A harmful fungus occurred seriously in bed-log of shiitake(Lentinula edodes) in Jangheung-Gun, Korea. The fungus was identified as Bjerkandera adusta by its morphology and ITS(Internal Transcribed Spacer) analysis. The fungus was reported as causal agent of stem-rot of Populus euramericana in Korea, but not reported in bed-log of shiitake until this notification. Thus, studies were made to investigate inside condition of bed-log of shiitake damaged by B. adusta, physiological characteristics of B. adusta and antagonism between these two fungi. First of all, B. adusta is white-rotting fungus like shiitake and wood-rotting condition is similar to that of shiitake. But, there are a lot of small spots in damaged wood tissue under bark which are not seen in case of shiitake. Optimal temperature for mycelial growth of B. adusta is ca. 30℃ while that of shiitake is ca. 25 ℃. When confrontation cultures were made between these two fungi under 15℃, 20℃, 25℃ and 30℃, B. adusta has antagonistic ability against shiitake in all the temperatures. From the results of experiments, if the bed-logs of shiitake are exposed to high temperature, there should be mass propagation of B. adusta, and shiitake mycelia will be seriously injured by the fungus. Therefore, to prevent the damage by B. adusta, it is needed to grow the mycelia of shiitake fast in the bed-log, and to avoid exposure of the bed-log to high temperature in summer.

Related research on artificial cultivation of the edible fungi in modern China can be traced back to 100 years ago. The earliest article about the cultivation techniques of the edible fungi was published in 1897 on Agricultural Study Newspaper sponsored by Shanghai Agricultural Society. From the late 1800s to 1940s, the elder generation of scholars including Zou Bingwen, Hu Changzhi, Pan Zhinong, Li Shiyi, Sun Yunwei, and Yu Xiaotie, etc. not only introduced many foreign techniques in edible fungi cultivation a nd disseminated scientific knowledge and cultivation techniques, but also held various edible fungi talents training courses, set up experimental bases, and conduct edible fungi cultivation experiments. Those have laid a preliminary foundation for the modernization of China’s edible fungi cultivation techniques. After the founding of the PRC, the edible fungi cultivation industry has gained more space for development, and has achieved many milestone achievements, mainly including the tremella artificial cultivation technique, the hedgehog hydnum artificial cultivation technique, the Xianggu artificial cultivation with crushed-wood material technique, the white mushroom fine breed selection and breeding and cultivation technique improvement, the black fungus cultivation with crushed-wood material and fine breed selection and breeding, and the golden needle mushroom find breed selection and year-round cultivation technique innovation, as well as the acclimatization of wild edible fungi and the development of new varieties of edible fungi. These inventions and innovations have provided solid technical support to the development of the edible fungi industry in China. The reform and opening-up starting 1978 has provided a favorable policy environment for the development of the edible fungi industry in China. In the period of more than 30 years thereafter, the edible fungi industry in China has been developing rapidly, with the annual yield rocketing from 60,000 tons in 1978 to 20.2 million tons in 2009, and the proportion of the yield against total world yield growing from 5% in the past to more than 70% at present. During this historical period, many research institutions and scientific research staffs have made important contributions to the development of the edible fungi industry in China. Among them, the most important achievements are made by Researcher Chen Meipeng from the Institute of Edible Fungi of Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Professor Yang Xinmei from Huazhong Agricultural University, Researcher Huang Nianlai from Fujian Sanming Mycological Institute, and Professor Zhang Shuting from Chinese University of Hong Kong. When we look back, we treasure the outstanding achievements made by the elder generation of scholars on the development of the edible fungi industry in China. When we look into the future, we are geared with enthusiasm and confidence, and we will work hard to achieve higher in the edible fungi industry in China.

In agricultural fields, the entomopathogenic fungal species have been investigated for their potential as the biological control agents due to their role of natural enemies for insects. To address the requirements of a potential South Korea based biocontrol effort using entomopathogenic fungi, we investigated the occurrence of various entomopathogenic fungi in 1080 soil samples representing from various area and locations in South Korea. Entomopathogenic fungi were isolated from soils using semiselective medium SDA-D50 contained saboraund dextrose agar, 50 ug/ml dodine, 100 ug/ml chloramphenicol and 50 ug/ml streptomycin. The isolated putative fungi were identified by the determination of internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region sequences of the nuclear ribosomal analysis. As a result, entomopathogenic fungi were found to occur in 30.8% of the soil samples studied. The most abundant species were Beauveria bassiana (Bals.) Vuill. and Metarhizium anisopliae (Metschn.) Sorok. Isolates of B. brongniartii, Cordyceps sp., Lecanicillium sp., Isaria sp. and Tolypocladium cylindrosporum were also found. The occurrence of entomopathogenic fungi was analyzed by the area and soil types. These positive entomopathogenic fungi may have potential against variety pests in agriculture and forest

The family Ciidae is presented for the first time from Korea. Two unrecorded species, Octotemnus laminifrons (Motschulsky) and Octotemnus japonicus Miyatake are reported. Morphological photographs of adults, description, illustrations of diagnostic characteristics, and host fungi are provided.

