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      Three new Graphium species from baobab trees in South Africa and Madagascar

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          Abstract

          Baobabs ( Adansonia spp.) are iconic trees, known for their immense size, strange forms, sources of food and as the subjects of myths and mysteries. It is thus surprising that little is known regarding the fungi that infect these trees. During a survey to determine which wound infecting fungi occur on baobabs, synnematous structures were observed and Graphium-like isolates were obtained. Culture characteristics and micro-morphology, together with DNA sequence comparisons for the SSU rRNA, rRNA-ITS and TEF-1α gene regions were used to characterise these fungi. These data revealed three novel Graphium spp. and these are described as G. adansoniae, G. madagascariense and G. fabiforme.

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          The natural history of group I introns.

          There are four major classes of introns: self-splicing group I and group II introns, tRNA and/or archaeal introns and spliceosomal introns in nuclear pre-mRNA. Group I introns are widely distributed in protists, bacteria and bacteriophages. Group II introns are found in fungal and land plant mitochondria, algal plastids, bacteria and Archaea. Group II and spliceosomal introns share a common splicing pathway and might be related to each other. The tRNA and/or archaeal introns are found in the nuclear tRNA of eukaryotes and in archaeal tRNA, rRNA and mRNA. The mechanisms underlying the self-splicing and mobility of a few model group I introns are well understood. By contrast, the role of these highly distinct processes in the evolution of the 1500 group I introns found thus far in nature (e.g. in algae and fungi) has only recently been clarified. The explosion of new sequence data has facilitated the use of comparative methods to understand group I intron evolution in a broader context and to generate hypotheses about intron insertion, splicing and spread that can be tested experimentally.
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            Leptographium wingfieldii introduced into North America and found associated with exotic Tomicus piniperda and native bark beetles.

            Leptographium wingfieldii is a well-known fungal associate of the pine shoot beetle, Tomicus piniperda, in Europe. This fungus is pathogenic to pines and is an important cause of blue-stain in the sapwood of infested trees. Tomicus piniperda was first found in a Christmas tree plantation in Ohio, USA, 1992, but isolation of the fungi associated with these intercepted insects was not attempted. Fungal strains resembling L. wingfieldii were recently isolated from pines attacked by T. piniperda, Dendroctonus valens and Ips pini in the northeastern United States. These strains were morphologically similar to the ex-type and other reference strains of L. wingfieldii. Strains were also compared based on sequences of the partial ITS ribosomal DNA operon, beta-tubulin and elongation factor 1-alpha (EF-1alpha) genes. Based on these DNA sequence comparisons, reference strains of European L. wingfieldii were conspecific with North American strains from pines attacked by T. piniperda, D. valens and I. pini. A single strain from Canada, collected in 1993 near the Ontario border with the USA, shortly after the discovery of T. piniperda in that area and tentatively identified as L. wingfieldii, was also included in this study. Its identification was confirmed, suggesting that L. wingfieldii has been present in this region and probably over the whole range of the insect's distribution for at least a decade. This represents the first record of L. wingfieldii associated with the introduced and damaging pine shoot beetle T. piniperda in North America. It shows that the fungus is well established and can become associated with other native bark beetles that attack stressed and/or dying trees. The occurrence and spread of this highly pathogenic fungus associated with North American bark beetles should be monitored.
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              Baobab food products: a review on their composition and nutritional value.

              Several authors have published about baobab food products. Data on macronutrients, micronutrients, amino acids, and fatty acids were collected from literature for pulp, leaves, seeds, and kernels of the baobab tree. The results show that baobab pulp is particularly rich in vitamin C; consumption of 40 g covers 84 to more than 100% of the Recommended Daily Intake (RDI) of pregnant women (19-30 years). The leaves are particularly rich in calcium (307 to 2640 mg/100 g dw), and they are known to contain good quality proteins with a chemical score of 0.81. The whole seeds and the kernels have a relatively high lipid content, 11.6 to 33.3 g/100 g dw and 18.9 to 34.7 g/100 g dw, respectively. The pulp and leaves exhibit antioxidant properties with a higher activity in the pulp than in the leaves. Reported nutrient contents of different baobab parts show a large variation, which may have arisen from various factors. Three recommendations are given for future research: 1. More attention should be given to accuracy and precision of analytical methods, 2. Research about digestibility and bioavailability of baobab products is needed, 3. The effect of storage and processing on the nutritional value of baobab products needs to be assessed.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Persoonia
                Persoonia
                Persoonia : Molecular Phylogeny and Evolution of Fungi
                Nationaal Herbarium Nederland & Centraallbureau voor Schimmelcultures
                0031-5850
                1878-9080
                8 December 2010
                December 2010
                : 25
                : 61-71
                Affiliations
                [1 ] Department of Microbiology and Plant Pathology, DST/NRF Centre of Excellence in Tree Health Biotechnology (CTHB), Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI), Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa;
                Author notes
                corresponding author e-mail: jolanda.roux@ 123456fabi.up.ac.za .
                Article
                10.3767/003158510X550368
                3028506
                21339967
                edc381d0-fd3f-415a-b181-cc1ae4da7ff5
                © 2010 Nationaal Herbarium Nederland & Centraalbureau voor Schimmelcultures

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                History
                : 2 September 2010
                : 4 November 2010
                Categories
                Research Article

                Plant science & Botany
                microascales,fungal biodiversity,adansonia rubrostipa,adansonia digitata

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