Phylogeography and population structure of Lagocephalus spadiceus (Richardson, 1845) (Tetraodontiformes, Tetraodontidae) in the South China Sea.

The climate fluctuations during the Late Pleistocene significantly influenced the phylogeographic structure and historical dynamics of marine fishes in the marginal seas of the western Pacific Ocean. The puffer fish, Lagocephalus spadiceus, holds substantial nutritional and economic value in the South China Sea. To investigate the demographic history and population structure of the L. spadiceus, the mitochondrial DNA COI and Cyt b gene datasets from 300 individuals across eight populations in the South China Sea were sequenced. Our findings revealed high haplotype diversity (0.874 ± 0.013) and low nucleotide diversity (0.00075 ± 0.00058). The phylogenetic tree and haplotype networks revealed no significant genetic differentiation along the northern coast of South China Sea. Neutrality tests, mismatch distribution analyses, and Bayesian skyline plots suggested that L. spadiceus underwent population expansion during the Late Pleistocene. Both ocean currents and climate change significantly influenced the geographical distribution and genetic population structure of L. spadiceus.

Three New Species of Apiospora (Amphisphaeriales, Apiosporaceae) on Indocalamus longiauritus, Adinandra glischroloma and Machilus nanmu from Hainan and Fujian, China.

Apiospora is widely distributed throughout the world, and most of its hosts are Poaceae. In this study, Arthrinium-like strains were isolated from non-Poaceae in the Hainan and Fujian provinces of China. Based on the combined DNA sequence data of the internal transcriptional spacer (ITS), partial large subunit nuclear rDNA (LSU), translation extension factor 1-α gene (TEF1-α) and ß-tubulin (TUB2), the collected Apiospora specimens were compared with known species, and three new species were identified. Based on morphological and molecular phylogenetic analyses, Apiospora adinandrae sp. nov., A. bawanglingensis sp. nov. and A. machili sp. nov. are described and illustrated.

Three New Species of Gongronella (Cunninghamellaceae, Mucorales) from Soil in Hainan, China Based on Morphology and Molecular Phylogeny.

The genus Gongronella is important in agriculture and industry by secreting various natural bioactive metabolites such as chitosanases and organic acids. During the most recent 8 years, a total of 14 new species have been described, remarkably enriching the diversity of this genus. In this study, we added three more new species to this valuable genus, based on a combination of morphological traits and phylogenetic information. Six strains of the genus Gongronella were isolated from soil collected in Hainan Province, China. Phylogenetic analyses of ITS and LSU rDNA sequences grouped these strains into three independent clades. According to their unique morphological characteristics, they were classified as G. multiramosa sp. nov., G. qichaensis sp. nov. and G. oleae sp. nov. The G. multiramosa was characterized by multiple branched sporangiophores and was closely related to G. pedratalhadensis. The G. qichaensis was characterized by obscure collars and closely related to G. butleri, G. hydei and G. banzhaoae. The G. oleae was characterized by the presence of oil droplets in the sporangiospores and was closely related to G. chlamydospora and G. multispora. Their descriptions and illustrations were provided, and their differences from morphological allies and phylogenetic-related species are discussed.

Multi-locus phylogenetic analyses reveal eight novel species of Distoseptispora from southern China.

IMPORTANCE: Distoseptispora as a single genus in Distoseptisporaceae was introduced by morphological and phylogenetic analyses. Members of this genus occur mainly as asexual morphs, forming effuse, hairy colonies on decaying wood, plant stems, bamboo culms, and fallen leaves and shafts in terrestrial and freshwater habitats. In the present study, saprobic hyphomycetes from plant debris were investigated, and eight new Distoseptispora species were introduced based on morphology and phylogenetic analyses of LSU, ITS, TEF1, and RPB2 sequence data. This study provides important data on the species diversity, ecological environment, and geographical area of Distoseptispora, greatly updates the classification of Distoseptispora, and improves our understanding of the taxonomy of Distoseptispora.

