Mycological Progress最新文献

Phylogenetic inference is done regularly in many biological studies not focussed on the phylogeny itself, but which use phylogeny as a tool to infer hypotheses for the interpretation of laboratory experiments. However, phylogenetic inference is often performed at low standards in these studies, which can result in wrong interpretations. Using high-standard phylogenetic inference tools usually requires substantial methodological knowledge or is only possible with paid tools. To enable beginners, researchers for which phylogeny is just one tool of many, and scientists in biodiversity discovery a quick and easy access to current phylogenetic methods, the TrEase web service with an intuitive interface was developed. It offers a complete pipeline with commonly used phylogeny-related software, which can run the whole process of sequence acquisition, reference sequence search, alignment and phylogenetic inference with a single execution command once the necessary parameters have been selected from drop-down menus. It allows choosing alternate programmes for each step and also offers the flexibility to use any part of the pipeline independently. Along with providing a compact pipeline, this web service provides several functionalities to avoid manual intervention such as sorting sequences into the same orientation, cutting reference sequences, removal of redundant sequences and the possibility to choose reference sequences from top ‘species’ hits instead of top GenBank entry hits. All resulting trees and intermediate files are made available for download for subsequent use. Thus, the TrEase service offers a barrier-free entry into standard phylogenetic analyses. It is available at http://thines-lab.senckenberg.de/trease.

Marine fungi have been proven as potential sources of natural metabolites with significant bioactivities that have not been sufficiently explored. This highlights the need for intensifying research to reach sustainable utilization of this huge factory of biodiverse metabolites. Aromatic-bisabolane sesquiterpenoids (ABSs) are a rare class of monocyclic sesquiterpenoids that have been reported from fungi, gorgonians, corals, sponges, and plants. These metabolites possessed significant bioactivities and intriguing chemical frameworks, indicating their substantial pharmaceutical and/or agricultural values. The current work covered the reported data on fungal ABSs, including their sources, isolation, structure characterization, and bioactivities. In addition, their Pin1 inhibitory potential as anticancer agents was assessed using in silico studies. Out of the compounds studied, 17 compounds showed docking scores which surpassed that of the reference ligand. Among these, three compounds demonstrated superior MM-GBSA binding free energies compared to the reference ligand. These three compounds underwent subsequent MD simulations, confirming the stability of their interactions. These findings suggested aspergoterpenin A, engyodontiumone I, (+)-1-hydroxyboivinianic acid, and methyl(S)-3-hydroxy-4-(2-hydroxy-6-methylheptan-2-yl) benzoate as possible new Pin1 inhibitors for further in vitro against prostate and esophageal cancer cells.

Downy mildews are the most species-rich group of oomycetes, with more than 700 known species. The relationships within the main downy mildew lineages (i.e. the downy mildews with pyriform haustoria, the downy mildews with coloured conidia, and the brassicolous downy mildews) are increasingly well resolved, and 20 well-characterised monophyletic genera have been described. However, their relationships to each other, the various lineages of graminicolous downy mildews, and to the species subsumed in Phytophthora are still unresolved. Recent phylogenomic studies have suggested a polyphyly of the downy mildews, but with a limited taxon sampling within Phytophthora. As taxon sampling is crucial for inferring relationships between large groups, we have conducted a multigene analysis with a set of 72 Phytophthora species and included all known downy mildew lineages. In addition, we performed approximately unbiased (AU) testing as an additional approach to evaluate major nodes. Our analyses resolve the downy mildews as a monophyletic assemblage in all phylogenetic algorithms used. We thus conclude that the evolution of the obligate biotrophy characteristic of downy mildews was a singular event and that all downy mildew pathogens can be traced to a single ancestor.