Epichloë festucae forms a mutualistic symbiotic association with Lolium perenne. This biotrophic fungus systemically colonizes the intercellular spaces of aerial tissues to form an endophytic hyphal network. E. festucae also grows as an epiphyte, but the mechanism for leaf surface colonization is not known. Here we identify an appressorium-like structure, which we call an expressorium that allo...

Tall fescue (Festuca rundinacea) plants can be infected with the endophytic fungus Acremonium coenophialum. This fungus, which grows subcutaneously in leaves, stems, and seeds, does not undergo sexual reproduction or sporulate, and cannot survive outside the plant (Clay 1988). The fungus is passed from one generation to the next through infected seed. A mutualistic relationship exists between t...

Beginning with the report by Stierle and Strobel in 1993 on taxol((R)) production by an endophytic fungus (Stierle et al., 1993), it is possible that a number of the agents now used as leads to treatments of diseases in man, are not produced by the plant or invertebrate host from which they were first isolated and identified. They are probably the product of a microbe in, on or around the macro...

Endophytic fungi were isolated from healthy leaves of Indigofera suffruticosa Miller, a medicinal plant found in Brazil which is used in folk medicine to treat various diseases. Among 65 endophytic fungi isolated, 18 fungi showed activity against at least one tested microorganism in preliminary screening, and the best results were obtained with Nigrospora sphaerica (URM-6060) and Pestalotiopsis...

In fungi a genetic system ensures that enzymes are secreted mainly at ambient pH values corresponding to their optima of activity. Although a great deal of information has been obtained concerning this environmental response, there is a lack of studies involving phytopathogenic, endophytic and entomopathogenic fungi as well as different aspects of fungus-host interactions. This study compares i...

Using biological fertilizers and pesticides based on beneficial soil microbes in order to reduce mineral fertilizers and chemical pesticides in conventional agriculture is still a matter of debate. In this regard, a European research project seeks to elucidate the role of root-endophytic fungi and to develop molecular tools to trace and quantify these fungi in the rhizosphere and root tissue. T...

This paper reports on the vinca alkaloid produced by a novel Nigrospora sphaerica isolated from Catharanthus roseus. Through liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LCMS), only the crude mycelia extract of this fungus was positive for determination of vinblastine. This vinca alkaloid was then purified by using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and tested for cytotoxicity activity u...

Strategies are needed for the robust production of cryptic, silenced, or engineered secondary metabolites in fungi. The filamentous fungus Fusarium heterosporum natively synthesizes the polyketide equisetin at >2 g L(-1) in a controllable manner. We hypothesized that this production level was achieved by regulatory elements in the equisetin pathway, leading to the prediction that the same regul...

A procedure was developed to isolate and determine ergot alkaloid production by Acremonium coenophialum, the endophytic fungus of tall fescue. The procedure established that macerated leaf sheath or pith from inflorescence stem placed either in a liquid medium or on a corn meal-malt extract agar medium produced isolated mycelium and characteristic conidia within a 3- to 3.5-week period. Once is...