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Two isolates of monoverticillate Penicillium species were collected from a grape and schisandra fruit in Korea. Multigene phylogenetic analyses with the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region and genes encoding β-tubulin (benA) and calmodulin (cmd), as well as morphological analyses revealed that the two isolates are members of the P. sclerotiorum complex in Penicillium subgenus Aspergilloides, but different from species of the P. sclerotiorum complex. The isolates are closely related to P. cainii, P. jacksonii, and P. viticola in terms of their multigene phylogeny, but their colony and conidiophore morphologies differ from those of closely related species. The name P. daejeonium is proposed for this unclassified new species belonging to the P. sclerotiorum complex in subgenus Aspergilloides.

This study investigated the distribution of endophytic fungi obtained from the surface sterilized tissues of leaves, stems and roots of chili pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) plants in seedling, flowering and fruiting stages in Korea and their antifungal activity. A total of 481 isolates were recovered and were identified using molecular techniques. Based on rDNA ITS gene sequence and phylogenetic analysis, 21 fungal genera were characterized, belonging to 16 Ascomycota and 5 Basidiomycota. Penicillium in seedling stage, Fusarium in flowering stage, Colletotrichum followed by Fusarium, Alternaria and Xylaria in fruiting stage was predominant and Alternaria, Cladosporium and Fusarium were common in all growth stages. Among 481 endophytes 90 phenotypes were evaluated for the antimicrobial activity against three major pathogens (Phytophthora capsici, Colletotrichum acutatum and Fusarium oxysporum) of chili pepper. Among them 16 isolates inhibited the growth of at least one test microorganisms. Three strains showed a broad spectrum antifungal activity and displayed strong inhibition against chili pepper pathogenic fungi.

Leaf spot disease was observed in sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) during 2009 and 2010 in Korea. The pathogen was identified as Alternaria simsimi based on morphological and cultural characteristics. The morphological identification was well supported by phylogenetic analysis of the ribosomal DNA-internal transcribed spacer region. A. simsimi isolates caused spot symptoms on leaves and stems of sesame plants 2 wk after artificial inoculation, which were similar to those observed in the field. This is the first record of leaf spot disease in Korea caused by A. simsimi.

Many different types of coordinating agents will be useful in distributed and open systems. Matchmaking and brokering coordinating methods are popular in solving the Internet connection problem, but on the other hand there are some problems. Though matchmaking methods cause the information flow between information provider and information requester, the coordinator itself is more robust than the brokering method. Brokering methods prevent information from flowing between provider and requester, but a coordinator easily becomes a vulnerability point in the whole multiagent system. In the paper, a hybrid coordination agent model using mixed existing coordination methods is proposed. With a fuzzy decision method, we get a robust and adaptive coordination agent.