From the Editor's Desk
The year 2017 mark the centennial year of birth of Late Professor S. B. Saksena of Dr. Hari Singh Gour University, Sagar (M.P.), who has been a legendry mycologist in the league of Late Professor K. S. Thind of Panjab University, Chandigarh and Late Professor C. V. Subramanian of CAS in Botany, Guindy Campus, Chennai. The present issue of Kavaka is dedicated to his memory by Mycological Society of India in honour of the significant contributions made by him to the Indian Mycology, in recognition of which, like his other contemporaries, Dr. Saksena earned international fame. Decision to this effect was taken by the executive of the Mycological Society of India, which was later ratified in the general body meeting of MSI at Jaipur. I take it as a personal pride to be associated with the commemorative volume being released by Mycological Society of India on this auspicious day of the completion of the centennial year of his birth.
As has already been intimated, our Journal is now rated at 5.30 in the NAAS rating of the Journals by National Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Recently it was listed by University Grants Commission in its approved list of Journals for publication of research articles for calculation of API score in career progression of university and college teachers.
Members are requested to submit their good research/review articles through online submission portal(http://www.kavaka.fungiindia.co.in) which can also be accessed through the official website of the Mycological Society of India (http://www.fungiindia.co.in) as well. This will help us in further improvement of the Journal rating.
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all the contributors and the reviewers of the research articles published in this issue of Kavaka.
August 10, 2017
N. S. Atri
Editor-in-Chief
KAVAKA
Professor, Department of Botany
Punjabi University, Patiala
PIN-147 002, PUNJAB, INDIA
Front Page 
, Contents
KAVAKA 48(2):1-5(2017)
Professor Shyam Bahadur Saksena Birth Centennial Year Tribute
R.S. Mehrotra* and Ashok Aggarwal**
Department of Botany, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra (*Present
address# 263/7, Urban Estate, Kurukshetra, 136118
**Corresponding author Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
(Submitted in January, 2017; Accepted on July 5, 2017)
KAVAKA 48(2):6-10(2017)
Saksenaea vasiformis revisited after 64 years
R.S. Mehrotra* and Ashok Aggarwal**
Department of Botany, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra- 136119 (*Present address# 263/7, Urban Estate, Kurukshetra, 136118)
**Corresponding author Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
(Submitted in February, 2017; Accepted on July 20, 2017)
ABSTRACT
The genus Saksenaea was first discovered from India in 1953 from the forest soils of Sagar (Madhya Pradesh) by Late Professor S.B.Saksena of Dr. Hari Singh Gour University, Sagar (M.P.) and named after his Ph.D. supervisor, Prof. R.K.Saksena of Allahabad University, Allahabad. Incidentally the same fungus was discovered by Farrow around this time in 1954 from Barro Colorado Island from the soils of Panama region. The fungus was once thought to be limited in distribution has now been reported from various places from India and abroad. Because of its unique sporangial characters and non-motile spores in a columellate sporangium it was placed in the order Mucorales of the Division Zygomycota. Ellis and Hesseltine (1974) created a new family Saksenaeaceae for the genus. However, Kirk et al. (2008) have placed the genus in the family Radiomycetaceae. The taxonomic status of the family has been critically evaluated. In 1976, Azello et al published an important paper in which the fungus was found to be serious human pathogen. From 1976 to 2017, more than 50 research papers have been published on the pathogenic nature of the fungus causing severe cutaneous, sub-cutaneous and rhino-orbital-cerebral infections on humans as well as animals. In 2010, Alvarej et al. published a paper based on molecular phylogeny and proposed two more species of this genus. The paper closes with a discussion on the origin of Zygomycetes and the possible origin of Zygomycetes from Chytridiaceous ancestors such as Nowakowskiella whose sporangia look very similar to Saksenaea and also based on biochemical parameters of Chytridiomycetes and Zygomycetes.
KEY WORDS : Saksenaea, Taxonomy, pathogenic aspects and phylogeny.
KAVAKA48(2):11-20(2017)
Mycobiome:An emerging perspective in fungal biology!
Apekcha Bajpai and BN Johri
Department of Biotechnology, Barkatullah University, Bhopal-462026
Corresponding a uthor Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
(Submitted in March, 2017; Accepted on July 5, 2017)
ABSTRACT
Fungi represent an important and highly diverse group of eukaryotic microbes on earth. They play a vital role in ecosystem by driving biogeochemical cycling and nutrient uptake eventually influencing the ecological fitness. As compared to bacterial counterpart of microbiome the knowledge about fungi is still lacking from a mycobiome perspective which represents the total fungal biota in the environment. Fungi are widely distributed across all major biomes on earth. However, global fungal diversity patterns are determined by abiotic factors, geographical location, climate change and other environmental factors. With advances in high throughput sequencing platforms fungal biodiversity has been unraveled at a greater depth. This has shed light on fungal community dynamics and its contrasting features from microbiome perspectives. Additionally, a growing body of evidence suggests inter and intra-kingdom interactions and possible role of mycobiome as an integral part of the human welfare. In this article, the mycobiome is discussed in context of its association and significance in major biomes of earth.
