonistic activity against HL-60 leukemia, MCF-7 breast and COLO205 colon cell lines, and Phomopsis sp. GYBH42 strain having cytotoxic and antioxidant activities. The results indicated that endophytic fungi from Artemisia lactiflora are potential resources to find valuable bioactive components.