Effects of fungus, Lecanicillium longisporum was studied on reproductive capacity of Encarsia formosaat laboratory conditions. Fungal infection on whiteflies was carried out using 9.5×105 conidia/ml of fungus on the third instar of whitefly exposing to parasitoid at four different time intervals, 0, 24, 48 and 72 hours post-inoculation. Longevity, pre-oviposition period, oviposition period and other parameters were evaluated and compared. Results showed that the intrinsic rate of increase (rm) for control was 0.203 day-1. There was a significant decreasing trend on the intrinsic rate of population decrease at different time intervals. Other life table parameters consist of net reproductive ratio (R0), gross reproductive rate (GRR), cohort generation time (T), and finite rate of increase (l) for control were 41.75, 43.42, 18.32 and 1.22, respectively. The results indicated that infected hosts caused decreased reproductive potential of parasitoids.

During 2003-05 Iranian provinces in the Southern Caspian coast (Gilan, Mazandaran and Golestan Provinces, N. Iran) were investigated in order to collect and identify fungicolous species on various fungal hosts. Fifty-seven isolates were obtained and these were classified into seven genera, Acremonium, Cladobotryum, Fusarium, Sepedonium, Hypomyces, Lecanicillium, Simplicillium and Trichoderma. Among 13 species obtained, Acremonium cf. recifei, Cladobotryum purpureum, C. mycophilum, Sepedonium microspermum, Simplicillium lanosoniveum, Lecanicillium wallacei are new records for Iran. A few isolates belonging to Acremonium, Fusarium and Sepedonium (Table 1) could not be identified to species level with the available methods and literature. Trichoderma was the most frequently isolated genus.

Mutual relationship between pasture grasses and Neotyphodium fungal endophytes is of great importance in grass improvement. Two endophyte containing tall fescue genotypes (75 and 83) and their endophyte free ramets were used in this study. Endophytes were isolated from tall fescue genotypes 75 and 83 and used in three methods of inoculation including Latch and Christensen approach, insertion of mycelium into the seeds, and Johonson-Cicales approach. Endophytes were detected in new host using microscopic examination of stained tissues, AFLP marker and Koch’s postulates. Results showed that Latch and Christensen approach was the only successful technique by which cross inoculation in the two tall fescue genotypes was feasible. Success in inoculation seems to be highly dependent on splitting procedure and seedlings age. Detection methods used to confirm the presence of inoculated endophyte in plants indicated that microscopic examination is highly accurate in detecting endophytes in new host. However AFLP marker was required to confirm isolate identity although it lacked detection in all infected plants examined microscopically. Koch’s postulates showed that endophytic fungi had no morphological alterations after being inoculated into new host.

Results The combined SSU and LSU nrDNA dataset included 2040 aligned nucleotide positions, with SSU rDNA comprising 1100 and the LSU rDNA comprising 940 positions. One-hundred and ten SSU rDNA positions and 128 LSU rDNA positions were excluded due to either ambiguously aligned regions or an excess of missing data near the 5degrees and 3degrees ends. The final data set included 1802 nucleotide positions of which 347 position -146 from the SSU rDNA and 201 from the LSU rDNA were identified as parsimony-infonnative. The alignment is available from Treebase as study accession number S573, matrix accession number M866. Maximum parsimony analysis of the 93 taxa dataset yielded 329 equally most parsimonious trees of 1710 steps. For each of these trees, the consistency index (Cl) was 0.322 and the retention index (RI) was 0.690. Although a large number of trees were recovered in these analyses, many of the nodes amongst the major genera and groups of the Clavicipitaceae were resolved in the strict consensus tree (Fig. 2-1). One of the most parsimonious trees from the maximum parsimony analyses was chosen at random and is shown in Fig. 2-2 for the purpose of displaying branch length and mapping host affiliations. Maximum parsimony analyses of the combined SSU and LSD rDNA data support the inclusion of all isolates sampled from V. sect. Prostrata in the Clavicipitaceae except for V. incurvum. However, the monophyly of the Clavicipitaceae is weakly supported by bootstrap values and is characterized by a relatively short branch. The clavicipitalean isolates of V. sect. Prostrata did not fonn a monophyletic group and were placed in at least three separate parts of the Clavicipitaceae clade. ...

The Rosaceous longhorn beetle (RLHB), Osphranteria coerulescens Redtenbacher (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) is a serious wood borer insect that commonly occurs on fruit trees in Iran. During an ongoing project on natural enemies of O. coerulescens in Mashhad region, North East of Iran, two isolates of entomopathogenic fungi (EPF) were isolated as natural pathogens on the larvae. The initial species identity of the isolated EPFs was determined based on classic methods. For the molecular, ITS gene sequences were used for inferring phylogenetic relationship. The results confirmed the species identity as Beauveria bassiana sensu lato (Balsamo) Vuillemin (Hypocreales: Clavicipitaceae) and Metarhizium anisopliae sensu lato (Metschnikoff) Sorokin (Hypocreales: Clavicipitaceae). This is the first report about natural incidence of fungal infection on the O. coerulescens.

