Hypocrea lixii (Ascomycota: Hypocreales), which was found in sclerotia from
both of the sites examined, is also known to be the sexual reproductive stage or
teleomorph of Trichoderma harzianum (Chaverri and Samuels 2002), a fast-growing
soil fungal species reported to be effective in the biocontrol of plant-pathogenic
fungi and soil-borne diseases (Wells et al. 1972). The presence of H. lixii in sclerotia
was not considered to be a contaminant from the sclerotial surface because,
according to Elad et al. (1984), mycoparasitic species of Hypocrea/Trichoderma
degrade and grow within resting structures (sclerotia) produced by a wide variety of
pathogenic fungi, such as Sclerotinia spp., Typhula spp., Macrophomina
phaseolina, and Verticillium dahliae.
The results obtained from Mt. Iwaki showed one major peak, which was identified as Inonotus sp. (Basidiomycota: Hymenochaetales), a fungus that commonly
Fig. 2.1 T-RFLP profiles of sclerotia from Mt. Chokai and Mt. Iwaki using the restriction enzyme
HhaI (Amasya et al. 2015)
2 Fungal Communities of Sclerotia Grains from Forest Soils
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