In order to ensure good animal health and performance, it is essential to produce forages with high feeding value and good hygienic quality. However, huge amounts of forages consumed by ruminants are contaminated with mold prior to harvest or during stora

Mycoviruses have been found in many fungal species including mushrooms. Double-stranded (ds) RNA genomes were common type in mycoviruses, but single-stranded (ss) RNA mycoviruses were also reported in some fungal species. Sequencing analysis using cDNA cloning experiments revealed that mycoviruses can be classified into several different virus families such as Totiviridae, Hypoviridae, Partitiviridae and Barnaviridae etc. Because the nucleotide sequence data that are available in these days are very limited in a number of mycoviruses, the existence of more diverse viral groups in fungi are currently expected. In this review, we selected four different fungal groups, which were considered as the model systems for mycovirus related studies in both plant pathogenic fungi and edible mushroom species, and discussed about their molecular characteristics of diverse mycoviruses. The plant pathogenic fungi introduced here were Cryphonectria parasitica and Helminthosporium victoriae and the edible mushroom species were Agaricus bisporus and Pleurotus ostreatus.

In agricultural fields, the entomopathogenic fungal species have been investigated for their potential as the biological control agents due to their role of natural enemies for insects. To address the requirements of a potential South Korea based biocontrol effort using entomopathogenic fungi, we investigated the occurrence of various entomopathogenic fungi in 1080 soil samples representing from various area and locations in South Korea. Entomopathogenic fungi were isolated from soils using semiselective medium SDA-D50 contained saboraund dextrose agar, 50 ug/ml dodine, 100 ug/ml chloramphenicol and 50 ug/ml streptomycin. The isolated putative fungi were identified by the determination of internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region sequences of the nuclear ribosomal analysis. As a result, entomopathogenic fungi were found to occur in 30.8% of the soil samples studied. The most abundant species were Beauveria bassiana (Bals.) Vuill. and Metarhizium anisopliae (Metschn.) Sorok. Isolates of B. brongniartii, Cordyceps sp., Lecanicillium sp., Isaria sp. and Tolypocladium cylindrosporum were also found. The occurrence of entomopathogenic fungi was analyzed by the area and soil types. These positive entomopathogenic fungi may have potential against variety pests in agriculture and forest

The beetle family Ciidae, represented by Octotemnus laminifrons Motschulsky, 1860 and Octotemnus japonicus Miyatake, 1954 is presented for the first time in Korea. The beetle family Ciidae Leach is a relatively moderate family, which comprises about 640 described species in 42 genera worldwide. This family is distributed throughout the world. Ciids are minute fungus-feeding beetles, which are associated with the mycelia and fruiting bodies of wood-rotting fungi. These beetles are considered mycetobiont because they depend upon the basidiocarps for food and breeding throughout their life span. And also ciids are important components of the saproxylic fauna of many forests ecosystems and a number of species are considered rare or threatened and are associated with old growth forests or undisturbed forest conditions. A habitus photographs of adults, description, illustrations of diagnostic characters, and host fungi are provided.