Keywords: Fungi, biomes, next generation sequencing, mycobiome, microbiome
KAVAKA 48(2): 21-25(2017)
Isolation, Characterization of Endophytic Fungi of Mimusops elengi (Bakul)
Shilpa Amit Verekar , Ved Prakash ,Y. G. Chavan and S. K. Deshmukh *
Mérieux NutriSciences, Microchem House, A513, TTC Ind. Area, MIDC, Mahape, Navi Mumbai, 400701 India
Department of Biotechnology, Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology, Allahabad, 211004, India
geneOmbio Technologies Private Limited, S No 39/3, Yogi Park, Baner, Pune 411 045, India
TERI Deakin Nano Biotechnology Centre, The Energy and Resources Institute, Darbari Seth Block, IHC Complex, Lodhi Road,
New Delhi, 110 003, India.
*Corresponding author Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
(Submitted in July, 2017; Accepted on August 2, 2017)
ABSTRACT
Fresh bark pieces of Mimusops elengi Linn. were used for the isolation of fungal endophytes using standard methods. Mimusops elengi is a small to a large evergreen medicinal plant found all over the different parts of India. Seventy one endophytic fungi belonging to ascomycetes (11.27%), coelomycetes (39.44%) and hyphomycetes (49.29%) were isolated from 200 segments of Mimusops elengi collected from Dr. H. S. Gour University campus in Sagar District, Madhya Pradesh, India. The identification of these fungi was confirmed by the BLAST search of sequences of the ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 rDNA region against the NCBI/GenBank data and compared with deposited sequences for identification purpose. Sixteen different fungal species belonging to 16 genera viz. Botryosphaeria mamane, Chaetomium globosum, Rhytidhysteron sp., Phoma putaminum, Pestaliopsis sp., Colletotricum gleosporoides, Phomopsis sp., Acremonium sp., Alternaria alternata, Beltraniella portoricensis, Cladosporium cladosporioides, Curvularia lunata, Fusarium chlamydosporum, Myrothecium verrucaria, Nigrospora oryzae and Torula herbarum were isolated. The most frequently isolated endophytes were Cladosporium cladosporioides (22.53%), Pestaliopsis sp.,(19.71%), Phomopsis sp., (9.86%) and Chaetomium globosum (8.45%). This study shows that a great number of endophytic fungi exist in the samples obtained from bark samples of M. elengi.
Key words: Fungal endophytes, bark samples, Mimusops elengi, medicinal plants.
KAVAKA 48(2):26-32(2017)
Diversity and technological potential of fungi from solar salterns of southern India
N. Thirunavukkarasu 1 , T.S.Suryanarayanan 2 *, T.Rajamani 1 and M.B. Govinda Rajulu 2
1 PG & Research Department of Botany, Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda College, Chennai 600004, India
2 Vivekananda Institute of Tropical Mycology (VINSTROM), Ramakrishna Mission Vidyapith, Chennai 600004, India
*Corresponding author Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
(Submitted in February, 2017; Accepted on July 30, 2017)
ABSTRACT
Twenty three species belonging to ten genera of fungi were isolated by two methods from three saltern soils of southern India. Species of Aspergillus were the most common fungi present in these samples. Three of these fungi, viz. Aspergillus sp. 3, A. terreus, and a sterile fungus (SF2) were further studied for their salt tolerance, production of some extracellular enzymes and bioactive metabolites as influenced by external salt concentration. The fungi were halotolerant and not halophilic and two of them could grow on 20% NaCl medium. Extracellular enzyme production was influenced by salt in these fungi. Some enzymes were produced through a range of salt concentration (0 to 18 %), some enzymes showed more activity in the presence of salt and a few enzymes were salt-induced. Antialgal and antifungal metabolites were elaborated only in the presence of salt.
KEY WORDS : Extremozymes, halotolerant, salt tolerant fungi
KAVAKA 48(2): 33-40(2017)
Role of Phosphate Solubilizing Fungi and Microbes for sustainable Agriculture and Agro forestry
C. Manoharachary* and D. Nagaraju
*Mycology and Molecular Plant Pathology Laboratory, Department of Botany, Osmania University, Hyderabad - 500007,
Telangana, India
Department of Botany, Govt. Degree College, Eturnagaram-506165, Distt. Warangal, Telangana, India.
