Kenzo Yamagishi

Structures of the Mating-Type Loci of Cordyceps takaomontana

ABSTRACT Nucleotide sequences of the mating-type loci MAT1-1 and MAT1-2 of Cordyceps takaomontana were determined, which is the first such report for the clavicipitaceous fungi. MAT1-1 contains two mating-type genes, MAT1-1-1 and MAT1-1-2, but MAT1-1-3 could not be found. On the other hand, MAT1-2 has MAT1-2-1. A pseudogene of MAT1-1-1 is located next to MAT1-2.

Purification and Properties of Extracellular Chitinases from the Parasitic Fungus Isaria japonica.

Two chitinases (P-1 and P-2) induced with colloidal chitin were purified from the culture supernatant of Isaria japonica by chromatography on DEAE Bio-Gel, chromatofocusing and gel filtration with Superdex 75 pg. The enzymes were electrophoretically homogeneous and estimated to have a molecular mass of 43,273 (+/-5) for P-1 and 31,134 (+/-6) for P-2 by MALDI-MS. The optimum pH and temperature was 3.5-4.0 and 50 degrees C for P-1 and 4.0-4.5 and 40 degrees C for P-2. P-1 acted against chitosan 7B (degree of deacetylation, 65-74%) = glycol chitin > colloidal chitin = chitosan 10B (degree of deacetylation, above 99%) and P-2 against chitosan 7B > glycol chitin = chitosan 10B > colloidal chitin in order of activity. The products of hydrolysis of chitin and chitosan hexamer were analyzed by MALDI-MS. The products from the chitin hexamer obtained with P-1 were almost all dimers with only a small amount of trimer whereas those obtained with P-2 were mainly trimers with some dimer and tetramer. No hydrolysis of chitosan hexamer was observed. High homology in the amino-terminal sequence for chitinase P-1 was exhibited by chitinases from Trichoderma harzianum, Candida albicans and Saccharomyces cerevisiae in the range of 48-39%. The highest homology for Chitinase P-2 was shown by an endochitinase from Metarhizium anisopliae of 66%, while 44% homology was exhibited by chitinases of Leguminosae plants.

A new species of Ceratoteleas Kozlov (Hymenoptera, Scelionidae) from Japan, with a description of the male of Ceratoteleas

Abstract Ceratoteleas cornus sp. n. is described from Japan. The male of the genus is described for the first time.