In order to ensure good animal health and performance, it is essential to produce forages with high feeding value and good hygienic quality. However, huge amounts of forages consumed by ruminants are contaminated with mold prior to harvest or during storage as hay, straw or silage. These mold can grow in forages only when nutrients are available, correct temperature exist, oxygen is present, and unbound water is available. Fungal 'species can be divided into two groups: field fungi and storage fungi. Field fungi invade the forages while the crop is still in the fíeld, require high moisture conditions, and are such as species of Fusarium, Alternaria, Clodosporium, Diplodia, Gibberrella and Helminthosporium. Storage fungi invade forages during storage and need less moisture than fíeld fungi. These such as species of Aspergillus and Penicillium usually do not occur any problem before harvest. Mold growth can spoil the nutritional aspects of the forages and also results in secondary metabolites that are highly toxic to animal, humans and plants. Moldy feeds are less palatable and may reduce dry matter intake. This, in turn, leads to a reduction of nutrition intake, reducing weight gains or milk production. Performance losses of 5 to 10 percent are typical with moldy feeds. Mycotoxins are toxic substances produced by fungi (molds) growing on crops in the field or storages. While greater than 400 mycotoxins have been chemically identified, the biological or veterinary medical impact of only several mycotoxins is known. Mycotoxins have attracted considerable attention as potential causes for poor performance and health disorders in domestic livestock. They can be carcinogenic, hepatotoxic, hematotoxic, immunosuppressive, estrogenic, or mutagenic. So, feeding moldy forages has adverse effects on animal health and milk consumers. AIso, this author reported that rice straw hay was contaminated mycotoxigenic fungi such as Penicillium roqueforti and Fusarium culmorum in Korea. Therefore, it is an urgent need to develop an improved post harvest storage method to reduce nutrient loss and mycotoxin contamination of forages, which will have a positive impact on human health.

Sweet potato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae), is a serious pest of many economically important crops. The insect has developed resistance to chemical insecticides. Therefore, the development of microbial agent such as entomopathogenic fungi, Lecanicillium lecanii is necessary. Spores of L. lecanii Btab01 was collected after cultivation on solid PDA and liquid RB (rice bran amended with 2% molasses) media. The bioassay was carried out with B. taabci nymphs for 7 days at 25℃ and 60% relative humidity. Further, mortality was corrected with appropriate controls. The results revealed that spores obtained from RB medium caused high mortality (98.31%) compared to PDA medium (93.94%). Spore concentrations 105, 106, 107, and 108 colony forming units (c. f. u) ml-1 caused 5.81, 33.80, 77.27, and 98.54% mortality, respectively. The mortality (100%) was observed for 4 days when L. lecanii spores was mixed with 0.1 - 0.3% soybean oil. Hence, it is concluded from this study, L. lecanii Btab01 cultivated on RB medium can be recommended to control the nymphs of B. tabaci. Spore suspension can be expected to high efficacy when soybean oil was blended.

In agricultural fields, the entomopathogenic fungal species have been investigated for their potential as the biological control agents due to their role of natural enemies for insects. Until recent times, most of the studies for these fungi have been based on isolation from insect cadaver or soil. However, these methods, especially isolation from soil, might cause a problem involving differential isolation of the each entomopathogenic fungi. The purpose of this study is to determine the optimal isolation medium for entomopathogenic fungi using dodine, chitin, and skim milk. The growth rates of entomopathogenic fungi and non-entomopathogenic fungi were compared on dodine agar medium. The medium for this experiment was modified Veen semiselective medium which consisted of based on SDA (Sabouraund Dextrose Agar), 100 mg/ml for chloramphenicol, 50 mg/ml for streptomycin and adjusted dodine to 40, 50, 70 and 100 mg/ml. As a result, optimal concentration of dodine for isolation of entomopathogenic fungi was 50 mg/ml and 168 positive entomopathogenic fungi were isolated in 470 soil samples and 11 cadavers of insect. In addition, the isolates had significantly greater chitinase and protease activity than non-entomopathogenic fungi. The isolation method described represents a valuable tool for rapid and simple isolation of entomopathogenic fungi. These positive entomopathogenic fungi may have potential against variety pests in agriculture.

This study was conducted to investigate the total phenol contents, antioxidative activities and antibacterial activities of twenty species of entomopathogenic fungi. The total phenol content was highest in Aspergillus flavus (553.0±52.15 ㎍/g) and A. parasiticus (529.9±60.10 ㎍/g). On the other hand those in other strains were within the range of 26.6～121.9 ㎍/g. The antioxdative activity was shown in the most of strains and the highest DPPH (1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) radical scavenging activity was observed in A. flavus (90.9±2.90%) and A. parasiticus (77.9±4.13%). This result indicated that the antioxidative activities were very correlated with the total phenol contents. The antibacterial activitiy was found in the every tested pathogenic bacteria. Especially, the antibacterial activity was strongest against Listeria monocytogenes and Escherchia coli.

