The phylogenetic relationships of Tholurna dissimilis were investigated in relation to a phylogeny of twenty-three species in Caliciaceae and eighteen species from Physciaceae. ITS and LSU regions of the nuclear ribosomal DNA were used for the reconstruction of phylogenies by maximum parsimony methods. Calicium adaequatum was shown to be the closest relative of and possibly congeneric with Tholurna. Calicium is thus not monophyletic unless Tholurna is included. Calicium in the molecular phylogeny contains several distinct clades, which to some extent can be characterized morphologically. Cyphelium in a traditional sense is probably not monophyletic. Cyphelium s. str. has immersed apothecia, large smooth spores and a very thin excipulum throughout. C. inquinans and C. karelicum, which form a distinct and highly supported clade, may be accommodated in Acolium, possibly along with other Cyphelium and Calicium species. The phylogenies presented here do not support the recognition of neither Physciaceae nor Caliciaceae in a narrow sense, but they also do not exclude this. Numerous spliceosomal and unclassified insertions were found in the LSU sequences. They to some extent offered phylogenetic information both with respect to location and by their sequence similarities.

All five species in the heterotrophic micro-algal genus Prototheca and their relatives were compared for the extent of nucleotide divergence in the nuclear small-subunit (SSU) and in the 5′ end of large-subunit (LSU) ribosomal RNA genes (rDNAs). Phylogenetic analysis based on combined SSU and LSU rDNA sequence alignment was implemented with the neighbor-joining, the maximum-parsimony, and the maximum-likelihood methods. The relationships among the species of Prototheca based on this data set were largely concordant with those inferred from SSU or LSU rDNA sequences alone. The obtained phylogenetic trees indicated that P. stagnora and P. ulmea should be regarded as different species and that both of the species as well as P. moriformis were placed in a cluster represented by P. zopfii, whereas P. wickerhamii was not directly grouped together with the other members of Prototheca and was more closely related to the autotrophic alga Auxenochlorella protothecoides. Therefore, the genus Prototheca is paraphyletic in its present circumscription; and these conclusions lead us to propose the transfer of P. wickerhamii to Auxenochlorella or to a new genus. On the basis of nucleotide sequence similarities, unlike SSU rDNA, the LSU rDNA region examined in this study appeared to be variable in recognizing a heterogeneity within a single species P. zopfii, which had been shown earlier in a chemotaxonomic study.

Some, but not all, marine pennate diatoms of the genus Pseudo-nitzschia H. Peragallo are associated with the production of domoic acid, a naturally occurring amino acid responsible for amnesic shellfish poisoning. Distinguishing between potentially toxic and nontoxic representatives of this genus is time-consuming and difficult because it demands scanning electron microscopy of cleaned frustules. The objective of this work is to speed and ease identification of these organisms by using whole-cell (in situ) hybridization and species-specific large-subunit ribosomal RNA (LSU rRNA)-targeted aligonucleotide probes. Toward that end, cultures of P. australis Frenguelli, P. pungenes (Grunow) Hasle, P. multiseries (Hasle) Hasle, P. fraudulenta (P. T. Cleve) Heiden. P. heimii Mangum, P. delicatissima (P. T. Cleve) Heiden, P. pseudodelicatissima (Hasle) Hasle, and P. americana (Hastle) Fryxell were screened with a suite of 15 putative species-specific probes. Of those, a subset of eight probes was found that distinguished each species tested. In addition, Pseudo-nitzschia chloroplasts were labeled with a probe directed against a eubacterial-conserved sequence. Identification of new cultures based on their reactivity toward a set of probes agreed with species designations as defined by morphological criteria. Whole-cell hybridization is a rapid, sample, and cost-effective technique for discriminating among cultured Pseudo-nitzschia species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thirty six isolates of fungi obtained from anthracnose lesions of cashew and associated host plants in Brazil, were compared by their cultural, morphological and partial sequences of the 28S ribosomal DNA characters. They showed a high degree of cultural variability. The average mycelial growth rate on all tested media ranged from 10.2-13.3 mm/day between the isolates. Most of them produced perithecia (sterile and fertile) and some produced setae (sterile and fertile). All the isolates produced acervuli with predominantly cylindrical conidia (12.4-17.7 µmX 4.8-6.0 µm in width) with round ends, which became septate on germination, and produced unlobed or slightlylobed appressoria. Comparison of the D2 domain of the large subunit (LSU) rDNA sequences with those of other defined species of Colletotrichum and Glomerella grouped 35 of the isolates with known strains of C. gloeosporioides from different hosts (> 98.9% homology). The one exception (LARS 921) was identical to G. cingulata (LARS 238) from Vigna unguiculata.Trinta e seis isolados de fungos obtidos de lesões de antracnose em cajueiros e outras plantas consorciadas no Brasil, foram comparados quanto a seus aspectos culturais, morfológicos e seqüências parciais do rDNA 28S. Os isolados apresentaram elevado grau de variabilidade cultural, com taxa de crescimento médio, em todos os meios testados, entre 10,2 e 13,3 mm/dia. A maioria deles produziu peritécios (estéreis e férteis), e alguns produziram setas (estéreis e férteis) nos diferentes meios. Todos apresentaram acérvulos com predominância de conídios cilíndricos (12,4-17,7 µm X 4,8-6,0 µm), de extremidades arredondadas, formando septos durante a germinação e produzindo apressórios ligeiramente lobados ou lisos. Comparando as seqüências do domínio D2 da larga subunidade (LSU) do rDNA dos isolados com aquelas já identificadas de espécies de Colletotrichum/ Glomerella, verificou-se que 35 deles correspondem a C. gloeosporioides (> 98,9% de homologia), e um deles, o isolado 921, é idêntico a G. cingulata (LARS 238) de V. unguiculata.

The phylogeny of Phylloporus (Boletaceae) has not been well studied, and the taxonomic relationships of this genus have varied considerably among authors. The following study presents phylogenetic relationships of Phylloporus based on two nuclear ribosomal DNA regions, ITS and LSU. The ITS dataset includes 39 collections and the LSU dataset contains 50 collections of Phylloporus. A combined analysis of both genes did not resolve the deeper nodes in the phylogeny, but the results suggest that Phylloporus is monophyletic and a sister group of the Xerocomus subtomentosus group. The lamellate hymenophore configuration is a synapomorphy that distinguishes Phylloporus from the other genera in the family. The placement of a lamellate genus within Boletaceae suggests that hymenophore evolution is not well understood in the family. This is the first phylogeny of Phylloporus and includes 20 species from different geographic regions. Six taxa of Phylloporus from the Old World are here presented. Phylloporus cyanescens is a new combination for an Australasian taxon formerly named as a variety of P. bellus (Massee) Corner. Phylloporus pumilus is described from Indonesia, and 4 species are described from Thailand: P. castanopsidis, P. dimorphus, P. infuscatus, and P. rubiginosus.

A superconducting 15-pole 7.5 Tesla wiggler with a period of 200 mm is designed and manufactured at the Budker INP (Novosibirsk, Russia) and put into commission on the LSU-CAMD storage ring (Louisiana, United States) with an electron beam energy of 1.3 GeV. The synchrotron radiation generated by the wiggler allows the range of experiments to be expanded to energies of ∼60 keV on three independent beam lines simultaneously. The main characteristics and features of the wiggler’s magnetic and cryogenic systems are described.