The basidiomycete fungus Crinipellis perniciosa (Stahel) Singer is the causal agent of Witches' Broom Disease of Cacao (Theobroma cacao L.) which is the main factor limiting cacao production in the Americas. Pod losses of up to 90% are experienced in affected areas as evidenced by the 50% drop in production in Bahia province, Brazil following the arrival of the C. perniciosa in the area in 1989. The disease has proven particularly difficult to control and many farmers in affected areas have given up cacao cultivation. In order to evaluate the potential of endophytes as a biological control agent of this phytopathogen, the endophytic fungal community of resistant and susceptible cacao plants as well as affected branches was studied between 2001 and 2002. The fungal community was identified by morphological traits and rDNA sequencing as belonging to the genera Acremonium, Blastomyces, Botryosphaeria, Cladosporium, Colletotrichum, Cordyceps, Diaporthe, Fusarium, Geotrichum, Gibberella, Gliocladium, Lasiodiplodia, Monilochoetes, Nectria, Pestalotiopsis, Phomopsis, Pleurotus, Pseudofusarium, Rhizopycnis, Syncephalastrum, Trichoderma, Verticillium and Xylaria. These fungi were evaluated both in vitro and in vivo by their ability to inhibit C. perniciosa. Among these, some were identified as potential antagonists, but only one fungus (Gliocladium catenulatum) reduced the incidence of Witches' Broom Disease in cacao seedlings to 70%.

ABSTRACT. We investigated the diversity of endophytic fungi found on grape (Vitis labrusca cv. Niagara Rosada) leaves collected from Salesópolis, SP, Brazil. The fungi were isolated and characterized by amplified ribosomal DNA restriction analysis, followed by sequencing of the ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 rDNA. In addition, the ability of these endophytic fungi to inhibit the grapevine pathogen Fusarium oxysporum f. sp herbemontis was determined in vitro. We also observed that the climatic factors, such as temperature and rainfall, have no effect on the frequency of infection by endophytic fungi. The endophytic fungal community that was identified included Aporospora terricola, Aureobasidium pullulans, Bjerkandera adusta, Colletotrichum boninense, C. gloeosporioides, Diaporthe helianthi,

The growth of thirty-four Lentinula edodes strains submitted to different mycelial cultivation conditions (pH and temperature) was evaluated and strain variability was assessed by RAPD molecular markers. The growth at three pH values (5, 6 and 7) and four different temperatures (16, 25, 28 and 37ºC) was measured using the in vitro mycelial development rate and water retention as parameters. Mycelial cultivation was successful at all pH tested, while the ideal temperature for mycelial cultivation ranged between 25 and 28ºC. The water content was lower in strains grown at 37ºC. Among 20 OPA primers (Operon Technologies, Inc.) used for the RAPD analyses, seventeen presented good polymorphism (OPA01 to OPA05, OPA07 to OPA14, OPA17 to OPA20). The clustering based on similarity coefficients allowed the separation of strain in two groups with different geographic origins.

Endophytes are all microorganisms, culturable or not, that inhabit the interior of plant tissues, causing no harm to the host, and that do not develop external structures, excluding in this way, nodulating bacteria and mycorrhizal fungi. Theobroma cacao L. is important to food and cosmetic industry due the fact that it is used for production of cacao butter. Considering the importance of cacao and associated endophytic fungal community studies, the objectives of this work were to: i) study the diversity on endophytic community of cacao; ii) evaluate the potential of this community to biological control of Crinipellis perniciosa, causal agent of witches' broom disease and other phytopathogens and iii) study the interaction endophyte-pathogen and endophyte-host. The work began with isolation of the cacao endophytic fungi that was characterizated based on morphological and molecelar characters. The diversity was evaluated by rDNA (ITS1, ITS2 e 5.8 subunit regions) analyses (ARDRA and sequencing). The ARDRA analysis generated 64 haplotypes, which included at least 16 species. Following, antagonistic endophytic fungi from cacao were selected in vitro against C. perniciosa. It was observed that in 145 evaluated isolates, 38.6% was classified as antagonic, while 13.1% were classified as parasitic. After the selection, isolates were used for secondary metabolites extraction and further characterization. Also, detection of δ-(L-α-aminoadipil)-L-cisteinil-D-valin (ACV) gene, which is the precursor of β-lactans, antibiotics like penicilins and cephalosporins, was carried out. The amplification of this gene generated a fragment of 600pb in 9.1% of the isolates evaluated. Some isolates were further evaluated against phytophathogenic fungi (Colletotrichum falcatum, C. sublineorum, Erythricium salmonicolor, Rhizoctonia solani, Ceratocystis paradoxa, Phytophthora sp., P. parasitica, P. palmivora and Fusarium moniliforme). Only C. sublineorum of sorghum and Ceratocystis paradoxa of sugarcane were in vitro inhibited by the endophytes 42.3 and 2, respectively. The investigation of the penetration and colonization ability of endophytic fungus 42.3 on susceptible cacao comum was carried out, using RAPD and SEM techniques. The penetration of the fungus was initiated between 3 and 6 hours after inoculation. The interaction between cacao endophyte 42.3 with C. perniciosa 281 (pathogenic), was evaluated by SDS-PAGE, aiming the detection of expressed proteins by pathogen and endophyte. The SDS-PAGE allowed the visualization of bands expressed in the interaction, when the microorganisms were grown together. In the presence of the endophyte growth substrate, C. perniciosa do not express visible proteins or, at least, distinguishable in SDS-PAGE, but the co-cultive of these fungi generated non observed bands in previously analysis.