Rostaniha
Year:2016 | Volume:17 | Issue:1|Papers Count:9

Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) is a multipurpose plant that is important as nutrition, medical, horticulture, landscape and environment. The plant has been cultivated since old Iran and Egypt which is mentioned in Bible and Quran. Origin of the plant is Iran and some neighbour countries, although it is cultivated in many countries, now a day.Botanically, it is classified in Punicaceae and has various varieties and cultivars those known as different names in the countries. Germplasm collections have developed in some countries that help genetic resources while germplasm evaluation has been studied by various methods, but determining distinct number of cultivars is not yet possible because of lacking close and distinct characteristics that are acceptable for scientists. In this review, therefore, origin, dispersion, collections and cultivars were investigated to introduce biodiversity and genetic resources of the plant.

In the framework of a research project as identification of macro-fungi of Kheyroud Educational and Experimental Forest (Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran), more than 470 specimens of various groups of macro-fungi were collected and identified. From identified samples about 200 specimens were belong to 46 agaric species, as follows: Agaricus silvaticus, Bovista plumbea, Coprinus comatus, Cyathus striatus, Lepiota castanea, Leucoagaricus leucothites, Lycoperdon echinatum, L. perlatum, L. pyriforme, L. utriforme, Macrolepiota procera, Phaeolepiota aurea, Amanita pantherina, A. phalloides, A. crocea, A. aspera, A. ceciliae, A. caesarea, A. battarrae, A. vaginata, A. spissa, Entoloma sinuatum, Laccaria laccata, Crepidotus applanatus, C. crocophyllus, C. autochthonus, Megacollybia platyphylla, Mycena crocata, Panellus stipticus, Marasmiellus candidus, Armillaria mellea, Flammulina velutipes, Hymenopellis radicata, Pleurotus ostreatus, Pluteus leoninus, P. cervinus, Psathyrella candolleana, P. multipedata, Coprinellus micaceus, C. disseminatus, Panaeolus acuminatus, Cyclocybe cylindracea, Hypholoma fasciculareand H. sublateritium. From identified agarics, Amanita with nine species had high species diversity. Three species, namely, Cortinarius vibratilis, Infundibulicybe gibba and Pholiota adipose are recorded as new for Iran mycobiota.

Diatoms of Gomishan wetland (Golestan province, N. Iran), one of the most significant habitats in the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea, has been isolated, purified and identified during 2013. Using serial dilution and streaking on F/2 medium, pure, monoalgal and axenic cultures of the isolates were prepared. The isolates were characterized and identified using micro-morphological studies on the prepared permanent slides followed by scanning electron-microscopy. To prove the identification results, the most reliable genomic sequence fragments were investigated using GenBank database. Thus, SSU was amplified and analyzed, phylogenetically. The morphology and sequence data of three isolates were assessed which indicated that, the results of phylogenetic analyses of SSU-based sequences can support the morphological studies data. Finally, the isolates were introduced asFallacia pygmaea, Halamphora coffeiformis and Navicula veneta.

Infected tissues of roots and leaves of various grasses as well as soil around their rhizosphere were sampled from Fars, Golestan, Isfahan, Khorasan Shomali, Khorasan Razavi, Mazandaran and Semnan provinces (Iran). Based on morphological characteristics and available keys, four species of Bipolaris including B. austreliensis, B. indica, B. micropusand B. spicifera, four species of Curvularia including C. akaiiensis, C. heteropogonicola, C. protuberata andC. verruculosa and two species of Exserhilum including E. gedarefense and E. pedicellatum were identified. Bipolaris austreliensisand B. spicifera widely distributed in Iran. Bipolaris micropus, C. protuberata, C. akaiiensis, E. pedicellatumand E. gedarefense are new to Iran mycobiota.

