During late August and early September 2011, stem rot symptoms were observed on adzuki bean plants (Vigna angularis) growing in fields located in Beijing and Hebei Province, China, respectively. In this study, four isolates were obtained from infected stems of adzuki bean plants. Based on their morphology, and sequence and polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-...

Polymerase chain reaction-linked restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analysis of ribosomal (r) DNA was conducted on Uncinaria stenocephala, Ancylostoma caninum, A. tubaeforme and A. ceylanicum. The rDNA region spanning the first and second internal transcribed spacers (ITS1 and ITS2) plus the 5.8S (ITS+) gene was amplified by PCR from each of the species, digested separately wit...

Culex pipiens complex mosquitoes (Cx. p. pipiens and Cx. p. quinquefasciatus) are among the principal vectors of St. Louis encephalitis (SLE) virus in the eastern United States; Cx. restuans and Cx. salinarius play secondary roles in the transmission and maintenance of the virus cycle. Accurate identification of these three species in field collections is required for epidemiologic studies of S...

Ophiostoma represents a genus of fungi that are mostly arthropod-dispersed and have a wide global distribution. The best known of these fungi are carried by scolytine bark beetles that infest trees, but an interesting guild of Ophiostoma spp. occurs in the infructescences of Protea spp. native to South Africa. Phylogenetic relationships between Ophiostoma spp. from Protea infructescences were s...

The monophyletic status of the genus Massarina was evaluated on the basis of phylogenetic analysis of the partial small subunit gene (SSU), internal transcribed spacers (ITS 1 & 2), and 5.8S gene sequences of the ribosomal DNA. Species of Massarina used in the study clustered into two distinct clades with high bootstrap support in trees generated from maximum parsimony, weighted parsimony, maxi...

A new strain, GH9, having ß-glucosidase activity was isolated from the soil of wild ginseng using Esculin-R2A agar. It shows the strongest activities to convert ginsenoside Rb1 to minor ginsenosides compound K. The transformation products were identified by thin layer chromatography (TLC) and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and strain GH9 was found to transform major ginsenoside ...

Fasciola spp. were collected from naturally infected cattle at a local abattoir of Khanh Hoa province, Vietnam, for morphological and genetic investigations. Microscopic examination detected no sperm cells in the seminal vesicles, suggesting a parthenogenetic reproduction of the flukes. Analyses of sequences from the first and second internal transcribed spacers (ITS1 and ITS2) of the ribosomal...

Species of Mycosphaerella and their related anamorphs represent potentially serious foliar pathogens of Eucalyptus. The fungi treated in the present study were isolated from symptomatic Eucalyptus leaves collected in Thailand during June-October 2007. Species were initially identified based on morphological and cultural characteristics. Identifications were confirmed using comparisons of DNA se...

Molecular evidence is interpreted in the light of morphology to examine the validity of several species of Haematoloechus described as Mexican endemics. Internal transcribed spacers 1 and 2 and 28S ribosomal genes were sequenced for 11 isolates. Phylogenetic analysis of separate partitions and combined databases was conducted. Results were analyzed, in the light of morphological evidence. Haema...

If strictly mitotic asexual fungi lack recombination, the conventional view predicts that they are recent derivatives from older meiotic lineages. We tested this by inferring phylogenetic relationships among closely related meiotic and strictly mitotic taxa with Aspergillus conidial (mitotic) states. Phylogenies were constructed by using DNA sequences from the mitochondrial small ribosomal subu...