During a biodiversity survey of undiscovered taxa in Korea, two zygomycetous fungal strains were isolated. The first strain, EML-FSDY6-1 was isolated from a soil sample collected at Dokdo Island in the East Sea of Korea in 2013, and the second strain, EML-DG-NH3-1 was isolated from a rat dung sample collected at Chonnam National University garden, Gwangju, Korea in 2014. Based on the morphological characteristics and phylogenetic analysis of the internal transcribed spacer, 18S and 28S rDNA, actin and translation elongation factor-1α genes. EML-FSDY6-1 and EML-DG-NH3-1 isolates were confirmed as zygomycete species, Absidia pseudocylindrospora and Absidia glauca, respectively. Neither species has previously been described in Korea.
Many members of the Saprolegniales (Oomycete) cause mycoses and disorders of fishes, of which
Achlya
and
Saprolegnia
are most ubiquitous genera worldwide. During a survey of the diversity of freshwater oomycetes in Korea, we collected seven isolates of
Achlya
, for which morphological and molecular phylogenetic analyses enabled them to identify as
Achlya americana
and
Achlya bisexualis
. In Korea, only a species of
Achlya
,
A. prolifera
, has been previously found to cause seedling rot on rice (
Oryza sativa
), but none of the two species have been reported yet. Importantly,
A. bisexualis
was isolated from a live fish, namely rice fish (
Oryzias sinensis
), as well as freshwater, and this is the first report of
Achlya
-causing mycoses on freshwater fishes in Korea. The presence of
A. americana
and
A. bisexualis
on live fish in Korea should be closely monitored, as considering the well-known broad infectivity of these species it has the potential to cause an important emerging disease on aquaculture industry.
The distribution and occurrence of rare ascomycete fungi within freshwater samples in Korea was investigated. Three rare fungal strains, CNUFC-YR537-1, CNUFC-CNUP1-1, and CNUFC-NDR3-1, were isolated using serial dilution method. On the basis of their morphological characteristics and phylogenetic analysis of their internal transcribed spacer regions and 28S rDNA sequences, the three isolates were identified as
Acrostalagmus luteoalbus
,
Bartalinia robillardoides
, and
Collariella carteri,
respectively. To our knowledge, these are the first records of rare genera
Acrostalagmus
,
Bartalinia
, and
Collariella
from Korea, and the first reports of
A. luteoalbus
,
B. robillardoides
, and
C. carteri
from freshwater samples.
The order Mucorales, the largest in number of species within the Mucoromycotina, comprises typically fast-growing saprotrophic fungi. During a study of the fungal diversity of undiscovered taxa in Korea, two novel mucoralean strains, CNUFC-GWD3-9 and CNUFC-EGF1-4, were isolated from specific habitats including freshwater and fecal samples, respectively. On the basis of their morphological characteristics and sequence analyses of internal transcribed spacer and large subunit ribosomal DNA, the CNUFC-GWD3-9 and CNUFC-EGF1-4 isolates were confirmed to be Gilbertella persicaria and Pilobolus crystallinus, respectively. It is ecologically, pathologically, and mycologically significant to find such rare zygomycetous fungi in such specific habitats.
During a survey of fungal diversity in the class Sordariomycetes, 3 fungal strains, CNUFC-KMHY6-1, CNUFC-MSW24-2-11, and CNUFC-GW2S-4 were isolated from soil and freshwater samples, respectively in Korea. The strains were analyzed both morphologically and phylogenetically on the basis of internal transcribed spacer and RNA polymerase II second largest subunit gene sequences. On the basis of their morphology and phylogeny, CNUFC-KMHY6-1, CNUFC-MSW24-2-11, and CNUFC-GW2S-4 isolates were identified as
Arcopilus aureus
,
Memnoniella echinata
, and
Stachybotrys sansevieriae
, respectively. To the best of our knowledge,
Ar
.
aureus
and
M
.
echinata
have not been previously recorded in Korea, and this is the first report of
S
.
sansevieriae
from freshwater niche.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.