The amphibian skin pathogen () has caused an ongoing biodiversity crisis, including in the locally endangered Colorado boreal toad (). Although researchers have investigated the bacteria living on amphibian skin and how they interact with , there is less information about fungal community members. This study describes (1) the diversity of culturable fungi from boreal toad skin, (2) which subset of these isolates is -inhibitory, and (3) how affects these isolates' growth and morphology. Most isolates were from the orders Capnodiales, Helotiales, and Pleosporales. Of 16 isolates tested for -inhibition, two from the genus and three from inhibited . Fungal growth in co-culture with varied with weak statistical support for . (isolate BTF_36) and cf (isolate BTF_60) (p-values = 0.076 and 0.092, respectively). Fungal morphology remained unchanged in co-culture with , however, these results could be attributed to low replication per isolate. Nonetheless, two fungal isolates' growth may have been affected by , implying that fungal growth changes in co-culture could be a variable worth measuring in the future (with higher replication). These findings add to the sparse but growing literature on amphibian-associated fungi and suggest further study may uncover the relevance of fungi to amphibian health and infection.

The role of infectious disease in regulating host populations is increasingly recognized, but how environmental conditions affect pathogen communities and infection levels remains poorly understood. Over 3 y, we compared foliar disease burden, fungal pathogen community composition, and foliar chemistry in the perennial bunchgrass occurring in adjacent serpentine and nonserpentine grassland habitats with distinct soil types and plant communities. We found that serpentine and nonserpentine experienced consistent, low disease pressure associated with distinct fungal pathogen communities with high interannual species turnover. Additionally, plant chemistry differed with habitat type. The results indicate that this species experiences minimal foliar disease associated with diverse fungal communities that are structured across landscapes by spatially and temporally variable conditions. Distinct fungal communities associated with different growing conditions may shield from large disease outbreaks, contributing to the low disease burden observed on this and other Mediterranean grassland species.

While the negative effects of infrequent, high-intensity fire on soil fungal abundance are well-understood, it remains unclear how the short-term history of frequent, low-intensity fire in fire-dependent ecosystems impacts abundance, and whether this history governs any abundance declines. We used prescribed fire to experimentally alter the short-term fire history of patches within a fire-frequented old-growth pine savanna over a 3 y period. We then quantified fungal abundance before and after the final fire using phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) assays and Droplet Digital™ PCR (ddPCR). Short-term fire history largely did not affect total fungal abundance nor pre- to post-fire abundance shifts. While producing similar conclusions, PLFA and ddPCR data were not correlated. In addition to piloting a new method to quantify soil fungal abundance, our findings indicate that, within fire-frequented pine savannas, recurrent fires do not consistently decrease total fungal abundance, and abundance changes are not contingent upon short-term fire history. This suggests that many fungi in fire-dependent ecosystems are fire-tolerant.

Entomopathogenic fungi routinely kill their hosts before releasing infectious spores, but a few species keep insects alive while sporulating, which enhances dispersal. Transcriptomics- and metabolomics-based studies of entomopathogens with post-mortem dissemination from their parasitized hosts have unraveled infection processes and host responses. However, the mechanisms underlying active spore transmission by Entomophthoralean fungi in living insects remain elusive. Here we report the discovery, through metabolomics, of the plant-associated amphetamine, cathinone, in four -infected periodical cicada populations, and the mushroom-associated tryptamine, psilocybin, in annual cicadas infected with or , which likely represent a single fungal species. The absence of some fungal enzymes necessary for cathinone and psilocybin biosynthesis along with the inability to detect intermediate metabolites or gene orthologs are consistent with possibly novel biosynthesis pathways in . The neurogenic activities of these compounds suggest the extended phenotype of that modifies cicada behavior to maximize dissemination is chemically-induced.

Fungivorous millipedes (subterclass Colobognatha) likely represent some of the earliest known mycophagous terrestrial arthropods, yet their fungal partners remain elusive. Here we describe relationships between fungi and the fungivorous millipede, . Their fungal community is surprisingly diverse, including 176 genera, 39 orders, four phyla, and several undescribed species. Of particular interest are twelve genera conserved across wood substrates and millipede clades that comprise the core fungal community of . Wood decay fungi, long speculated to serve as the primary food source for species, were absent from this core assemblage and proved lethal to millipedes in pathogenicity assays while entomopathogenic Hypocreales were more common in the core but had little effect on millipede health. This study represents the first survey of fungal communities associated with any colobognath millipede, and these results offer a glimpse into the complexity of millipede fungal communities.

has long been considered to be an asexual species. Although a sexual stage was recently reported for this species from studies, the amount of recombination ongoing in natural populations and the genetic distance across which meiosis occurs is largely unknown. In the current study, genetic diversity, reproduction and evolution of natural populations endemic to Kenya were examined. A total of 2744 isolates recovered from 629 maize-field soils across southern Kenya in two consecutive seasons were characterized at 17 SSR loci, revealing high genetic diversity (9-72 alleles/locus and 2140 haplotypes). Clonal reproduction and persistence of clonal lineages predominated, with many identical haplotypes occurring in multiple soil samples and both seasons. Genetic analyses predicted three distinct lineages with linkage disequilibrium and evolutionary relationships among haplotypes within each lineage suggesting mutation-driven evolution followed by clonal reproduction. Low genetic differentiation among adjacent communities reflected frequent short distance dispersal.