Morphological and Phylogenetic Analyses Reveal Three New Species of Pestalotiopsis (Sporocadaceae, Amphisphaeriales) from Hainan, China.

Species of Pestalotiopsis were mainly introduced as endophytes, plant pathogens or saprobes from various hosts. In this study, ten strains were isolated from Ficus macrocarpa, Phoebe zhennan and Spatholobus suberectus in China. Based on multilocus phylogenies from the internal transcribed spacer (ITS), the partial translation elongation factor 1-alpha gene (tef1α) and the partial beta-tubulin gene (tub2), in conjunction with morphological characteristics, we describe three new species, viz., Pestalotiopsis ficicola sp. nov., P. phoebes sp. nov. and P. spatholobi sp. nov.

Morphological and phylogenetic analyses reveal two new species and a new record of Apiospora (Amphisphaeriales, Apiosporaceae) in China.

The genus Apiospora includes endophytes, pathogens and saprobes, with a wide host range and geographic distribution. In this paper, six Apiospora strains isolated from diseased and healthy tissues of bamboo leaves from Hainan and Shandong provinces in China were classified using a multi-locus phylogeny based on a combined dataset of ITS, LSU, tef1 and tub2, in conjunction with morphological characters, host association and ecological distribution. Two new species, Apiosporadongyingensis and A.hainanensis, and a new record of A.pseudosinensis in China, are described based on their distinct phylogenetic relationships and morphological analyses. Illustrations and descriptions of the three taxa are provided, along with comparisons with closely related taxa in the genus.

Morphological and Phylogenetic Analyses Reveal Three New Species of Distoseptispora (Distoseptisporaceae, Distoseptisporales) from Yunnan, China.

Three new species of Distoseptispora, viz. D. mengsongensis, D. nabanheensis, and D. sinensis, are described and illustrated from specimens collected on dead branches of unidentified plants in Yunnan Province, China. Phylogenetic analyses of LSU, ITS, and TEF1 sequence data, using maximum-likelihood (ML) and Bayesian inference (BI), reveal the taxonomic placement of D. mengsongensis, D. nabanheensis, and D. sinensis within Distoseptispora. Both morphological observations and molecular phylogenetic analyses supported D. mengsongensis, D. nabanheensis, and D. sinensis as three new taxa. To extend our knowledge of the diversity of Distoseptispora-like taxa, a list of recognized species of Distoseptispora with major morphological features, habitat, host, and locality is also provided.

Taxonomy, Phylogeny, Divergence Time Estimation, and Biogeography of the Family Pseudoplagiostomataceae (Ascomycota, Diaporthales).

Species of Pseudoplagiostomataceae were mainly introduced as endophytes, plant pathogens, or saprobes from various hosts. Based on multi-locus phylogenies from the internal transcribed spacers (ITS), the large subunit of nuclear ribosomal RNA gene (LSU), partial DNA-directed RNA polymerase II subunit two gene (rpb2), the partial translation elongation factor 1-alpha gene (tef1α), and the partial beta-tubulin gene (tub2), in conjunction with morphological characteristics, we describe three new species, viz. Pseudoplagiostoma alsophilae sp. nov., P. bambusae sp. nov., and P. machili sp. nov. Molecular clock analyses on the divergence times of Pseudoplagiostomataceae indicated that the conjoint ancestor of Pseudoplagiostomataceae and Apoharknessiaceae occurred in the Cretaceous period. and had a mean stem age of 104.1 Mya (95% HPD of 86.0-129.0 Mya, 1.0 PP), and most species emerged in the Paleogene and Neogene period. Historical biogeography was reconstructed for Pseudoplagiostomataceae by the RASP software with a S-DEC model, and suggested that Asia, specifically Southeast Asia, was probably the ancestral area.

Morphological and Phylogenetic Analyses Reveal Three New Species of Phyllosticta (Botryosphaeriales, Phyllostictaceae) in China.

