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Background: Fungus gardens of the termite Odontotermes formosanus, excavated from Iriomote Island, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, were subsequently incubated under laboratory conditions. A Xylaria species emerging from these fungus gardens was initially identified as X. angulosa, a species originally described from North Sulawesi, Indonesia. The Iriomote fungus is now described as a distinct species, X. iriomotensis., Results: Xylaria iriomotensis is peculiar in producing the teleomorph in culture but lacking an anamorph. Cultures of X. angulosa were obtained from two Taiwan specimens, which agree with the holotype from BO and the isotypes from NY and WSP in their stromata being repeatedly dichotomously branched and possessing a black core. In contrast to X. iriomotensis, X. angulosa does not form the teleomorph in culture but a typical Xylaria anamorph with conidiophores densely arranged in palisades. The ITS sequence obtained from the WSP isotype shared high similarities with those two Taiwan specimens as well as an Indian specimen, reconfirming the latter three specimens as X. angulosa. These four specimens shared 98.28-99.66% similarities at ITS sequences among themselves but only 84.25-85.01% similarities with X. iriomotensis. Molecular phylogenetic studies based on sequences of multiple protein-coding loci indicate that, while X. iriomotensis is grouped with three soil-dwelling species of the X. guepini cluster, X. angulosa belongs to the X. nigripes cluster, which includes all known species capable of producing massive sclerotia., Conclusion: Xylaria iriomotensis has the teleomorph known only in culture, remaining to be rediscovered in its natural habitat where the stromatal morphology may be somewhat varied. The geographic distribution of X. angulosa, previously known only in Indonesia, has been expanded to Taiwan and India. Xylaria angulosa grouping with the X. nigripes cluster in our phylogenetic analyses indicates its potential to form massive sclerotia within termite nests., Competing Interests: Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: Not applicable. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: Y-MJ, the corresponding author of this paper, serves as the Editor -in- Chief of Botanical Studies. To ensure an unbiased evaluation and strict adherence to ethical guidelines, he was blinded to this paper during the review and decision-making process., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

In recent years, increasingly stringent pesticide regulations have made the development of new chemistries challenging. Under these regulations, the new fungicide ipflufenoquin (FRAC Code 52) was first released in Japan. Its mode of action is new; it inhibits dihydroorotate dehydrogenase (DHODH), a key enzyme in the biosynthesis of pyrimidine-based nucleotides. However, because it is a single-site inhibitor, the risk of resistance developing in pathogens must be carefully considered. The risk for dual use of DHODH inhibitors in agriculture and medicine has also become a great concern because a new antifungal olorofim is under development against human pathogens now and cross-resistance has recently been reported between ipflufenoquin and olorofim in Aspergillus fumigatus . In this study, the sensitivity to ipflufenoquin was examined in culture and in plants using "baseline" isolates, which had never been exposed to DHODH inhibitors. Isolates of Alternaria alternata , Botrytis cinerea , B. elliptica , Colletotrichum fioriniae , C. fructicola , C. nymphaeae , C. orbiculare , C. siamense , C. tropicale , C. truncatum , and Sclerotinia sclerotiorum were highly sensitive to ipflufenoquin in culture, but isolates of Coniella vitis , Corynespora cassiicola , Pseudocercospora fuligena , and Rhizoctonia solani were inherently resistant. Ipflufenoquin had low efficacy against C. cassiicola and C. vitis after inoculation of cucumber and grapevine leaves, respectively. To understand the mechanism of natural resistance, we analyzed the partial sequence of pyrE genes, which encode the DHODH enzyme, but did not find any differences in the deduced amino acids that were thought to be associated with resistance. Thus, mechanisms other than target-site mutations might be involved in the intrinsic resistance.

Three species of the rust fungus genus Blastospora, Bl. betulae, Bl. itoana , and Bl. smilacis , have been reported in East Asia. Although their morphological characteristics and life cycles have been investigated, their phylogenetic positions have not been clarified sufficiently. Phylogenetic analysis showed that these three species were included into Zaghouaniaceae of Pucciniales. However, Bl. betulae was phylogenetically distinct from Bl. itoana and Bl. smilacis and different from other genera. Based on this result, and applying recent International Code of Nomenclature decisions/recommendations/requirements, Botryosorus , gen. nov., and Bo. deformans, , comb. nov., were applied for Bl. betulae . Two new combinations, Bl. radiata for Bl. itoana and Bl. makinoi for Bl. smilacis , were also applied. Their host plants and distribution were described based on literature records. Zaghouania yunnanensis , comb. nov., was proposed for Cystopsora yunnanensis as a result of this analysis.

