Search

The phylogenetic position of several clitocyboid/pleurotoid/tricholomatoid genera previously considered incertae sedis is here resolved using an updated 6-gene dataset of Agaricales including newly sequenced lineages and more complete data from those already analyzed before. Results allowed to infer new phylogenetic relationships, and propose taxonomic novelties to accommodate them, including up to ten new families and a new suborder. Giacomia (for which a new species from China is here described) forms a monophyletic clade with Melanoleuca (Melanoleucaceae) nested inside suborder Pluteineae, together with the families Pluteaceae, Amanitaceae (including Leucocortinarius), Limnoperdaceae and Volvariellaceae. The recently described family Asproinocybaceae is shown to be a later synonym of Lyophyllaceae (which includes also Omphaliaster and Trichocybe) within suborder Tricholomatineae. The families Biannulariaceae, Callistosporiaceae, Clitocybaceae, Fayodiaceae, Macrocystidiaceae (which includes Pseudoclitopilus), Entolomataceae, Pseudoclitocybaceae (which includes Aspropaxillus), Omphalinaceae (Infundibulicybe and Omphalina) and the new families Paralepistaceae and Pseudoomphalinaceae belong also to Tricholomatineae. The delimitation of the suborder Pleurotineae (= Schizophyllineae) is discussed and revised, accepting five distinct families within it, viz. Pleurotaceae, Cyphellopsidaceae, Fistulinaceae, Resupinataceae and Schizophyllaceae. The recently proposed suborder Phyllotopsidineae (= Sarcomyxineae) is found to encompass the families Aphroditeolaceae, Pterulaceae, Phyllotopsidaceae, Radulomycetaceae, Sarcomyxaceae (which includes Tectella), and Stephanosporaceae, all of them unrelated to Pleurotaceae (suborder Pleurotineae) or Typhulaceae (suborder Typhulineae). The new family Xeromphalinaceae, encompassing the genera Xeromphalina and Heimiomyces, is proposed within Marasmiineae. The suborder Hygrophorineae is here reorganized into the families Hygrophoraceae, Cantharellulaceae, Cuphophyllaceae, Hygrocybaceae and Lichenomphaliaceae, to homogenize the taxonomic rank of the main clades inside all suborders of Agaricales. Finally, the genus Hygrophorocybe is shown to represent a distinct clade inside Cuphophyllaceae, and the new combination H. carolinensis is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A revision, based on morphological and multigene analysis, of the Clitocella species currently present in Europe is provided. Portions of nrITS rDNA, nr28S rDNA (LSU), RNA polymerase II second largest subunit (RPB2), translation elongation factor 1-alpha (EF-1a), and ATPase subunit 6 (ATP6), were used to sort out the relationships of the species within the genus. Three subgenera were recognized: Clitocella subg. Clitocella encompassing C. popinalis, C. colorata, C. mundula, C. nigrescens, C. obscura and the new species C. solaris from Switzerland; the new Clitocella subg. Paraclitopilus including C. fallax and C. blancii; and the new Clitocella subg. Rhodopleurella for accommodating C. termitophila, a peculiar entity characterized by a pleurotoid habit and growing on decaying, abandoned termite nests in the Dominican Republic. Clitocella colorata originally described from China is here reported and described for the first time in Europe (Italy and Estonia). Rhodocybe cupressicola and Clitopilus ammophilus are reduced to later synonyms of Rhodopaxillus nigrescens; similarly, Clitopilus amarus is treated as a later synonym of Omphalia fallax while Rhodocybe amarella and R. ochraceopallida of Rhodopaxillus blancii. Finally, Austrian and Swedish herbarium collections identified as Rhodocybe, a doubtful taxon considered by several modern authors occasionally as either a similar but distinct species from R. popinalis or as a dwarfish, puny and odourless form of R. popinalis, have been proved to be R. tugrulii, a species recently described from Turkey and Estonia, and also later reported from Italy and USA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Molecular phylogenies in the past decade have demonstrated that the described diversity of Cortinarius is still underestimated, especially outside continental and boreal ecoregions where the genus has been historically investigated. We tackled this issue by revisiting the so far unresolved subgenus Leprocybe, and focused on the largely unexplored Mediterranean hotspot of biodiversity. The sequencing and phylogenetic analysis of 161 vouchered collections from Austria, Cyprus, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, including 16 types, allowed for the delineation of 11 species in this lineage, three of them recognised as new to science and formally introduced as C. jimenezianus, C. selinolens and C. viridans spp. nov., respectively. Interestingly, the newly described species exhibit a strict Mediterranean distribution, and one of them is putatively endemic to the island of Cyprus, highlighting the remarkable potential of this neglected ecoregion to uncover further undescribed diversity of Cortinarius in the future. The present work also unveils 23 synonymies in this subgenus, as well as previously undetected crypticism within C. venetus. Next Generation Sequencing carried out on three old and contaminated holotypes, successfully decrypts their phylogenetic identity, including that of C. leproleptopus, finally settling the long-standing controversy over the taxonomic status of this species. A brief overview of each species in the