The genus Phyllosticta has been reported worldwide and contains many pathogenic and endophytic species isolated from a wide range of plant hosts. A multipoint phylogeny based on gene coding combinatorial data sets for the internal transcribed spacer (ITS), large subunit of ribosomal RNA (LSU rDNA), translation elongation factor 1α (TEF1α), actin (ACT), and glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GPDH), combined with morphological characteristics, was performed. We describe three new species, P. fujianensis sp. nov., P. saprophytica sp. nov., and P. turpiniae sp. nov., and annotate and discusse their similarities and differences in morphological relationships and phylogenetic phases with closely related species.

DA-LSTM-VAE: Dual-Stage Attention-Based LSTM-VAE for KPI Anomaly Detection.

To ensure the normal operation of the system, the enterprise's operations engineer will monitor the system through the KPI (key performance indicator). For example, web page visits, server memory utilization, etc. KPI anomaly detection is a core technology, which is of great significance for rapid fault detection and repair. This paper proposes a novel dual-stage attention-based LSTM-VAE (DA-LSTM-VAE) model for KPI anomaly detection. Firstly, in order to capture time correlation in KPI data, long-short-term memory (LSTM) units are used to replace traditional neurons in the variational autoencoder (VAE). Then, in order to improve the effect of KPI anomaly detection, an attention mechanism is introduced into the input stage of the encoder and decoder, respectively. During the input stage of the encoder, a time attention mechanism is adopted to assign different weights to different time points, which can adaptively select important input sequences to avoid the influence of noise in the data. During the input stage of the decoder, a feature attention mechanism is adopted to adaptively select important latent variable representations, which can capture the long-term dependence of time series better. In addition, this paper proposes an adaptive threshold method based on anomaly scores measured by reconstruction probability, which can minimize false positives and false negatives and avoid adjustment of the threshold manually. Experimental results in a public dataset show that the proposed method in this paper outperforms other baseline methods.

Structural Insights into the NAD(P)H:Quinone Oxidoreductase from Phytophthora capsici.

Soluble quinone oxidoreductases catalyze transfer of electrons from NADPH to quinones. Transfer of electrons is essential for detoxification of synthetic compounds. Here, we present the crystal structure of a NADPH-dependent QOR from Phytophthora capsici (Pc) complexed with NADPH at 2.4 Å resolution. The enzyme exhibits a bi-modular architecture, containing a NADPH-binding groove and a substrate-binding pocket in each subunit. In the crystal, each asymmetric unit of PcQOR contains two molecules stabilized by intermolecular interactions. Gel filtration and ultracentrifugation analyses reveal that it functions as a tetramer in solution. Alignment of homologous structures exhibits a conserved topology. However, the active sites vary among the homologues, indicating differences in substrate specificities. Enzymatic assays indicate that PcQOR tends to catalyze the large substrates, like 9,10-phenanthrenequinone. Computational simulation associated with site-directed mutagenesis and enzymatic activity analysis declares a potential quinone-binding channel. The ability to reduce quinones probably helps P. capsici to detoxify some harmful chemicals encountered during invasion.

GTP Binding Protein Gtr1 Cooperating with ASF1 Regulates Asexual Development in Stemphylium eturmiunum.

The Gtr1 protein was a member of the RagA subfamily of the Ras-like small GTPase superfamily and involved in phosphate acquisition, ribosome biogenesis and epigenetic control of gene expression in yeast. However, Gtr1 regulation sexual or asexual development in filamentous fungi is barely accepted. In the study, SeGtr1, identified from Stemphylium eturmiunum, could manipulate mycelial growth, nuclear distribution of mycelium and the morphology of conidia in Segtr1 silenced strains compared with its overexpression transformants, while the sexual activity of Segtr1 silenced strains were unchanged. SeASF1, a H3/H4 chaperone, participated in nucleosome assembly/disassembly, DNA replication and transcriptional regulation. Our experiments showed that deletion Seasf1 mutants produced the hyphal fusion and abnormal conidia. Notably, we characterized that Segtr1 was down-regulated in Se∆asf1 mutants and Seasf1 was also down-regulated in SiSegtr1 strains. We further confirmed that SeGtr1 interacted with SeASF1 or SeH4 in vivo and vitro, respectively. Thus, SeGtr1 can cooperate with SeASF1 to modulate asexual development in Stemphylium eturmiunum.