Corresponding author Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
(Submitted in March, 2017; Accepted on July 10, 2017)
ABSTRACT
Phosphorus is an important nutrient required for plant growth, yield and adaptability to different ecological conditions. Many Indian soils are deficient in phosphorus. The organic form of available phosphorus is meagre and mineral phosphorus such as rock phosphate is found in large quantities. The mineral phosphorus needs to be solubilized by varied groups of microorganisms, thus making 'P' available for crop plants and forestry. This review presents information on role of phosphate solubilizing fungi and microbes for sustainable agriculture and agro-forestry.
KEYWORDS: Agriculture, agroforestry, fungi, microbes, phosphorus, rock phosphate.
KAVAKA 48(2): 41-46 (2017)
Nutritional and Neutraceutical potential of some wild edible Russulaceous mushrooms from North
West Himalayas, India
*Samidha Sharma, N. S. Atri, Munruchi Kaur and **Balwant Verma
Department of Botany, Punjabi University, Patiala.147002.
* Department of Botany, Arya College, Ludhiana, (Punjab) 141001
**Department of Biotechnology, Thapar University, Patiala, (Punjab) 147004
Corresponding author Email: samidha8885@ gmail.com
(Submitted in January, 2017 ; Accepted on June 10, 2017)
ABSTRACT
Seven wild edible russulaceous mushrooms, namely R. brevipes Peck, R cyanoxantha (Schaeff.) Fr., R. heterophylla (Fr.) Fr., R. virescens (Schaeff.) Fr., Lactarius sanguifluus (Paulet) Fr., L. deliciosus (L.) Gray and Lactifluus piperatus (L.) Kuntze were selected for nutritional and nutraceutical evaluation. Their complete nutritional profile with respect to per cent occurrence of protein, carbohydrate, fat, ash, free sugars and energy values present were evaluated. For neutraceutical evaluation, phenolic compounds, flavonoids, ascorbic acid and â carotenoids were evaluated. To evaluate antioxidant activity, reducing power assay was conducted. Nutritional analysis confirmed the presence of good amounts of protein which ranged from 19.84- 37.77%, sufficient carbohydrate content that ranges from 40.81-63.24%, low fat content that ranges from 1.7-5.44%, good ash content ranging from 6.17-16.43 %, moisture 6.89-8.34 % and energy value 253.84- 287.40 Kcal/ 100g of the sample. Mannitol and trehalose occur as the main sugars in all the mushrooms evaluated. Amongst the neutraceutical components phenolic content ranged from 1.78-17.55 mg/g, flavonoid content ranged from 0.14-2.47 mg/g, ascorbic acid content ranged from 0.12-0.31 mg/g, â carotene content ranged from 4.47-32.73μg/g and the reducing power of mushroom methanolic extract was found to range between 0.06-0.77.
Key Words: Wild mushrooms, edibility, neutraceutical potential, reducing power, Russula, Lactarius, Lactifluus
KAVAKA48(2): 47-58(2017)
Production, characteristics and potential applications of the cellulolytic enzymes of thermophilic
moulds
Bijender Singh1 ,Anju Bala1 , Seema Dahiya1 and T. Satyanarayana2
1 Laboratory of Bioprocess Technology, Department of Microbiology, Maharishi Dayanand University, Rohtak-124001, India
2 Division of Biological Sciences and Engineering, Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology, Azad Hind Fauz Marg, Sector 3,
Dwarka, New Delhi-110078, India
*Corresponding author Email.: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
(Submitted in February, 2017;Accepted on July 10, 2017)
KEYWORDS: Thermophilic moulds, cellulases, lignocellulosics, solid state fermentation, submerged fermentation, biofuels, bioethanol
KAVAKA48(2): 59-60(2017)
Lasiodiplodia hormozganensis: First report as an endophyte and a new record for India
Indu Bhushan Prasher and Reena Kumari Dhanda*
Department of Botany, Mycology and Plant Pathology Laboratory Panjab University, Chandigarh 160014, India.
*Corresponding author Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
(Submitted in January, 2017;Accepted on June 20, 2017)
Lasiodiplodia hormozganensis Abdollahz, Zare & A.J.L. Phillips is isolated and described as an endophyte from Ficus krishnae L. It constitutes the first report of L . hormozganensis as an endophytic fungus from F. krishnae world-wide and a new record for India. It is one of the most frequently occurring species in different vegetative parts of F. krishnae.
Key Words: Endophytic fungus, Lasiodiplodia hormozganensis, India.
KAVAKA48(2):61-69(2017)
Seasonal occurrence of marine ascomycetes and anamorphic marine fungi in mangroves of Godavari
and Krishna deltas, East coast of India
V. Venkateswara Sarma* and B.P.R. Vittal
Department of Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Pondicherry University, Kalapet, Pondicherry-605 014, India.
