Inonotus rickii (Agaricomycetes, Hymenochaetaceae) in Brazilian Cerrado: Expanding Its Geographic Distribution and Host List

Corticioid and poroid fungi from Brazilian Cerrado: a history of research and a checklist of species

Corticioid and poroid fungi are widely known for wood decomposition which confers an important ecological role and biotechnological properties upon these species. Although being one of the most studied groups of fungi worldwide, data on diversity and geographic occurrence patterns in Brazil are insufficient, especially in poorly studied areas, including the Cerrado biome. Here we present an overview of the scientific literature concerning the corticioid and poroid fungi from Cerrado, along with a list of species found in the biome so far. The historic research at Cerrado comprised 47 articles published between 1876 and 2021, of which 55% were published in the last decade. We found 387 records and 223 species, while 94 species are new additions to the checklists published in the last decade. Six of the listed species are endemic to Cerrado. Furthermore, 29 species are only known from Cerrado in Brazil, although they occur in other regions of the world. The main research groups focused on these fungi in Brazil have already published at least one article with samples from Cerrado. Therefore, intensifying studies throughout Cerrado could help in a better understanding of its Funga, its evolutionary relationship, and its threatens status.

Occurrence, Biological and Enzymatic Activities of Agaricomycetes from the Brazilian Amazon - A Systematic Review

Agaricomycetes are highlighted for producing a variety of compounds and enzymes with nutritional and medicinal properties. However, the knowledge of the diversity of this group of fungi is still insufficient, as well as their biological and enzymatic activities. Thus, the objective of this work is to describe the occurrence, biological and enzymatic activities of Agaricomycetes from the Brazilian Amazon. The present study is a systematic review with the literature search done in the following databases: Scielo, Google Scholar, PubMed and ScienceDirect. The descriptors used were Basidiomycota, Agaricomycetes, mushroom, antimicrobial activity, antitumor activity, antioxidant activity, anti-inflammatory activity, immunomodulator, enzymatic activity, and Brazilian Amazon. We used as inclusion criteria articles in Portuguese and English, published between 2010 and 2021 and that had the full text available and presented relevance to the exposed topic, and as exclusion criteria, works not done in the Brazilian Amazon, duplicate articles in the databases search or outside the topic under study. A total of 40 articles, published between 2010 and 2021, were selected for analysis. 230 species of Agaricomycetes fungi were described for the Brazilian Amazon, with the most frequent orders being Polyporales (52.60%), Agaricales (14.35%), and Hymenochaetales (13.91%). Six studies were found on antimicrobial activity for promising Agaricomycete fungi against the bacteria Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus and the fungi Candida albicans, C. parapsilosis and C. tropicalis. For the antioxidant activity, a study described the species Lentinus citrinus with high amounts of antioxidant compounds. For enzymatic activity, five studies reported Agaricomycete fungi producing protease, cellulase, amylase, pectinase, laccase, and xylanase enzymes. This review shows the scarcity of studies on the description and technological potential of Agaricomycetes from the Brazilian Amazon, highlighting the need to encourage the study of this group of organisms.

Fungal community characteristics and driving factors during the decaying process of Salix psammophila sand barriers in the desert

Wood-inhabiting fungi are crucial to wood decay and decomposition in S. psammophila sand barriers, which in turn consumingly influence nutrient dynamics in desert soils. In the case of an extremely arid desert, as opposed to forests, little of known about the fungal community composition of decaying wood and the effects of decomposing wood on soil physical and chemical properties. Combined with high-throughput gene sequencing technology, we investigated the relationships between microenvironment factors with fungal community composition and diversity during the decomposition of Salix psammophila sand barriers. The results showed that the destruction of lignocellulose components during the decay process of S. psammophila sand barrier alters the physical and chemical properties of the surrounding soil. Compared with one-year sand barrier, lignin and cellulose of seven-year S. psammophila sand barrier decreased by 40.48% and 38.33%, respectively. Soil available potassium and available nitrogen increased by 39.80% and 99.46%, respectively. We confirmed that soil available nitrogen, soil pH and soil moisture content significantly affected the fungal community distribution of S. psammophila sand barriers. Sordariomycetes are mainly affected by the positive correlation of soil pH, while Eurotiomycetes are most affected by the positive correlation of soil moisture content and soil porosity. Although our results highlighted the importance of bidirectional interactions between fungi in decayed sand barriers and soil properties, their contribution to the desert ecosystem still needs further confirmation from future studies. However, overall our findings improved the current understanding of the sand barrier-soil interactions on the process of ecological restoration.