Morphological and Phylogenetic Analyses Reveal Four New Species of Acrodictys (Acrodictyaceae) in China.

During our ongoing survey of dematiaceous hyphomycetes associated with dead branches in tropical forests, eight Acrodictys isolates were collected from Hainan, China. Morphology from the cultures and phylogeny based on partial small subunit (SSU), entire internal transcribed spacer regions with intervening 5.8S (ITS), partial large subunit (LSU) of rRNA gene, partial beta-tubulin (tub2), and partial RNA polymerase II second largest subunit (rpb2) genes were employed to identify these isolates. As a result, four new species, namely Acrodictys bawanglingensis sp. nov., A. diaoluoshanensis sp. nov., A. ellisii sp. nov., and A. pigmentosa sp. nov., are introduced. Illustrations and descriptions of the four taxa are provided, along with comparisons with closely related taxa in the genus. For facilitating relative studies, an updated key to all accepted species of this genus is also compiled.

Morphological and Phylogenetic Analyses Reveal Four New Species of Gnomoniopsis (Gnomoniaceae, Diaporthales) from China.

The fungal genus Gnomoniopsis (Gnomoniaceae, Diaporthales) has been reported all around the world and isolated from multiple plant hosts. Based on multilocus phylogenies from a combined dataset of internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region, the ribosomal RNA gene cluster, and partial regions of translation elongation factor 1 alpha (tef1) and partial beta-tubulin (tub2), in conjunction with morphological characteristics, we describe and illustrate herein four new species, including Gnomoniopsisdiaoluoshanensis sp. Nov., G. lithocarpi sp. Nov., G. mengyinensis sp. Nov. and G.yunnanensis sp. Nov. Alongside this, their similarity and dissimilarity to morphologically-allied and phylogenetically-related species are annotated and discussed. For facilitating future identification, we update the key to all species currently recognized in this genus.

Three New Species of Microdochium (Sordariomycetes, Amphisphaeriales) on Miscanthus sinensis and Phragmites australis from Hainan, China.

Species in Microdochium, potential agents of biocontrol, have often been reported as plant pathogens, occasionally as endophytes and fungicolous fungi. Combining multiple molecular markers (ITS rDNA, LSU rDNA, TUB2 and RPB2) with morphological characteristics, this study proposes three new species in the genus Microdochium represented by seven strains from the plant hosts Miscanthus sinensis and Phragmites australis in Hainan Island, China. These three species, Microdochium miscanthi sp. Nov., M. sinense sp. Nov. and M. hainanense sp. Nov., are described with MycoBank number, etymology, typification, morphological features and illustrations, as well as placement on molecular phylogenetic trees. Their affinity with morphologically allied and molecularly closely related species are also analyzed. For facilitating identification, an updated key to the species of Microdochium is provided herein.

Morphological and phylogenetic analyses reveal two new species of Sporocadaceae from Hainan, China.

Species of Sporocadaceae have often been reported as plant pathogens, endophytes or saprophytes and are commonly isolated from a wide range of plant hosts. The isolated fungi were studied through a complete examination, based on multilocus phylogenies from combined datasets of ITS/tub2/tef1, in conjunction with morphological characteristics. Nine strains were isolated from Ficusmicrocarpa, Ilexchinensis and Schimasuperba in China which represented four species, viz., Monochaetiaschimae sp. nov., Neopestalotiopsishaikouensis sp. nov., Neopestalotiopsispiceana and Pestalotiopsislicualicola. Neopestalotiopsispiceana was a new country record for China and first host record from Ficusmacrocarpa. Pestalotiopsislicualicola was first report from Ilexchinensis in China.