subgenus is lastly provided and a key is proposed to facilitate the identification of presently known European taxa of Leprocybe in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Four new species of Hohenbuehelia (Fungi: Pleurotaceae) are described in the group of Hohenbuehelia atrocoerulea and Hohenbuehelia grisea. Hohenbuehelia algonquinensis, found on Pinus in Ontario, Canada, may be distinguished macroscopically from bluish collections of H. atrocoerulea and watery grey-brown collections of H. grisea by its coal-black pileus. Hohenbuehelia canadensis, on or associated with Pinus in both Ontario and Alberta, Canada, and Hohenbuehelia nimueae, on Salix in Ontario and Abies in Wyoming, USA, have similarly dark fruiting bodies and were previously misidentified as H. approximans (which we treat as a synonym of H. grisea), H. atrocoerulea, H. mustialensis or H. nigra. The latter species is shown to be a member of Resupinatus, despite the presence of prominent metuloid cystidia in its hymenium. Hohenbuehelia carlothornii has been found in Costa Rica; collections of the sexual fruiting bodies were previously identified as H. grisea and isolates from soil nematodes were identified by the anamorph name Nematoctonus robustus. That name has been treated as a synonym of H. atrocoerulea but, given the genetic and geographic variation within this complex, we transfer it to Hohenbuehelia as a distinct species. Sequences of the nuclear ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer region (ITS), the D1/D2 variable region of the large subunit gene, and a portion of the translation elongation factor (TEF1) gene provide good separation and support for these new species. A key to the dimidiate species of Hohenbuehelia of North America and Europe is provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ground and excited state properties of 1-methyl-2-[(E)-2-(2-naphthyl) vinyl]pyridinium iodide have been investigated in solvents of different polarities and viscosities using stationary and ultrafast time resolved spectroscopic techniques supported by density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The investigated compound shows an important negative solvatochromism, which serves as evidence of a certain push–pull character exhibited upon photoexcitation, but the most remarkable feature is an extremely large absorption spectrum, as opposed to the narrower emission band. Interestingly, both experiments and calculations have revealed a conformational disorder in the ground state between four quasi-isoenergetic rotamers which contribute to the broad absorption spectrum. These equilibria are shifted towards one prevailing species in the excited state, pointing out an unexpected and efficient rotamer interconversion during the S1 lifetime, manifestly against the non-equilibrated excited rotamers principle. The rotamer interconversion has been found to be very fast and only hindered in a rigid matrix at low temperatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The measurement of small homonuclear 2J7Li–7Li scalar couplings relying on constant time (CT) COSY NMR suffers from strong time limitations. We describe the first Ultrafast CT COSY experiment on lithium 7, which provides a considerable acceleration in the study of the aggregation state and dynamics of n-BuLi/MeLi complexes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atomistic Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations of both the physisorption process and the hydration behavior of the aggregate consisting of gemcitabine (GEM) - poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) - graphene oxide (GO) are performed in explicit solvent medium at two different pH values. The different ionization of pH sensitive groups characterizing the aggregate influences the energy of physisorption and the hydration shell around the complex. The decrease of negative charge density, occurring at acid pH, facilitates the physisorption process between PAA and GO. On the other hand, at the same pH value, a weaker interaction between GEM and PAA is observed. MD simulations show a partial physisorption of the drug from the polymer at pH = 4.0. pH change affects also morphology of GO sheet which is more extended at basic pH value due to intrasheet electrostatic interactions. Radial distribution function (RDF) indicates that carboxylate oxygens of PAA and alkoxide oxygens of GO strongly attract dipolar water molecules, thus affecting the hydration shell around the complex in comparison with unionized GO and bulk water. Finally, an analysis based on H-bond correlation function clearly shows that: (a) hydrogen bond between both carboxylate and alkoxide oxygen atoms are longer lived than those observed in unionized GO and bulk water; (b) RDF decays slower for PAA ( f = 0.8) with respect to ionized GO, hence indicating that COO − groups bind water molecules stronger than R-O − . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some new aryl phosphonic acid ethyl ester analogs of acetyl salicylic acids, and bis- p -aminophenoxy-benzo-phosphonic acid ethyl esters have been prepared in good yield. Characterization by spectroscopic techniques indicates that in the phosphorus NMR spectra a significant change in chemical shift values between the starting phenolic phosphonate and both the corresponding derivative is observed; thus this up-field shift is very diagnostic for this type of compounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]