Pleurotus tuber-regium is a tuberous wild mushroom species, highly expensive, nutritious, very rich in proteins and known to possess medicinal values. The dwindling forests and the absence of commercial cultivation of this mushroom have resulted in scarcity of the sclerotia. The study was conducted to determine the optimum temperature, pH and light regime for the growth of P. tuber-regium and e...

Aspergillus flavus has received much attention owing to its severe impact on agriculture and fermented products induced by aflatoxin. Sclerotia morphogenesis is an important process related to A. flavus reproduction and aflatoxin biosynthesis. In order to obtain an extensive transcriptome profile of A. flavus and provide a comprehensive understanding of these physiological processes, the isolat...

In 2007 to 2008, a fruit rot of Melon (Cucumis melo L.) caused by Sclerotium rolfsii occurred sporadically in a farmer's vinyl house in Jinju City. The symptoms started with watersoaking lesion and progressed into the rotting of the surface of fruit. White mycelial mats appeared on the lesion at the surface of the fruit and a number of sclerotia formed on the fruit near the soil line. The scler...

Most fungi produce some type of durable microscopic structure such as a spore that is important for dispersal and/or survival under adverse conditions, but many species also produce dense aggregations of tissue called sclerotia. These structures help fungi to survive challenging conditions such as freezing, desiccation, microbial attack, or the absence of a host. During studies of hypogeous fun...

MADS-box transcription factors are highly conserved in eukaryotic species and involved in a variety of biological processes. Little is known, however, regarding the function of MADS-box genes in Botrytis cinerea, a fungal pathogen with a wide host range. Here, the functional role of the B. cinerea MADS-box gene, Bcmads1, was characterized in relation to the development, pathogenicity and produc...

Ergot, caused by Claviceps purpurea (Fr.:Fr.) Tul., is an important disease of grasses grown for seed. Ergot can be especially severe in Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.) seed production, with yield losses estimated as high as 25% (2). Claviceps purpurea invades the ovary, replacing the potential seed with a hard black sclerotium. Sclerotia are typically one to several times longer than the...

Three acyl derivatives of chitosan (CS) with different side chains were synthesized and their structures were characterized. Their swelling behavior was investigated. The antifungal behavior of these chitosan derivatives was investigated in vitro on the mycelial growth, sporulation and germination of conidia or sclerotia of the sugar-beet pathogens, Rhizoctonia solani K"uhn (AG2-2) and Scleroti...

Survival of the sclerotial parasite Coniothyrium minitans in soil, when applied as spore suspension or colonised solid substrate (maizemeal-perlite) inocula, and ability to infect Sclerotinia sclerotiorum sclerotia incorporated into the soil after different times was assessed over 6 months. Unambiguous detection of the C. minitans isolate from the indigenous C. minitans soil population was achi...

Biochemical variability among 20 Indian isolates of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum collected from different hosts/soil samples from different localities in India is reported. High Performance Liquid Chromatographic (HPLC) analysis of ethyl acetate fraction of culture filtrate, mycelia, sclerotia and sclerotial exudate showed 15~23 peaks but only 11 could be identified. They were tannic, gallic, oxali...

White rot caused by Sclerotium cepivorum Berk is a significant threat to garlic and onion industry in the United States. The pathogen produces a great number of poppy seed-sized sclerotia, which can survive in soil for many years. Populations of just a few sclerotia per liter soil can potentially cause severe disease and result in crop failure. Once the land has been infested, it is generally c...