The application of patient-centered care bundle significantly reduces incidence of perioperative respiratory complications in hip fracture patients aged 80 and over.

This study was designed as a pilot test to analyze the effect of patient-centered care (PCC) bundle intervention on perioperative respiratory complications and other outcomes in hip fracture patients aged ≥80. Between Jan 2018 and Dec 2019, 198 patients comprised the routine care group and 187 comprised the PCC bundle group. After propensity score matching, 151 remained in each group. Incidence of perioperative respiratory complications in the PCC bundle group was significantly lower than in the routine care group (all P < 0.05). Furthermore, significant reductions were observed in surgery delay, length of stay, incidence of arrhythmia, hypoproteinemia, and electrolyte disturbance (all P < 0.05) in the PCC bundle group. Age-Adjusted Charlson Comorbidity Index score was related, but only weakly, to length of stay and the number of perioperative complications. These results suggested that the PCC bundle might be a more suitable care modality for patients ≥80 with hip fracture.

Morphological and phylogenetic analyses reveal two new species and a new record of Phyllosticta (Botryosphaeriales, Phyllostictaceae) from Hainan, China.

The fungal genus Phyllosticta has been reported from all around the world and accommodates numerous pathogenic and endophytic species isolated from a wide range of plant hosts. Based on multilocus phylogenies from a combined dataset of genes encoding internal transcribed spacer (ITS), large subunit of ribosomal RNA (LSU rDNA), translation elongation factor 1 alpha (TEF1α), actin (ACT) and glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GPDH), in conjunction with morphological characteristics, we describe two new species P.oblongifoliae sp. nov. and P.pterospermi sp. nov., as well as a new Chinese record P.capitalensis. Their similarity and dissimilarity to morphologically-allied and phylogenetically-related species are also annotated and discussed.

Morphological and phylogenetic analyses reveal a new genus and two new species of Tubakiaceae from China.

Species of Tubakiaceae have often been reported as plant pathogens or endophytes, commonly isolated from a wide range of plant hosts. The isolated fungi were studied through a complete examination, based on multilocus phylogenies from combined datasets of ITS/LSU/rpb2 and ITS/tef1/tub2, in conjunction with morphological characteristics. Five strains isolated from Lithocarpusfohaiensis and Quercuspalustris in China represented a new genus of Tubakiaceae, Obovoideisporodochium and three species, viz. Obovoideisporodochiumlithocarpi sp. nov., Tubakialushanensis sp. nov. and T.dryinoides.

Regulatory effects of nitric oxide on reproduction and melanin biosynthesis in onion pathogenic fungus Stemphylium eturmiunum.

The formation of propagules is the critical stage for transmission of the pathogenic fungus Stemphylium eturmiunum. However, how the development of these propagules is regulated remains to be fully understood. Here, we show that nitric oxide (NO) is necessary for reproduction in S. eturmiunum.Application of NO scavenger carboxy-CPTIO (cPTIO) or soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC) inhibitor NS-2028 abolishes propagules formation, which was increased by a supplement of sodium nitroprusside (SNP). SNP supplement also triggered increased biosynthesis of melanin, which can be inhibited upon the addition of arbutin or tricyclazole, the specific inhibitors for DOPA and DHN synthetic pathway, respectively. Intriguingly, enhanced melanin biosynthesis corelates with an increased propagules formation; The SNP-induced increment propagules formation can be also compromised upon the supplement of cPTIO or NS-2028. RT-PCR analysis showed that SNP promoted transcription of brlA, abA and wetA at 0.2 mmol/L, but inhibited at 2 mmol/L. In contrast, SNP increased transcription of mat1, and mat2, and the synthetic genes for DHN and DOPA melanins at 2 mmol/L. However, the increased transcription of these genes is down-regulated upon the supplement of cPTIO or NS-2028. Thus, NO regulates reproduction and melanin synthesis in S. eturmiunum possibly through the NO-sGC-GMP signaling pathway.