Morphology and phylogeny of four new species within Polycephalomycetaceae (Hypocreales) parasitising Ophiocordyceps species.

Species of the family Polycephalomycetaceae grow on insects or entomopathogenic fungi and are distributed from tropical to subtropical regions. This study proposed four new species of hyperparasitic fungi from China based on six molecular markers (ITS, SSU, LSU, TEF-1α, RPB1 and RPB2) phylogenetic analyses and morphological characteristics. The four new species, i.e. Pleurocordycepslitangensis, Polycephalomycesjinghongensis, Po.multiperitheciatae and Po.myrmecophilus, were described and illustrated. Pl.litangensis, exhibiting a hyperparasitic lifestyle on Ophiocordycepssinensis, differed from Pleurocordyceps other species in producing subulate ß-phialides and ovoid or elliptic α-conidia. Po.jinghongensis was distinct from Polycephalomyces other species, being parasitic on Ophiocordyceps sp., as producing oval or long oval-shaped α-conidia and columns of ß-conidia. Po.multiperitheciatae differed from Polycephalomyces other species as having synnemata with fertile head, linear ß-conidia and parasitic on Ophiocordycepsmultiperitheciata. Po.myrmecophilus was distinct from Polycephalomyces other species, being parasitic on the fungus Ophiocordycepsacroasca, as producing round or ovoid α-conidia and elliptical ß-conidia without synnemata from the colonies. These four species were clearly distinguished from other species in the family Polycephalomycetaceae by phylogenetic and morphological characteristics. The morphological features were discussed and compared to relevant species in the present paper.

Sublethal Effects of Beauveria bassiana Strain BEdy1 on the Development and Reproduction of the White-Backed Planthopper, Sogatella furcifera (Horváth) (Hemiptera: Delphacidae).

Rice (Oryza sativa) is the most important food crop all over the world, while white-backed planthopper (WBPH), Sogatella furcifera (Horváth) (Hemiptera: Delphacidae) is an important pest causing rice yield reduction. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the sublethal effects of strain BEdy1 Beauveria bassiana (Bals.-Criv.) Vuill. (Hypocreales: Cordycipitaceae) on S. furcifera using the two-sex life table analytical method, compare the life tables of the F0 and F1 generations of WBPHs which were treated with sublethal concentrations (LC10, LC25) of B. bassiana BEdy1 with a control group. The results showed that the duration of the egg, 4th-instar and 5th-instar nymph, pre-adult, total pre-oviposition (TPOP) and mean generation time (T) for the LC25 treatment were significantly longer than those of the control and LC10 treatment. However, the duration of the adult, the longevity of male and female adults and the oviposition days of female adults for the LC25 treatment were significantly shortened. The fecundity of female adults, intrinsic rate of increase (r), net reproductive rate (R0) and finite rate of increase (λ) for the LC25 treatment were significantly decreased compared with those of other treatments. The duration of the egg and pre-adult stage for the LC10 treatment were longer than those of the control group, but the population parameters showed no significant difference. Therefore, the LC25 of B. bassiana BEdy1 can inhibit the population growth of S. furcifera.

The complete mitochondrial genome of Beauveria lii (Hypocreales: Cordycipitaceae).

The mitochondrial genome of Beauveria lii, strain RCEF500, was sequenced on the NovaSeq 6000 and the Nanopore Sequencer, and annotated. The genome is 59,014 bp in length, encoding 15 conserved protein-coding genes (PCGs), 2 rRNA genes and 23 tRNA genes. The nucleotide composition of Beauveria lii mitochondrial genome was 38.23% of A, 35.81% of T, 11.61% of C, 14.36% of G, 25.97% of G + C content. Phylogenetic analysis confirmed B. lii as a member of Beauveria (Cordycipitaceae). The mitochondrial genome of B. lii will contribute to the understanding of phylogeny and evolution of the genus and family.

Secondary Metabolites of Purpureocilliumlilacinum.

Fungi can synthesize a wealth of secondary metabolites, which are widely used in the exploration of lead compounds of pharmaceutical or agricultural importance. Beauveria, Metarhizium, and Cordyceps are the most extensively studied fungi in which a large number of biologically active metabolites have been identified. However, relatively little attention has been paid to Purpureocillium lilacinum. P. lilacinum are soil-habituated fungi that are widely distributed in nature and are very important biocontrol fungi in agriculture, providing good biological control of plant parasitic nematodes and having a significant effect on Aphidoidea, Tetranychus cinnbarinus, and Aleyrodidae. At the same time, it produces secondary metabolites with various biological activities such as anticancer, antimicrobial, and insecticidal. This review attempts to provide a comprehensive overview of the secondary metabolites of P. lilacinum, with emphasis on the chemical diversity and biological activity of these secondary metabolites and the biosynthetic pathways, and gives new insight into the secondary metabolites of medical and entomogenous fungi, which is expected to provide a reference for the development of medicine and agrochemicals in the future.