Species ofPhyllosticta are important group of pathogenic and endophytic fungi that are reported from various crop plants, ornamental and non-fruiting plants. These fungi cause several diseases such as leaf and fruit spots and fruit rot. In order to identifyPhyllosticta species in Guilan province, several collections were examined around the region.Altogether 14 taxa were isolated from different plant species. Plant speciesviz. Prunus laurocerasus, Danae racemosa, Aesculus carnea, Camellia japonica, Citrus sinensis, Rubus sp., Schefflera sp., Diospyros kaki and Ginkgo biloba are recorded as new host forPhyllosticta spp. in Iran. Magnolia soulangeana, Camellia sinensis, Citrus limetta and Rosa sp. are also reported as host plants ofPhyllosticta species in this province. Precise recognition of Phyllosticta sp. needs both morphological and molecular studies. Hence, in this studyP. theacearum was distincly identified; one collection onCitrus sp. was closely related to P. citricarpa. However, we could not retrieve appropriate name for 12 isolates using available literatures and morphological identification keys. Moreover, we generated ITS rDNA sequences for all 14 isolates but ITS regions are not informative for species identification.

In this study, Dunaliella has been isolated in Jun.2014 from Hoz-e Soltan and Aran-va-Bidgol salt Lakes (Iran). The isolates have been identified morphologically with the aid of simple light and invert microscope after isolation and purification on their specific medium (Moh202). By using molecular techniques such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and amplification of 18S rDNA gene primers, further identification was done and morphological identification were confirmed. The isolation and molecular identification of the Dunaliella species from above-mentioned lakes revealed that, at least two species of Dunaliella, namely, D. parvaand D. viridis exist in the studied area.

Pythiumis a fungus-like genus with world wide distribution that is found in most terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. It is a species-rich genus contains important plant pathogenic species. Little is known on the systematics of Pythiumin West Azarbaijan province (N.W. Iran). Thus, the aim of this study was to identify 200 isolates collected from different cultivated soils of West Azarbaijan province during 2012–13. Based on morphological and molecular (ITS and coxI sequences) data, 14Pythium species from six clades, A, D, E, F, I and J, were identified. Of these, P. ornamentatumfrom clade D, P. nodosum from clade J and P. stipitatum from clade E are new records for Iran mycobiota. Molecular data failed to separate P. glomeratum, P. ornamentatum and P. viniferum from closely related species and they were identified based on morphological features. Detailed description is presented here for P. minus, P. ornamentatum, P. nodosum and P. stipitatum.

During the visits of common reed [Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steud] in different locations of West Azerbaijan province during 2015–16, symptoms of fungal infections was frequently observed. Among the isolated and studied fungi, Deightoniella arundinacea (Corda) S. Hughes was commonly observed. Based on available literatures, this species was found new to mycobiota of Iran and is described below: The fungus causes dark grey to black lesions with yellow to light brown halos on both leaf surfaces (Fig.1a).Conidiophores macronematous, mononematous, straight or flexuous, unbranched, light brown, smooth, 43–95 × 4–9.5mm, basal cell swollen, 10–13 mm wide, erupt on both leaf surface. Conidiogenous cells are terminal, cylindrical, with thick side walls and a thin apical wall, integrated, percurrent, monoblastic (Figs 1b–d). After detaching the first formed conidium, the thin apical wall of the conidiogenous cell apparently collapse, the growth of conidiophore is resumed from inner and mostly from the base and the new section of conidiophore pushes through the apex of old one (Fig.1e).This process is repeated many times (Figs 1f–g). Conidia solitary, obpyriform, acrogenous, light brown to golden brown, 1–2 septate, with a distinct hilum, 19–52 × 10–18 mm (Figs 1h–j).Specimens examined: isolate Pa-12, Iran, West Azerbaijan province, Nazloo, Jun.2015, Y. Ghosta; isolate Pa-25, Urmia Lake, Jul.2015, Y. Ghosta; isolate Pa-49, Naqhadeh, Jun.2016, M. Abrinbana; isolate Pa-124, Mahabad, Aug.2016, M. Abrinbana (All fromPhragmites australis leaves).Based on Index Fungorum (Aug.2016, www.indexfungorum.org), 20 species are listed underDeightoniella.Among them, three speciesviz. D. arundinacea, D. constantinescui and D. roumegueri have been reported from Phragmites australis, although D. arundinacea has widespread distribution (Barbosa et al.2007, Bahçecioglu & Kabaktepe 2009, Hughes 1952, Mel' nik & Shabunin 2011). These species are differentiated on the basis of conidium characteristics (size, shape and septation).