Fungi isolated from the cultivated mushroom, Agaricus bisporus, in Tehran province with special reference to Verticillium fungicola in Iran

 Zaree, Rasool; khabaz Jolfaii, Hosein; Ghanbari, Zohreh; Sadeghi, Ali Asghar; Kalanaki, Siroos

 During 2003-04 major mushroom cultures of Tehran province were sampled and 116 fungicolous isolates were obtained (Table 1) from the cultivated mushroom, Agaricus bisporus, including: Verticillium fungicola (with 50 isolates), Trichoderma harzianum (with 24 isolates), Cladobotryum dendroides (with 24 isolates), Acremonium crotocinigenum (with 11 isolates), Trichothecium roseum (with 4 isolates) and Fusarium verticillioides (with 1 isolate). Two isolates belonging to the genus Conidiobolous were obtained but due to the lack of relevant literature they are not yet identified at species level. This is the first report of this genus from Iran. The report of A. crotocinigenum and two varieties of V. fungicola (fungicola and flavidum) is new to the mycoflora of Iran. Verticillium fungicola causes dry bubble disease and also distortion and mummification of the fruit-bodies of Agaricus bisporus (Fig. 1). The two varieties are identified here based on comparison with the authentic strains and are indistinguishable from each other on morphological grounds (Fig. 3), but they are distinct at ITS level (Fig. 2). For full text and figures see Persian section.