Like bacteria, fungi play an important role in the soil ecosystem. As only a small fraction of the fungi present in soil can be cultured, conventional microbiological techniques yield only limited information on the composition and dynamics of fungal communities in soil. DNA-based methods do not depend on the culturability of microorganisms, and therefore they offer an attractive alternative fo...

We used conventional cytogenetic techniques (Giemsa, C-banding, Ag-NOR), and fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) with 5S and 18S rDNA probes to investigate the karyotype and cytogenetic characteristics of Ichthyoelephas humeralis (Günther, 1860) from Ecuador. The specimens studied have a karyotype with 2n=54 biarmed chromosomes (32 M + 22 SM) and C-positive heterochromatin located on the c...

a myxozoan parasite belonging to the genus thelohanellus kudo, 1933 (cnidaria, myxosporea, bivalvulida) was isolated from the fins of labeo dero inhabiting ranjit sagar wetland, punjab, india. the plasmodium was 0.5-0.7 mm in diameter each containing 80- 100 number of myxospores. myxospores were egg shaped to ovoidal in valvular view having bluntly pointed anterior and broad rounded posterior e...

background and objectives: the aim of this study was to compare direct microscopic examination with culture and pcr for the diagnosis of mucorales infection in blood and tissue specimens. material and methods: blood samples and tissue specimens were obtained from 28 patients (total 58 samples) with suspected invasive fungal infection and cultured on proper media. direct smear of tissue samples ...

The taxonomy of Acanthamoeba spp., an amphizoic amoeba which causes granulomatous amoebic encephalitis and chronic amoebic keratitis, has been revised many times. The taxonomic validity of some species has yet to be assessed. In this paper, we analyzed the morphological characteristics, nuclear 18s rDNA and mitochondrial 16s rDNA sequences and the Mt DNA RFLP of the type strains of four Acantha...

Several chromosomal features of Gerreidae fish have been found to be conserved. In this group, it is unclear whether the high degree of chromosomal stasis is maintained when analyzing more dynamic regions of chromosomes, such as rDNA sites that generally show a higher level of variability. Thus, cytogenetic analyses were performed on 3 Atlantic species of the genus Eucinostomus using convention...

Paratylenchus shenzhenensis n. sp. was collected from the rhizosphere soil of Anthurium andraeanum in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China. The new species is characterized by having a female with a small body (249-302 μm), well developed stylet (17-21 μm), rounded head with four submedian lobes and lip-region with a slight depression at the oral area, small post-vulval uterine sac with a few ve...

background and objectives: chlorophyceae are important constituents of marine phytoplankton. the taxonomy of chlorophyceae was traditionally based solely on morphological characteristics. in the present research project, genetic diversity was investigated to analyze five species of chlorophyceae from waters of the persian gulf. materials and methods:   a clone library of the ribosomal small sub...

Nematodes within the Xiphinema americanum species complex are economically important because they vector nepoviruses which cause considerable damage to a variety of agricultural crops. The taxonomy of X. americanum species complex is controversial, with the number of putative species being the subject of debate. Accurate phylogenetic knowledge of this group is highly desirable as it may ultimat...

Knowledge of in situ copepod diet diversity is crucial for accurately describing pelagic food web structure but is challenging to achieve due to lack of an easily applicable methodology. To enable analysis with whole copepod-derived DNAs, we developed a copepod-excluding 18S rDNA-based PCR protocol. Although it is effective in depressing amplification of copepod 18S rDNA, its applicability to d...