In the present study, virulence of three isolates of Metarhizium anisopliae (Ascomycota, Clavicipitaceae) were evaluated on the second instar larvae of the onion thrips, Thrips tabaci Lindman by using spray potter tower at six conidial concentrations of isolates (103-108 conidia/ml) with Thrips Entomopathogenic Bioassay System (TEBS) method. Causing the highest total mortality rate on thrips larvae and having the lowest LC50 value (2.3 × 104 conidia/ml), M. anisopliae EUT118 was selected as the highest virulent isolate. Afterwards, the susceptibility of female adults and 5th nymphs of Orius albidipennis (Reuter) was tested against this isolate of M. anisopliae without attendance of host. Results indicated that two stages of predator; female adults and 5th instar nymphs had similarly low susceptibilities to fungal infection. In general, our results revealed that the anthocorid predator, O.albidipennis was less affected by this isolate of fungus. As a result, these two biocontrol agents could be used both together in control programs of T. tabaci in greenhouses.

Endophytic fungi have mutualistic relationship with the plant family Poaceae. These fungi confer characteristics such as yield increase and biotic and abiotic stress resistance to host plants. Endophytes are classified in the family Clavicipitaceae. The endophytes spend all their life cycle in the aerial parts of plant hosts and live intercellularly. In the present investigation, endophytic fungi were isolated from seed and leaf sheath of Festuca arundinaceous, F. ovina, F. pratensis, Bromus tomentellus, Melica persica and Lolium prenne. Genomic DNA was extracted and three sets of primers: ITS1/ITS4, IS1/IS3 and 111/112 were used to detect and identify endophytes. The results of PCR with three paires of primers indicated that most of isolates used in research were endophytic fungi belonging to Neotyphodium and isolates of F. arundinacea were N. coenophialum. For amplification of ITS1/ITS2 and 5.8 S gene, primers ITS1/ITS4 were used.PCR products were digested by Sau3AI and CfoI. The results of PCR-RFLP showed that, restriction analysis is concordant with the morphological studies and PCR specific primers.

Some members of the family Clavicipitaceae are endophytic and have mutualistic relationship with the plant family Poaceae. Their relationship is beneficial for both host and fungus. In the present investigation, endophytic fungi were isolated from seed and leaf sheath of hosts Festuca arundinacea, F. ovina, F. pratensis, Bromus tomentellus, MeUca persica and Lolium prenne. Morphological characters were checked on different culture media. Most of the isolates obtained from wild barley belonged to the section Albo-lanosa of the genus Acremonium and Neotyphodium. Sensitivity of the isolates to benomyl was tested and it was found that, media containing benomyl enhanced sporulation of non-sporulating isolates. In antibiosis test, it was found that most of isolates were effective against the phytopathogenic fungus Bipolaris austraUensis and only two isolates of FoGn and MpFn were effective against Pythium aphanidermatum. Based on morphological characters, the genus Neotyphodium on F. arundinaceae, F. pratensis, F. ovina, B. tomentellus, M. persica and L. prenne and N. coenophialum on F. arundinacea and N. festucae on F. ovina and N. lolii on L. prenne and N. cf. bromicola on B. tomentellus, were identified and this is the first report of these fungi from Iran.

Background and Objectives: Tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea schreb) is one of the most extensive genus in the Gramineae family and herbaceous endophytes are fungi of the Clavicipitaceae family and Neotyphodium genus that infect systematically the Poaceae grasses and discover the symbiotic relationship between festuca and endophytic fungi has encouraged plant breeding experts to use this relationship to create plants that have optimal performance and more effective growth habits in stress conditions. In this study, the effect of drought stress (14 days drought and control) and endophyte fungi and plant genotype (parent and offspring) on physiological and morphological changes such as proline, chlorophyll, carotenoids, fresh and dry weight and the comparison of length of plant growth have been investigated. Materials and Methods: Seedlings of tall-fescue genotypes were prepared from the collection of Research Institute of Agricultural Biotechnology in the North West and West of the country. In order to match the samples, an E+ seedling was reproduced for 2 months by using the paw division method and for preparing E-seedlings, a number of E+ samples were propagated twice in 10 days intervals by propiconazole fungicide with 2 g/L of active ingredient concentrations. After testing the presence or absence of endophytic fungi, by using Rosebangal staining, water treatments including (control) 100% field capacity), drought stress for 14 days (25% field capacity) and 14 days recharge after retrieval for two genotypes of parent and offspring, after 20 days of settling in pots, in two replications in the form of a completely randomized design was applied. Then the traits mentioned were measured and analyzed by SAS statistical software. Duncan's test was used to compare the means. Results: The results showed that proline content for water stress and species type was significant at 0. 01% probability level and the highest amount of proline (2. 96 mg/g fresh weight) was obtained under stress and for offspring and the effect of endophyte fungi was not significant. On the other hand, chlorophyll, carotenoids content and vegetative growth of the plant before the stress about the effects of the trial were not significant. In terms of fresh and dry weight of the plant, the effects of water stress, endophytic fungus, plant genotype and interaction of these three effects were significant (P<0. 01) and the highest fresh weight (1. 167 g) and dry weight (0. 184 g) were related to offspring genotype and parent genotype without endophyte and under control conditions. The lowest dry weight (0. 225 g) was in endophytic offspring and under stress conditions. For growth of shoot, two weeks after stress, the effect of water stress and interactions between stress and plant genotype was significant at 0. 01% level and the highest height (31. 25 cm) was observed in the offspring under control conditions. Conclusion: In order to manage this stress, it is better to use the parent species, which had higher dry weight under stress conditions and better growth after two weeks. On the other hand, about the role of endophyte in this study, as seen, no significant effect has been observed.