Trichoderma from Brazilian garlic and onion crop soils and description of two new species: Trichoderma azevedoi and Trichoderma peberdyi.

Fifty four Trichoderma strains were isolated from soil samples collected from garlic and onion crops in eight different sites in Brazil and were identified using phylogenetic analysis based on combined ITS region, tef1-α, cal, act and rpb2 sequences. The genetic variability of the recovered Trichoderma species was analysed by AFLP and their phenotypic variability determined using MALDI-TOF. The strain clusters from both typing techniques coincided with the taxonomic determinations made from phylogenetic analysis. The phylogenetic analysis showed the occurrence of Trichoderma asperellum, Trichoderma asperelloides, Trichoderma afroharzianum, Trichoderma hamatum, Trichoderma lentiforme, Trichoderma koningiopsis, Trichoderma longibrachiatum and Trichoderma erinaceum, in the soil samples. We also identified and describe two new Trichoderma species, both in the harzianum clade of section Pachybasium, which we have named Trichoderma azevedoi sp. nov. and Trichoderma peberdyi sp. nov. The examined strains of both T. azevedoi (three strains) and T. peberdyi (12 strains) display significant genotypic and phenotypic variability, but form monophyletic clades with strong bootstrap and posterior probability support and are morphologically distinct from their respective most closely related species.

Monomorphic subtelomeric DNA in the filamentous fungus, Metarhizium anisopliae,contains a RecQ helicase-like gene.

In most filamentous fungi, telomere-associated sequences (TASs) are polymorphic, and the presence of restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) may permit the number of chromosome ends to be estimated from the number of telomeric bands obtained by restriction digestion. Here, we describe strains of Metarhizium, Gliocladium and Paecilomyces species in which only one or a few telomeric bands of unequal intensity are detectable by Southern hybridization, indicating that interchromosomal TAS exchange occurs. We also studied an anomalous strain of Metarhizium anisopliae, which produces polymorphic telomeric bands larger than 8 kb upon digestion of genomic DNA with XhoI. In this case, the first XhoI site in from the chromosome end must lie beyond the presumed monomorphic region. Cloned telomeres from this strain comprise 18-26 TTAGGG repeats, followed at the internal end of the telomere tract by five repeats of the telomere-like sequence TAAACGCTGG. An 8.1-kb TAS clone also contains a gene for a RecQ-like helicase, designated TAH1, suggesting that this TAS is analogous to the Y' elements in yeast and the subtelomeric helicase ORFs of Ustilago maydis (UTASRecQ) and Magnaporthe grisea (TLH1). The TAS in the anomalous strain of M. anisopliae, however, appears distinct from these in that it is found at most telomeres and its predicted protein product possesses a significantly longer N-terminal region in comparison to the M. grisea and U. maydis helicases. Hybridization analyses showed that TAH1 homologues are present in all other anomalous M. anisopliae strains studied, as well as in some other polymorphic strains, where the recQ-like gene also appears to be telomere-associated.

Transformation of the entomopathogenic fungi, paecilomyces fumosoroseus and paecilomyces lilacinus (deuteromycotina: hyphomycetes) to benomyl resistence

The entomopathogenic fungi Paecilomyces fumosoroseus and P. lilacinus have been transformed to resistance to the fungicide benomyl by a polyethylene glycol (PEG)-mediated procedure using a mutant b-tubulin gene from Neurospora crassa carried on plasmid pBT6. Benomyl-resistant transformants of P. lilacinus were obtained that could tolerate greater than 30 µg/ml benomyl and P. fumosoroseus transformants were obtained that could tolerate 20 µg/ml benomyl. Following 5 serial passages of transformants on benomyl-containing media and 5 serial passages on non-selective media, 100 per cent of P. lilacinus transformants were found to be mitotically stable by a conidial germination test. In contrast, only 4 out of 9 transformants of P. fumosoroseus were mitotically stable. Southern blot analysis of genomic DNA from both species suggested that the mechanism of transformation in all transformants was by gene replacement of the b-tubulin allele. Non-homologous vector sequences were not detectable in the genomes of transformants.

Effect of citric acid on the biosynthesis and composition of xanthan.

The effect of citric acid metabolism by Xanthomonas campestris on composition of xanthan has been studied. Citric acid consumption in fed-batch and continuous fermentation increased the pyruvic acid content of xanthan. An increase in pyruvic acid content in xanthan has been explained with the help of energy balance in xanthan biosynthesis.

Transformation with green fluorescent protein of Trichoderma harzianum 1051, a strain with biocontrol activity against Crinipellis perniciosa, the agent of witches'-broom disease of cocoa.

A plasmid vector for fungal expression of an enhanced, red-shifted variant of the Aequoria victoriae green fluorescent protein was constructed by fusion of the EGFP gene to the highly expressed Aspergillus nidulans gpd promoter and the A. nidulans trpC terminator. This construction was introduced by cotransformation, using benomyl selection, into Trichoderma harzianum strain 1051, a strain being evaluated for the biological control of witches'-broom disease of cocoa caused by Crinipellis perniciosa. Epifluorescence microscopy was used to monitor germination and attachment of stable transformant conidia on the surface of C. perniciosa hyphae.