Francisco KuharIMBIV CONICET
Francisco Kuhar
PhD
CONICET Associate Researcher
About
80
Publications
111,117
Reads
How we measure 'reads'
A 'read' is counted each time someone views a publication summary (such as the title, abstract, and list of authors), clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the full-text. Learn more
836
Citations
Introduction
Mycologist specialized in fungal diversity (gasteroid and ectomycorrhizal fungi) and biotechnological applications of fungal enzymes with special interest in Mycelium Technologies. Associate researcher at CONICET in the Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biologia Vegetal (IMBIV - UNC) Chief Science Office in Innomy Biotech.
Additional affiliations
April 2013 - September 2016
February 2010 - April 2013
April 2013 - May 2016
Position
- PostDoc Position
Description
- Morphotyping, matching and ecology of ectomycorrhiza in Nothofagus pumilio forest
Publications
Publications (80)
Although only a few species of Tuber account for the major truffle sales volume, many species that are not considered delicacies are finding their way to the market, especially in regions where the traditionally appreciated ones do not occur. This is the case for whitish truffles. Specimens of whitish truffles were collected in pecan (Carya illinoi...
Cortinarius galbus is an ectomycorrhizal species found in association with Nothofagus dombeyi, N. antarctica, N. alpina, and N. obliqua. Basidiomes are found below ground and are the dispersal might rely on animal consumption to propagate the species. Recent findings suggest that birds play a key role in the life cycle of Patagonian native truffle-...
Tomentellopsis rosannae is a species with very small-sized resupinate basidiomes, found on litter of Drimys winteri, Nothofagus antarctica, N. betuloides, and N. pumilio. Tomentellopsis completes its life cycle producing basidiomes on litter that is in intimate contact with soil. Putatively it is ectomycorrhizal with Nothofagus species. So far this...
Lysurus fossatii was first recorded in 2013 in Argentina and there are only two sites in the country, Espinal forests in Córdoba province and Pampean mountains in Buenos Aires province, being considered two subpopulations. It is represented by seven collections, and the only material from Buenos Aires has been lost. It is a large species and very d...
Solid-state fermentation (SSF) of cereals with edible fungi is a promising strategy for producing functional flours. Hypothetically, the nutritional and functional properties of these flours could be modulated by manipulating substrate composition, fungal species, and incubation conditions. This article reports the variation over time in nutritiona...
The Global Consortium for the Classification of Fungi and fungus-like taxa is an international initiative of more than 550 mycologists to develop an electronic structure for the classification of these organisms. The members of the Consortium originate from 55 countries/regions worldwide, from a wide range of disciplines, and include senior, mid-ca...
Coniophora olivacea has been traditionally considered as an important decay agent of building timbers of broadleaf and conifer woods, and causes significant damage on doors, window frames and other wood structures exposed to the environment. A more restricted role as tree pathogen has been also reported in cold climates. Studies of the predicted di...
Current theories on the evolution of sequestrate (enclosed) basidiomes explain the origin of these forms in a gradualist adaptational process led by selective forces, such as drought and animal consumption. Paedomorphosis (the retention of juvenile traits) has been invoked as the phenomenon underlying sequestration, but many consequences of this pr...
Cortinarius quadrisporus is an ectomycorrhizal species that has been found in association with Nothofagus dombeyi, N. obliqua, N. pumilio and N. alpina. This species is associated with an increasingly threatened Nothofagus forest system. Deforestation, forest fires (intentional and accidental due to drought and climate change), invasive species lik...
Patagonian collections of the corticioid genus Tomentellopsis have been treated in the past as T. echinospora, a common northern hemisphere species. New collections with DNA sequence data are distinct from the northern hemisphere taxon and must be considered a different species, endemic to the temperate subantarctic forests of Patagonia. We use mol...
Mycelium composites consist of particulate lignocellulosic materials, e.g., sawdust from the timber industry structured as a solid matrix resulting from the mycelial growth. Many protocols have been proposed based on different strains and substrates. However, the influence of intrinsic elements, such as the structure of the hyphal system on the mai...
Fungi show a high degree of morphological convergence. Regarded for a long time as an obstacle for phylogenetic studies, homoplasy has also been proposed as a source of information about underlying morphogenetic patterning mechanisms. The "local-activation and long-range inhibition principle" (LALIP), underlying the famous reaction-diffusion model...