Can Cordyceps cicadae be used as an alternative to Cordyceps militaris and Cordyceps sinensis? - A review.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Cordyceps cicadae (Mig.) Massee is one of the oldest and well-known traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), with its uses recorded as far back as the 5th century A.D. For centuries, C. cicadae has been used as food, tonic and folk medicine to treat malaria, palpitations, cancer, fever, diabetes, eye diseases, dizziness, and chronic kidney diseases. Although C. cicadae has been used as TCM for over 1600 years, it is not the most popular amongst the Cordyceps family. Cordyceps Sinensis (C. sinensis) and Cordyceps militaris (C. militaris) are the most studied and widely used, with a number of commercially available products derived from these two Cordyceps species. AIM OF THE REVIEW: This review seeks to look at the research that has been conducted on C. cicadae over the past 30 years, reporting on the biological activities, development and utilization. This information was compared to that focused on C. sinensis and C. militaris. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A literature search was conducted on different scientific search engines including, but not limited to "Web of Science", "ScienceDirect" and "Google Scholar" to identify published data on C. cicadae, I. cicadae, P. cicadae, C. sinensis and C. militaris. RESULTS: Research conducted on C. cicadae over the past two decades have shown that it poses similar biological properties and chemical composition as C. sinensis and C. militaris. C. cicadae has been reported to grow in many geographic locations, as compared to C. sinensis, and can be artificially cultivated via different methods. CONCLUSION: There exists sufficient evidence that C. cicadae has medicinal benefits and contain bioactive compounds similar to those found on C. sinensis and C. militaris. However, more research and standardization methods are still needed to directly compare C. cicadae with C. sinensis and C. militaris, in order to ascertain the suitability of C. cicadae as an alternative source of Cordyceps products.

New Raffaelea species (Ophiostomatales) from the USA and Taiwan associated with ambrosia beetles and plant hosts.

Raffaelea (Ophiostomatales) is a genus of more than 20 ophiostomatoid fungi commonly occurring in symbioses with wood-boring ambrosia beetles. We examined ambrosia beetles and plant hosts in the USA and Taiwan for the presence of these mycosymbionts and found 22 isolates representing known and undescribed lineages in Raffaelea. From 28S rDNA and ß-tubulin sequences, we generated a molecular phylogeny of Ophiostomatales and observed morphological features of seven cultures representing undescribed lineages in Raffaelea s. lat. From these analyses, we describe five new species in Raffaelea s. lat.: R. aguacate, R. campbellii, R. crossotarsa, R. cyclorhipidia, and R. xyleborina spp. nov. Our analyses also identified two plant-pathogenic species of Raffaelea associated with previously undocumented beetle hosts: (1) R. quercivora, the causative agent of Japanese oak wilt, from Cyclorhipidion ohnoi and Crossotarsus emancipatus in Taiwan, and (2) R. lauricola, the pathogen responsible for laurel wilt, from Ambrosiodmus lecontei in Florida. The results of this study show that Raffaelea and associated ophiostomatoid fungi have been poorly sampled and that future investigations on ambrosia beetle mycosymbionts should reveal a substantially increased diversity.

IMA Genome-F 7: Draft genome sequences for Ceratocystis fagacearum, C. harringtonii, Grosmannia penicillata, and Huntiella bhutanensis.

Draft genomes for the fungi Ceratocystis fagacearum, C. harringtonii, Grosmannia penicillata, and Huntiella bhutanensis are presented. Ceratocystis fagacearum is a major causal agent of vascular wilt of oaks and other trees in the family Fagaceae. Ceratocystis harringtonii, previously known as C. populicola, causes disease in Populus species in the USA and Canada. Grosmannia penicillata is the causal agent of bluestain of sapwood on various conifers, including Picea spp. and Pinus spp. in Europe. Huntiella bhutanensis is a fungus in Ceratocystidaceae and known only in association with the bark beetle Ips schmutzenhorferi that infests Picea spinulosa in Bhutan. The availability of these genomes will facilitate further studies on these fungi.

Electromagnetic Attenuation Characteristics of Microbial Materials in the Infrared Band.

