Some Asian fungi are morphologically very similar to European species but belong to different species. A fungus that resembles Pyrenopeziza petiolaris, which commonly occurs on the petioles of Acer pseudoplatanus in Europe, was found on the petioles of Acer spp. and other tree leaves in Japan. The apothecia of this fungus were smaller than those of P. petiolaris, suggesting that it is a different species. To examine this possibility, specimens of this fungus were collected from various hosts in Japan. A detailed morphological examination elucidated that this fungus differed from P. petiolaris in smaller apothecia, marginal cells of the ectal excipulum, and conidia. The ITS sequence difference between this fungus and P. petiolaris was 3.3-4.3%, and they formed distinct clades in the phylogenetic analysis, supporting that they are different species. Consequently, a new species, P. orientalipetiolaris is described. Since an undescribed phialophora-state was observed in the cultures of P. petiolaris for the first time, the morphology under culture is also reported in detail.

Crossbreeding is the most commonly used method in breeding of Lentinula edodes, however low fruiting rate of the hybrids has always caused troubles and barriers for breeders. An early screening method of the fruiting ability could make the breeding work more efficient. In this paper, a rapid and high-throughput laccase activity detection method based on agar diffusion principle was developed. In this way, we investigated the constitutive and inducible extracellular laccase activity of 36 strains in a breeding population of L. edodes on different media and performed a correlation analysis with fruiting ability of these strains. The results showed the laccase activity of mycelium cultured in non-induced medium for 8 d could be used as an early screening index to judge whether it had fruiting ability at the later stage. Early rapid and simple screening method for hybrid populations was established based on laccase activity characteristics of mycelia. 127 strains from another 5 different hybrid populations were used to verify the early screening method. From the validation results, the early screening method was effective, but the appropriate screening threshold was needed to select according to the cross population, which would greatly to improve the breeding efficiency of L. edodes.

Matsutake mushrooms are among the best-known edible wild mushroom taxa worldwide. The representative Tricholoma matsutake is from East Asia and the northern and central regions of Europe. Here, we report the existence of T. matsutake under fir trees in Eastern Europe (i.e., Ukraine), as confirmed by phylogenetic analysis of nine loci on the nuclear and mitochondrial genomes. All specimens from Japan, Bhutan, China, North Korea, South Korea, Sweden, Finland, and Ukraine formed a T. matsutake clade according to the phylogeny of the internal transcribed spacer region. The European population of T. matsutake was clustered based on the β2 tubulin gene, with a moderate bootstrap value. In contrast, based on analyses of three loci, i.e., rpb2, tef1, and the β2 tubulin gene, T. matsutake specimens sampled from Bhutan and China belonged to a clade independent of the other specimens of this species, implying a genetically isolated population. As biologically available type specimens of T. matsutake have not been designated since its description as a new species from Japan in 1925, we established an epitype of this fungus, sampled in a Pinus densiflora forest in Nagano, Japan.

A new species of Micropsalliota is described from tropical region of Maharashtra, India. The species is recognized on the basis of morphological details and its phylogenetic placement is determined by using of nrITS and nrLSU sequence data analyses. Micropsalliota pileocystidiata is characterised by its robust basidiomes covered by reddish brown appressed fibrillose squamules, ellipsoid to amygdaliform basidiospores, pyriform pileocystidia and clavate, utriform to broadly utriform or sometimes ellipsoid cheilo- and pleurocystidia.

Phylogenetic and morphological analyses have been conducted on powdery mildew specimens on different Berberis and Mahonia spp. from Asia, Europe and North America. The present study showed that collections of Erysiphe berberidis exhibit a high degree of morphological plasticity of the sexual morph, in contrast to their morphologically, rather uniform, asexual morph. In phylogenetic tree, all sequences cluster in a large strongly supported clade, without any indication and support for further differentiation into cryptic species. There are three morphological types within E. berberidis s. lat. that contain consistent differences. Until future multi-locus analyses will be available, we prefer to treat these ‘morphological types’ as varieties. These include Erysiphe berberidis var. berberidis, E. berberidis var. asiatica, and E. berberidis var. dimorpha comb. nov. (≡ Microsphaera berberidis var. dimorpha, M. berberidicola, and M. multappendicis). To fix the application of species name E. berberidis, an appropriate epitype was designated, with an ITS sequences.

Puccinia caricis-smilacis, a new species of caricicolous rust fungus was described based on morphological characteristics and nuclear rDNA sequences from Japan. The heteroecious life cycle of P. caricis-smilacis was elucidated via field observations, inoculation experiments and molecular analyses. This rust fungus produces uredinial and telial stages on Carex fibrillosa, and spermogonial and aecial stages on Smilax china.