Comparison of Fungal Genera Isolated from Cucumber Plants and Rhizosphere Soil by Using Various Cultural Media.

Plant endophytic fungi and rhizosphere soil fungi are often reported as biocontrol agents against plant pathogens or with plant growth promotion potential. Four treatments were performed in field and greenhouse experiments where cucumber plants were inoculated with and in 2022. The roots, stems and leaves of cucumber plants and their rhizosphere soil were collected twice individually from the field and greenhouse for isolation of cucumber endophytic and rhizosphere soil fungi.

Comparative mitochondrial genome analyses reveal conserved gene arrangement but massive expansion/contraction in two closely related pathogens.

and , two closely related fungal species, are both economically important pathogens but have quite different target hosts (specific to plants and cross-kingdom infection, respectively). In the present study, complete circular mitochondrial genomes of the two species were sequenced and assembled, which mainly comprised the same set of 13 core protein-coding genes (PCGs), two rRNAs, and a certain number of tRNAs and unidentified open reading frames (ORFs). Comparative analyses indicated that these two fungi had significant mitogenomic collinearity and consistent mitochondrial gene arrangement, yet with vastly different mitogenome sizes, 264,948 bp and 64,620 bp, respectively.