In this study, seven microbial materials (entomogenous fungi Bb3088 mycelia, entomogenous fungi Bb3088 spores, entomogenous fungi Ma2677 mycelia, entomogenous fungi Ma2677 spores, Bacillus subtilis 8204, Staphylococcus aureus 6725, and Saccharomyces cerevisiae 1025) were used to measure electromagnetic (EM) signal extinction. They were subjected to light absorption and reflection measurements in the range of 4000-400 cm(-1) (2.5-25 µm) using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The specular reflection spectrum method was used to calculate the real (n) and imaginary (k) parts of the complex refractive index. The complex refractive index with real part n and imaginary part k in the infrared band satisfies the following conditions n ≥ 1 and k ≥ 0. The mass extinction coefficient was calculated based on Mie theory. Entomogenous fungi Ma2677 spores and entomogenous fungi Bb3088 spores were selected as EM signal extinction materials in the smoke box test. The transmittances of entomogenous fungi Bb3088 spores and entomogenous fungi Ma2677 spores were 11.63% and 5.42%, and the mass extinction coefficients were 1.8337 m(2)/g and 1.227 m(2)/g. These results showed that entomogenous fungi Bb3088 spores and entomogenous fungi Ma2677 spores have higher extinction characteristics than other microbial materials.

Evaluación de la eficacia de la CEPA MAF1309® de Metarhizium anisopliae en el control biológico de garrapatas adultas de Rhipicephalus microplus en Tunja, Colombia / Evaluation of efficacy of MaF1309® strain of Metarhizium anisopliae in biological control of adult ticks Rhipicephalus microplus in Tunja, Colombia

La garrapata del ganado Rhipicephalus microplus constituye el ectoparásito de mayor importancia en las ganaderías de regiones tropicales y subtropicales, al producir pérdidas directas por reducción de la producción de carne, leche y deterioro de las pieles así como a la transmisión de agentes patógenos para el ganado bovino tales como Babesia bovis, Babesia bigemina y Anaplasma marginale. El tratamiento químico ha sido efectivo para el control de las garrapatas; sin embargo,  su uso excesivo ha propiciado la selección de individuos resistentes y por tal motivo, se hace necesario el desarrollo de nuevas alternativas de control, tales como el uso de hongos entomopatógenos. El objetivo del presente estudio fue evaluar la eficacia in vitro de M. anisopliae para el control de la fase adulta de R. microplus, en Tunja, Colombia. Se usó la prueba de inmersión de adultas para evaluar la eficacia de la cepa MaF1309® de M. anisopliae a las siguientes concentraciones: 1x10(4), 1x10(6) y 1x10(8) conidias/mL. Se observó que en las garrapatas tratadas a una concentración de 1x10(8) conidias/mL se alcanzó el 100% de mortalidad a los 14 d postratamiento (PT), mientras que las concentraciones 1x10(6) y 1x10(4) conidias/mL alcanzaron el 100% de mortalidad a los días 16 y 20 PT, respectivamente. La mortalidad fue directamente proporcional a la concentración empleada del hongo, siendo las garrapatas tratadas con concentraciones mayores aquellas que alcanzaron una mortalidad en menor tiempo. Estos resultados in vitro son considerados el inicio de información de tipo local proyectados al diseño de programas de control para el departamento de Boyacá.

The livestock tick Rhipicephalus microplus is a high importance ectoparasite in cattle raised at tropical and sub-tropical regions producing direct losses since reduce meat and milk production and cause leather injury besides transmission of pathogenic agents such as Babesia bovis, Babesia bigemina y Anaplasma marginale. The chemical treatment has been effective to control tick  however the excessive use has selected resistant individuals; for that reason is important to develop new alternatives such as entomopathogen fungi to keep controlled those individuals. The objective of this research was to evaluate in vitro efficacy of M. anisopliae to control adult stage of R. microplus in Tunja, Colombia. The immersion test was used to evaluate efficacy of MaF1309® strain of M. anisopliae at concentrations of 1x10(4), 1x10(6) y 1x10(8) conidia/mL. The group of ticks treated with 1x10(8) conidia had 100% of mortality 14 post-treatment days (PT), otherwise 1x10(6) y 1x10(4) conidia/mL concentrations have 100% of mortality at 16 and 20 PT days, respectively. Mortality was directly proportional to fungus concentration used, the ticks treated with high concentrations reach high mortality in less time. Those in vitro results start in local information projected to design control programs for the department of Boyacá.