This research focused on the incidence and population genetics of coffee leaf rust (CLR) fungus, Hemileia vastatrix , to estimate the possible original source(s) and subsequent migration pathways of wind-borne and human-aided spores in three main coffee production regions (Northwest, Central Highlands, and Southeast) in Vietnam. In southern Vietnam (Central Highlands and Southeast), Coffea canephora covers the majority area, while Catimor lines of C. arabica accounts for 95% of the coffee plantations in northwestern Vietnam. Field surveys conducted at eighty-five plantations, show coffee leaf samples infected by the rust fungus across forty-one plantations. Catimor varieties exhibited high levels of susceptibility with severe rust symptoms, while robusta varieties had varying degrees of susceptibility. We analyzed 863-869 base pairs of internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region from 83 samples (41 sequences from Vietnam, 2 from Thailand, and the remaining 40 from American countries); and fifty-two haplotypes consisting of 123 polymorphic sites were detected. Although the analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) indicates significant genetic differentiation in the H. vastatrix populations in Vietnam, there was no clear genetic structure with respect to the three geographic areas surveyed. Based on the haplotype network, NeighborNet analysis, and geographical distribution patterns of the haplotypes, five haplotypes were identified as early established, from which most other haplotypes in Vietnam were derived. The early established haplotypes were found in the highest frequency in Northwest Vietnam. This finding corresponds to the earliest record of CLR in Vietnam. The phylogenetic network analysis also illustrated that H. vastatrix had expanded from the northwest to southern Vietnam. Pairwise genetic distance analysis and the geophylogenetic tree also suggests that CLR was first established in the Northwest. In addition, some scattered individuals on the principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) diagram and several separated haplotypes in the phylogenetic networks indicated that other branches of CLR in Vietnam were initiated in the Central Highlands. Hemileia vastatrix from these branches have been spreading in southern Vietnam., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Le, Okane, Ono, Tsuda and Yamaoka.)

The rust fungi ( Pucciniales ) that infect ferns, early diverging vascular plants, are neither "primitive" nor monophyletic, as once hypothesized. The neotropical fern pathogen, Puccinia lygodii ( Pucciniaceae ), specializes on species of Lygodium . Lygodium is believed to have evolved in a period ca. 211 mya, which is after the evolution of the temperate fern rust fungi that parasitize later diverged ferns. Puccinia lygodii is the only rust species in the genus Puccinia known to infect ferns, the majority of which infect flowering plants. In this study we examined multiple new and herbarium specimens of P. lygodii and reconstructed its phylogenetic history with data generated from the 28S nuclear rDNA repeat. Puccinia lygodii is the sister species to another neotropical fern rust, Desmella aneimiae ( Pucciniaceae ), which also infects early diverged leptosporangiate fern species, and the new combination D. lygodii is made. Interestingly, P. lygodii and D. aneimiae differ primarily in sorus structure, i.e., subepidermal in the former vs. suprastomatal in the latter fungus. Characters such as suprastomatal sori and probasidia that germinate without dormancy are now known to represent a suite of adaptations that have been derived multiple times within Pucciniales , most likely in response to tropical climates., (2021, by The Mycological Society of Japan.)

Hemileia gardeniae-floridae is an accepted name for a Cape jasmine ( Gardenia jasminoides ) rust fungus distributed in East Asia. The fungus name was based on uredinial anamorph collected in Taiwan in 1931. The fungus was rarely collected in Taiwan and southern Japan, and its telial stage remained unknown. Microscopic examination of the type materials of H. gardeniae-floridae and Uredo gardeniae-floridae , which was once proposed to replace H. gardeniae-floridae , resulted in discovery of teliospores on the type of U. gardeniae-floridae . The teliospores are mostly napiform and produced on a sporogenous cell emerging through host stoma. A hemileioid rust fungus, producing both urediniospores and teliospores on Golden gardenia ( G. sootepensis ), was found in Thailand and morphologically identified to H. gardeniae-floridae. Another Hemileia species on Forest jasmine ( G. thunbergia ), H. gardeniae-thunbergiae , first found in Angola, Africa, is distinct from H. gardeniae-floridae in producing smaller urediniospores than those of H. gardeniae-floridae., (2021, by The Mycological Society of Japan.)

Penicillium strains (n=394) preserved at NBRC (the NITE Biological Resource Center) were compared as to groupings (11 species-clusters) based on phylogeny and the production of bioactive compounds. The strains in two clusters, of which P. chrysogenum and P. citrinum are representative, showed higher rates of positive strains with multi-biological activities.