Centre for Advanced studies in Botany, University of Madras, Guindy Campus, Chennai-600025, India.
*
Corresponding author Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
(Submitted in January, 2017; Accepted on June 25, 2017)
ABSTRACT
Seasonal occurrence of marine ascomycetes and anamorphic marine fungi in mangroves of Godavari and Krishna deltas, East coast of India was studied. The results showed more percentage occurrence of ascomycetes during dry period and more anamorphic fungi during wet period and converse was true in dry and wet periods for respective groups where the percentage occurrence was less than the usual. Among the various environmental factors studied such as maximum and minimum air temperatures, relative humidity, salinity, surface water temperature and average monthly rainfall only average monthly rainfall showed an effect on the species richness and abundance of ascomycetes and anamorphs. No or low rain fall favored higher percentage of ascomycetes and a good rainfall has favored an increase in the anamorphic fungi and a decrease in ascomycetes.
Key words: Seasonality, Ascomycetes, anamorphic marine fungi, Rhizophora spp., Avicennia spp.
KAVAKA 48(2): 70-75(2017)
Tamil Nadu, India
Centre for Advanced Studies in Botany, Guindy Campus, University of Madras, Chennai- 600 025, Tamil Nadu, India.
*Corresponding author Email : This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
(Submitted in January, 2017; Accepted on July 20, 2017)
ABSTRACT
KEYWORDS: Pleurotus flabellatus, rDNA sequence, phylogenetic construction
KAVAKA 48(2): 76-83(2017)
Insights into the Aquatic Hyphomycetes*
Department of Biosciences, Mangalore University, Mangalagangotri, Mangalore 574 199, Karnataka, India
Corresponding author Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
(Submitted in May, 2017; Accepted on July 25, 2017)
ABSTRACT
The discipline 'aquatic hyphomycetology' with exciting historical background addresses the biology and ecology of a specific group of mycota adapted to stream ecosystems. The major attractions of these fungi are production of characteristic conidia (mainly staurosporous and scolecosporous) and wide geographic distribution. Their important ecological functions include breakdown and mineralization of plant lignocellulosic substrata and the transfer of energy to higher trophic levels in streams. The global proportion of life sustaining freshwater amounts to 2.75% with only 0.01% present as surface water in diverse habitats. Therefore, occurrence, distribution and role of aquatic hyphomycetes in freshwater food webs are of immense significance. In addition to field studies in streams, these fungi serve as model community for mesocosm and microcosm experiments to address many ecological issues. Many species of aquatic hyphomycetes remain unknown and are yet to be explored.
There are many unsettled questions on their occurrence, distribution, adaptations and functions. In the current global scenario (climate change, global warming and pollution), the role of aquatic hyphomycetes in streams is highly valuable to understand their ecosystem services to enforce conservation strategies. This contribution is a general account of the inventory, approaches, boundaries, ecological services and future challenges concerning aquatic hyphomycetes.
Keywords: Distribution, diversity, ecology, food web, freshwater hyphomycetes, streams
KAVAKA 48(2):84-94(2017)
New additions to the genus Agaricus (Agaricaceae, Agaricales) from Northwest India
*Corresponding author Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
(Submitted on January 1, 2017 ; Accepted on June 10, 2017)
ABSTRACT
In the present paper 11 taxa of genus Agaricus L.: Fr. collected from different tropical, subtropical and temperate areas of Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir (India) are described. These are A. porphyrocephallus F.H.Møller, A. subrutilescens (Kauffman) Hotson & Stuntz, A. parvitigrinus Guinb. & Callac, A. silvaticus var. pallidus (F.H. Møller) F.H. Møller, A. mealgaris var. obscuratus (Maire) Heinem, A. rubribrunnescens Murrill,W.A, A. andrewii Freeman A.E.H, A. blazei Murrill W.A, A. fuscovelatus Kerrigan R.W, A. bolorhizus Berk. & Broome and A. californicus Peck. Based on morphotaxonomy all these 11 species are new records for Indian mycobiota and described here for the first time along with their identification key, distribution, ecological and edibility status.
KEYWORDS: Taxonomy, identification key, distribution, ecology, edibility.
KAVAKA: 48(2):95-98(2017)
Five New Records of Family Atheliaceae from Jammu Division (J. & K.)
Jyoti Sharma*, Avneet Pal Singh and G. S. Dhingra
Department of Botany, Punjabi University, Patiala 147002
Corresponding author Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
(Submitted in May, 2017; Accepted on July 25, 2017)
ABSTRACT
Key words: Basidiomycota, Agaricomycetes, Corticioid fungi
, Instructions