Effect of BCEF0083, bioactive compounds from Entomogenous fungi, on AVP content of hypothalamus, pituitary and expression of glucocorticoid receptor mRNA of hippocampus in chronic unpredictable stress model of depression in rats / 中国临床药理学与治疗学

AIM: To study the effect of bioactive compounds from Entomogenous fungi (BCEF0083), on AVP content of hypothalamus, pituitary and expression of glucocorticoid receptor (GR) mRNA of hippocampus in chronic unpredictable stress model of depression in rats. METHODS: The depression animal model was induced by chronic unpredictable stress. The effect of BCEF0083 on AVP content in hypothalamus and pituitary was tested by radioimmunoassay. RT-PCR was used to test the expression of GR mRNA in hippocampus. RESULTS: BCEF0083 decreased the AVP content of hypothalamus and pituitary in chronic unpredictable stressed rats, and increased the expression of GR mRNA of hippocampus in chronic stressed rats. CONCLUSION: BCEF0083 exhibits antidepressant effect by attenuating the stimulated function of hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis in chronic unpredictable stress model of depression in rats.

Effects of bioactive compoundsfrom entomogenous fungi on depression mouse models / 中国药理学通报

Aim To study the antidepressant effects of bioactive compounds from entomogenous fungi(BCEF) in mouse models of depression. Methods The antidepressant effects of Bioactive compounds from entomogenous fungi was examined on the chronic unpredictable stress test, yohimbine induced lethality test, and 5-HTP induced head-twitches test. Results BCEF(50 mg?kg~-1 , ig, qd?21 d)could significantly increase the crossing and rearing score in open-field test. After administration yohimbine 1 h, BCEF 100 mg?kg~-1 group mice mortality rate rising rapidly; BCEF(50,100 mg?kg~-1 ) could distinctly increase the head-twitch number in the 5-HTP induced head-twitches test. Conclusion BCEF has antidepressant effects in depression mouse models. The mechanisms of its antidepressant effects may be related with the reinforcement of central monoamine neurotransmitter especially to 5-HT and NE nerves system.

Antidepressant effects of bioactive compounds from entomogenous fungi in mouse models of depression / 中国药理学通报

AIM To study the antidepressant effects of bioactivecompounds from entomogenous fungi(BCEF) in mice models of depression. METHODS The antidepressant effects of Bioactive compounds from entomogenous fungi were examined in the learned helplessness model( forced swimming mice, tail suspension mice) and chronic unpredictable stress mice models. Spectrofluorometer and UV spectrophotometer were used to detect the activity of MAO, central monoamine neurotransmitter in mice brain mitochondria. RESULTS BCEF0083 25,50,100 mg?kg -1 could obviously shorten the immobility time in forced swimming mice, tail suspension mice and showed some extent of dose-effect relationship. BCEF0083 25,50,100 mg?kg -1 could obviously inhibite the activity of MAO-A,B on brain remitochondria in chronic unpredictable stress mice models and could rise the content of NE,5-HT,5-HIAA,DA in defferent degree. CONCLUSION The results suggested that BCEF0083 had antidepressant effects in mice depression models. The mechanisms of BCEF0083 antidepressant effects may be related with the inhibition of MAO-A,B activity and the increased content of central monoamine neurotransmitter.

Inhibition of Bioactive compounds from entomogenous fungi on monoamine oxidase / 中国药理学通报

AIM To study the inhibitory effect of bioactive compounds from entomogenous fungi(BCEF0083) on monoamine oxidase. METHODS Spectrofluorometer was used to detect the activity of MAO in mouse and rat brain mitochondria; Dose effect and time effect relationship of BCEF in inhibition of MAO were studied in vivo and in vitro in mice and rats; Method of Lineweaver Burk was used to assay the Km of MAO. RESULTS The antagoning action of BCEF0083 on MAO( BCEF 500 mg?kg -1 , 0 5, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 24, 48, 72 h after ig; 500, 400, 200, 100, 50, 25 mg?kg -1 , 2 h after ig)showed some extent of dose effect and time effect relationship. BCEF0083 in vitro inhibited the activity of MAO A,B in a dose dependent manner with IC 50 (95% of confidence limits)of 128 88(82 70～200 86),184 14(156 17～217 11) ?g?ml -1 in rats. The antagonism type of BCEF0083 on MAOA, B were both mixed type, their Km were 11 97, 8 13 ?mol?L -1 . CONCLUSION The results suggest that BCEF0083 could obviously inhibite the activity of MAO on brain remitochondria in mice and rats.