Phylogenetic relationships of the genera Russula and Lactarius were investigated using sequence data from the nuclear-encoded large subunit ribosomal DNA (LSU rDNA). Ninety-five sequences belonging to the genera Russula and Lactarius, including 31 sequences from the databases, were used in this study. Analysis of the LSU rDNA region indicated that Russulaceae was divided into six groups (group A–F) in the neighbor-joining (NJ) tree. Lactarius consisted of one large clade (group A). Therefore, this genus was found to be monophyletic. However, the monophyly of genus Russula remained unclear. The genus Russula consisted of five groups in the NJ tree. Group B includes sects. Plorantes and Archaeinae (Heim), and group C includes sects. Delicoarchaeae and Russula in the NJ tree. Neither of the two groups formed a single clade in the most parsimonius (MP) tree. Group D includes many taxa having colored spore prints and amyloid in suprahilar plage of spores in sect. Russula and sect. Rigidae. Group E consists of only sect. Compactae and is further divided into three subclades, represented by R. densifolia, R. nigricans, and R. subnigricans, respectively. Group F contains sects. Rigidae, Ingratae, and Pelliculariae. Sect. Compactae and sect. Plorantes should not be as closely related as previously supposed. Russula earlei may be placed in sect. Archaeinae Heim. Russula flavida (subsect. Amoeninae) is placed in sect. Russula with R. aurea with a high bootstrap value (99%). The nuclear LSU rDNA region is a useful tool in recognization of species of Russulaceae and may provide information concerning phylogenetic relationships between the genera Russula and Lactarius.

A ras gene homologue (named Ch.ras) was cloned from the basidiomycete Coriolus hirsutus. Ch.ras has a coding capacity of 215 amino acids (aa) interrupted by six small introns. The deduced Ch.Ras protein exhibited significant homology (86.5% or 86.0% identical) to the basidiomycete Coprinus cinereus Ras (215 aa) and Lentinula edodes Ras (217 aa) proteins. The 5'-upstream region of Ch.ras contains two GC boxlike sequences, one TATA boxlike sequence, one CCAAT box, and three CT-rich sequences. Primer extension analysis showed the presence of three transcriptional initiation sites: one is located in the most upstream CT-sequence and the other two just after it. By using the 1.4-kb fragment containing the promoter elements and transcriptional initiation sites, we have constructed the chromosome-integrating vector pHRP, which is useful for the expression of foreign genes in C. hirsutus. The Pleurotus ostreatus manganese(II) peroxidase (MnP) cDNA (designated mnpc) was inserted into the downstream of the Ch.ras promoter elements of pHRP, yielding pHRP-mnp. We obtained, with pHRP-mnp, C. hirsutus strains that show high levels of enzymatic activity of MnP and efficiently degrade pentachlorophenol (PCP), a chlorinated aromatic toxic compound.

Specimens of the type collection of Laboulbenia polymorpha Sugiyama (1978) were reexamined. The holotype, M. Ishikawa 673, is composed of three slides and includes three morphologically different forms of thalli, of which two forms were illustrated (Sugiyama 1978, fig. 1-D, 1-E). On the other hand, one of the paratypes, M. Ishikawa 674, has now been lost but photographs were made earlier from this slide, in which one mature individual illustrated as fig. 1-C (Sugiyama 1978) is included. This individual was not correctly shown in Sugiyama’s illustration, but actually has a strong resemblance to a form in slide 673-b that was not illustrated by Sugiyama (1978). Thus, three different forms have been recognized as variations of L. polymorpha. In the present article, each variation was termed C-form, D-form, and E-form because Sugiyama (1978) used the same notation in his figures. A mature specimen of C-form in slide 673-b has been selected as a lectotype. Slide 673-d includes only young thalli, one of which was illustrated as fig. 1-G (Sugiyama 1978). This young thallus undoubtedly belongs to another species; mature thalli of the same species were also found in slide 673-b. Another paratype, K. Sugiyama 2101, includes C- and D-forms of L. polymorpha. Infection sites of the C- and D-forms have been determined: the C-form grows mainly on the lateral margins of the elytra of the host, and the D-form occurs mainly on the basal part of the elytra and the mesothorax.