Mycotoxin producing moulds are commonly in contact with forage in the field before harvest, during harvesting, drying and transport and during storage. Therefore, this study was to isolate and identify fungi contaminated rice straw in the earlier spring of Korea. The pure fungi colony was isolated from normal rice straws in the tree dairy farms. The fungi were cultured on MEA and PDA agar plate and confirmed by sequencing the ITS region. Fungal contamination was found in all samples of rice straws and mold counts averaged 4.6×10⁴ per gram. The mycotoxigenic fungi found were Penicillium roqueforti and Fusarium culmorum. Other several fungi were determined Gibberella moniliformis, Ascomycota sp., Myrothecium sp. When the rice straw samples were analyzed mycotoxins by HPLC, it was not found aflatoxins, zearalenone, deoxynivalenol, fumonisin, ochratoxins A and T-2 toxin. The results suggest t㏊t the mold contaminated rice straw is not activated in the spring of cool season but is able to develop in the coming warm and humidly summer, specially mycotoxigenic fungi such ase Penicillium roqueforti and Fusarium culmorum.

The gap between the increasing amount of raw sequence data and qualified biological information is widening: it is not possible to provide qualified annotation for new genomes with the same speed at which sequences are generated -- especially with next generation sequencing technologies. Additionally, managing the huge number ofavailable bioinformatics algorithms represents a challenge of its own. Thus, a systemwhich provides maximum annotation quality with approved methods in a minimum of time is absolutely critical as the basis for the R&D pipeline in industrial biotechnology. Also using those various genome annotation, comprehensive knowledge of a fungal’s biosynthetic capacities is the indispensable basis of its usefulness in the biotechnology research. Comparative genomics is on the rise as a potent tool in molecular biology. The publicly available genomes from yeasts and several fungal species are used to comparative genomics method for discovery of functional information in our research. Also we had integrated information from different data sources to dynamically build semantic networks representing up-to-date knowledge, which can then be mined and analyzed. Through those methods, we could inspect the common features and uniques between yeasts and fungal species in the new aspect.

The aims of this study are to examine the concentration and identification of airborne organism at exhibit hall and storage in museums and to provide fundamental data to protect cultural assests from damage. This study surveyed the concentration of airborne bacteria and fungi at exhibit hall and storage in museums located 4 metropolitans from July to October, 2007 and literature data on airborne microbes of museums in Korea that were publiced in relevant Korean journals. The concentrations of airborne bacteria and fungi were higher than those in storage. Pseudomonas spp. and Bacillus spp for bacteria and Aspergillus spp. and Penicillium spp. for fungi were shown mainly in museums. Pooled average concentration of airborne bacteria in museums was 34.2±10.1 CFU/m³ for exhibit hall and 17.2±10.0 CFU/m³ for storage, respectively. Pooled average concentration of airborne fungi in museum was 26.0±11.2 CFU/m³ for exhibit hall and 16.6±11.0 CFU/m³ for storage, respectively.

After infection by Gram negative bacteria, neonatal patients or patients in intensive care unit usually suffer from endotoxin shock, leading to death finally in spite of eradication of bacteria by potent antibiotics. The purpose of this study that is the pilot study to prevent endotoxin shock and nosocomial infection, is to offer basic data on species and concentrations of airborne microbes in hospitals. Therefore, this study collected and analyzed articles and documents on airborne microbes in hospitals in Korea that were published in relevant journals from 1980 to 2004. Studies on the concentration of airborne microbes in hospitals as a part of study on the nosocomial infection have been performed from the latter half of 1970s. Pooled average concentrations of total suspended bacteria in hospitals by RCS air sampler and Cascade air sampler were 194.85 CFU/㎥ and 367.72 CFU/㎥, respectively. They were lower than the guideline concentration(800 CFU/ ㎥) of the Korean Ministry of Environment. Pooled average concentrations of total suspended fungi in hospitals by RCS air sampler and Cascade air sampler were 20.66 CFU/㎥ and 193.34 CFU/㎥, respectively. They were lower than the guideline concentration(150 CFU/㎥) of the World Health Organization(WHO). Pooled average concentrations of total suspended bacteria in operating room and intensive care unit(ICU) were 324.75 CFU/㎥ and 182.43 CFU/㎥, respectively. They again were lower than the guideline concentration of the Korean Ministry of Environment. Staphylococcus spp., Micrococcus spp., and Lactobacillus spp. for Gram-positive bacteria, and Pseudomonas spp., Klebsiella spp., and Escherichia spp., for Gram-negative bacteria were shown in hospitals. Also, Aspergillus spp., Penicillium spp., Mucor spp., Epidemophyton spp., Trichophyton spp., and Cladosporium spp. for fungi were found in hospitals. Staphylococcus spp. was shown frequently in operating rooms, intensive care units and wards. Penicillium spp. and Aspergillus spp. were shown commonly in them.