We studied the effects of f.sp. (Fos), a soil-borne biocontrol agent (BCA) against , on total fungal and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal (AMF) taxa in rhizospheres of maize in both clayey and sandy soil. Effects of Fos-BCA 'Foxy-2' were evaluated against (1) presence, and (2) organic fertilization with residues at 14, 28 and 42 d after 'Foxy-2' inoculation, via DNA-based quantitative PCR and TRFLP fingerprinting. In both soils, 'Foxy-2' occasionally promoted total fungal abundance, while the community composition was mainly altered by and . Notably, 'Foxy-2' stimulated AMF abundance, while was suppressed by . Total fungal and AMF abundance were promoted by residues. In conclusion, 'Foxy-2' resulted in no adverse effects on indigenous rhizosphere fungal communities substantiating its environmental safety as BCA against .

Living organisms in aquatic ecosystems are almost constantly confronted by pathogens. Nevertheless, very little is known about diseases of marine diatoms, the main primary producers of the oceans. Only a few examples of marine diatoms infected by zoosporic parasites are published, yet these studies suggest that diseases may have significant impacts on the ecology of individual diatom hosts and the composition of communities at both the producer and consumer trophic levels of food webs. Here we summarize available ecological and morphological data on chytrids, aphelids, stramenopiles (including oomycetes, labyrinthuloids, and hyphochytrids), parasitic dinoflagellates, cercozoans and phytomyxids, all of which are known zoosporic parasites of marine diatoms. Difficulties in identification of host and pathogen species and possible effects of environmental parameters on the prevalence of zoosporic parasites are discussed. Based on published data, we conclude that zoosporic parasites are much more abundant in marine ecosystems than the available literature reports, and that, at present, both the diversity and the prevalence of such pathogens are underestimated.

Obligate mutualistic symbioses rely on mechanisms that secure host-symbiont commitments to maximize host benefits and prevent symbiont cheating. Previous studies showed that somatic incompatibilities correlate with neutral-marker-based genetic distances between fungal symbionts of Panamanian leaf-cutting ants, but the extent to which this relationship applies more generally remained unclear. Here we showed that genetic distances accurately predicted somatic incompatibility for symbionts irrespective of whether neutral microsatellites or AFLP markers were used, but that such correlations were weaker or absent in sympatric colonies. Further analysis showed that the symbiont clades maintained by and were likely to represent separate gene pools, so that neutral markers were unlikely to be similarly correlated with incompatibility loci that have experienced different selection regimes. We suggest that evolutionarily derived claustral colony founding by queens may have removed selection for strong incompatibility in fungi, as this condition makes the likelihood of symbiont swaps much lower than in , where incipient nests stay open because queens have to forage until the first workers emerge.

is a ubiquitous airborne fungus detected in every sampled region of the Earth. Owing to its role in Alexander Fleming's serendipitous discovery of Penicillin in 1928, the fungus has generated widespread scientific interest; however its natural history is not well understood. Research has demonstrated speciation within . , describing the existence of four cryptic species. To discriminate the four species, we developed protocols for species-specific diagnostic PCR directly from fungal conidia. 430 isolates were collected to apply our rapid diagnostic tool and explore the distribution of these fungi across the London Underground rail transport system revealing significant differences between Underground lines. Phylogenetic analysis of multiple type isolates confirms that the 'Fleming species' should be named and that divergence of the four 'Chrysogenum complex' fungi occurred about 0.75 million yr ago. Finally, the formal naming of two new species, and , is performed.

Most fungal species from marine environments also live on land. It is not clear whether these fungi reach the sea from terrestrial sources as spores or other propagules, or if there are separate ecotypes that live and reproduce in the sea. The emergence of marine diseases has created an urgency to understand the distribution of these fungi. Aspergillus flavus is ubiquitous in both terrestrial and marine environments. This species is an opportunistic pathogen in many hosts, making it a good model to study the relationship between genetic diversity and specificity of marine fungi. In this study, an intraspecific phylogeny of A. flavus isolates based on Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphisms (AFLPs) was used to determine if terrestrial and marine isolates form discrete populations, and to determine if phylogeny predicts substratum specificity. Results suggest lack of population structure in A. flavus. All isolates may compose a single population, with no clade particular to marine environments.