Objective: Callosobruchus maculatus Fab. (Coleoptera: Bruchinae) is a major pest of cowpea seeds (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp) in the Sahelian zone. The grain infestation by this insect pest starts in the field at the beginning of fructification of the plant and continues in storage where the damage can be significant if no protective measures are taken. In order to prevent the damage caused by...

A single specimen of a new fossil angiosperm, Sagaria cilentana gen. et sp. nov., has been recovered from limestones of the ‘‘plattenkalk’’ of the Middle Albian at Monti Alburni, near Petina, Campania, Italy. Associated fossils include Pagiophyllum sp., Podozamites sp. and Zamites sp. The angiosperm has a main axis approximately 8 cm long with three attached leaves and a distal cyme bearing thr...

UV radiation is effective on all microbial forms in water but lethal doses for every particular taxonomic group may be considerably different. Three species of Penicillium, Aspergillus and Cladosporium genera, 2 species of Alternaria and Fusarium and 1 species of Rhizopus and Paecilomyces genera were tested. Model waters were inoculated with spores of the mentioned monocultures. Three heterocul...

The Tuber melanosporum genome has been analysed with the aim of identifying and characterizing the genes involved in the environmental stress response. A whole genome array (7496 genes/probe) was used to verify the fungal transcriptional profiling upon a cold temperature period (7 days at 4 °C). A total of 423 genes resulted to be differentially expressed in a significant manner (>2.5-fold; p-v...

Nitrogen availability in dead wood is highly restricted and associations with N-fixing bacteria are thought to enable wood-decaying fungi to meet their nitrogen requirements for vegetative and generative growth. We assessed the diversity of nifH (dinitrogenase reductase) genes in dead wood of the common temperate tree species Fagus sylvatica and Picea abies from differently managed forest plots...