We show that fruit bodies of Flammulina velutipes can be induced in complete darkness after a sharp temperature reduction (23° to 16°C). However, the fruit bodies that form in complete darkness have a long stipe with an undeveloped pileus on the top (pinhead fruit bodies) and are thinner and whiter than the normal fruit bodies which are formed in the light. This finding suggests that F. velutipes fruit bodies cannot mature in complete darkness. However, when we irradiated the fruit bodies that had formed in complete darkness, a pileus developed immediately, and 4 days later the separation between the stipe and the pileus could be observed. Immediately after light exposure, the stipe also thickened and became increasingly pigmented. The stipe elongation was inhibited until 8 days after light exposure, although stipe elongation progressed very quickly thereafter. Basidospores were also visible in the gills 8 days after light exposure. We consider that the basidiospore development is involved in this rapid stipe elongation, which aids the effective dispersal of basidiospores.

Based on a comparative phylogenetic analysis of Goloviomyces and their host tribes of the Asteraceae, we speculate that Golovinomyces first acquired parasitism to the Asteraceae after migration of the family into the Northern Hemisphere and before the divergence of the tribe Carduaeae. The divergence time of the Carduaeae is estimated to be 25.2 Myr ago based on the molecular clock of rbcL sequences of the Asteraceae. When 25.2Myr is given at the node of the first split of the phylogenetic tree of Golovinomyces, nucleotide substitution rates of the Erysiphales are calculated to be 2.52 ✕ 10^-9 per site per year (0.01D = 3.97 Myr) in the ITS region and 6.5 ✕ 10^-10 per site per year (0.01D = 15.4 Myr) in the D1 and D2 regions of the 28S rDNA.

Codon usage patterns in 16 chromosomes coincided with each other in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and the same result was obtained from Encephalitozoon cuniculi consisting of 11 chromosomes, although each chromosome function differs. In addition, preferential codon usage in the regenerated coding systems for Leu and Lys differed between Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Encephalitozoon cuniculi. These results cannot be explained by Darwin’s natural selection theory or by the neutral theory proposed against Darwin’s. Furthermore, the codon usage patterns were examined in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes. The use of G or C at the third codon position was much lower than T or A in Ureaplasma urealyticum, whereas inversely the use of G or C at the third codon position was much higher than T or A in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Additionally, Candida albicans and Plasmodium falciparum also showed a very low usage of G or C at the third codon position. It is a difficult leap to speculate that the inverse codon usage change occurred over the genome during biological evolution. Thus, the present results strongly suggest that organisms were derived from different origins, indicating that the origin of life was plural, based on genomic structures.

A total of 28 deuteromycetous isolates obtained from forest environments in the Ogasawara (Bonin) Islands and the Ryukyu Islands, Japan, were identified to five Cylindrocladium and related fungal species (Calonectria kyotoensis (anamorph: Cylindrocladium floridanum), Cylindrocladiella lageniformis, Cylindrocladium camelliae, Cylindrocladium citri, and Cylindrocladium tenue), excluding two unknowns. Cylindrocladiella lageniformis is a new record, and the others are rarely reported in Japan.

We studied recovery of the ectomycorrhizal species Cenococcum geophilum (Cg) after urea treatment in two types of vegetation. The recovery was as quick as 6 months after the treatment and overlapped the fruiting period of ectomycorrhizal ammonia fungi. Ectomycorrhizas investigated as Cg belonged to a single species irrespective of treatment and vegetation type. Cg ectomycorrhizas were significantly more abundant in density in nontreated soil than in treated soil. Between vegetation types, Cg ectomycorrhizas were significantly more in density in broad-leaved deciduous forest than in broad-leaved evergreen forest. Moreover, Cg was dominant in the nontreated soils of the former type of forest.

In the log cultivation of Shiitake (Lentinula edodes), early colonization of this fungus is extremely retarded in living wood tissues, in particular in inner bark tissues. To estimate the viability of inner bark tissues of Quercus serrata, a substrate for log cultivation of Shiitake, we employed a colorimetric assay utilizing a tetrazolium salt (2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride, TTC) and investigated the relationships between degree of decrease in viability and increase in growth of L. edodes in the tissues. When the mixtures of different proportions of living and dead tissues were assayed, formazan production was proportional to the percentage of living tissues. When logs dried for various time periods were inoculated with L. edodes, the fungus grew more extensively in tissues with reduced formazan production. These results indicate that the TTC assay is a useful method for estimation of viability and thus can be used to decide the proper timing for inoculation of L. edodes.