Mushrooms in the genus Ganoderma have been collected and used as medicine since ancient times. However, commercial basidiome production has only recently been achieved. The solid substrates for basidiome production usually consist of lignocellulosic materials as the major component and the supplements (e.g., different types of bran and flour) as th...
Lysurus fossatii, a new Lysuraceae species with unique macroscopic features is described and illustrated. Specimens were collected during field expeditions to remnants of the Espinal forest preserved at Estancia Yucat, South-East Córdoba, in central Argentina. The species is diagnosed by a light yellow peridium when immature, with the surface marke...
Las reconstrucciones de parentesco basadas en ADN demostraron que los Gasteromycetes descendían de formas himeniales. Pero eso no es lo extraño. Lo que más nos llama la atención, es que estos hongos con gleba no evolucionaron como un linaje, sino que aparecieron evolutivamente muchas veces.Algunos son parientes de champignones, otros, de parasoles,...
In the Patagonian region, Cortinarius is the most diverse and abundant genus of ectomycorrhizal fungi with at least 250 species. Sequestrate forms were until recently documented within the genus Thaxterogaster, a genus now known to be polyphyletic, and many were consequently transferred to Cortinarius. Original descriptions were mostly available in...
Fungi associated with leaf-cutter ants (LCAs) play a fundamental role in Neotropical ecosystems. The association with fungi allows LCAs to be the dominant herbivores and in this way influence ecological processes. In order to know the taxonomic diversity of fungal symbionts associated with LCAs, ten sampling sites were selected corresponding to the...
Una narración con curiosas observaciones sobre los nombre de algunas especies de plantas, su origen, y la posible relación con sus propiedades.
Los hongos son un recurso natural que recibe creciente interés por parte de la sociedad en general. El uso de este recurso debe ser racional para asegurar su conservación para generaciones futuras. En esta guía compartimos algunos conceptos básicos sobre la biología y ecología de hongos, como también recomendamos métodos para su uso sustentable y c...
Collections of the genus Bovista in southern South America have been traditionally identified under northern-hemisphere names. Although many puffball species show a wide distribution , the identity and distribution of Patagonian species still need to be revisited. Recent materials collected in Patagonia and displaying a unique capillitium ornamente...
Crónicas del reino de los hongos brinda respuestas a cientos de preguntas que nos hacemos y que recibimos a diario. Escritos de manera entretenida y lúdica, llenos de pasión por los hongos, cada capítulo deja entrever las virtudes únicas de los autores Kuhar, Romano, Grassi y Sequeira. Se unen el rigor de destacados científicos, el asombro propio d...
This species is only known from forest in the southern Yungas of Argentina, but research needs to be done to see whether it is present in Bolivia too. This habitat is deteriorating outside of reserves, and the population is thought to be in decline. Overall the population size is thought to be small (c.160 mature individuals), and so the species is...
This species has a restricted range in the Polylepis australis forest of the Cordoba High Mountains of Argentina. It is only known from two sites, and the overall population size is estimated to be very small (100-200 mature individuals) and in decline. Therefore, this species is listed as Critically Endangered.
There are currently only a limited number of known subpopulations of this species over a rather large geographic area in South America. The type locality is now possibly extinct, but further subpopulations potentially are yet to be discovered. The overall population size is estimated to be fewer than 1,000 mature individuals, and this species is li...
Currently fruiting bodies of this species have only been recorded from southern Patagonia. Recent root tip analysis (Tedersoo and Smith 2013) has shown that this species occurs in northern Patagonia too, but there have been no known collections of fruiting bodies in this area yet. Excluding lineages from Tedersoo and Smith (2013) that come from spe...
Molecular phylogenetic analyses have addressed the systematic position of several major Northern Hemisphere lineages of Pezizales but the taxa of the Southern Hemisphere remain understudied. This study focuses on the molecular systematics and taxonomy of Southern Hemisphere species currently treated in the genera Underwoodia and Gymnohydnotrya . Sp...
Background:
Pleurotus spp. are fungi characterized by their ability to biologically degrade lignocellulosic materials. In Argentina, 6 wild Pleurotus species are known, being P. pulmonarius and P. ostreatus the ones with the greatest bio technological interest.
Objective:
To determine the phylogenetic relationships of Pleurotus strains from Patag...
Psathyloma is an agaricoid genus described recently to accommodate two species of brown-spored agarics from Australasia superficially similar to Psathyrella and Hebeloma. Phylogenetic analyses published along with the description of the genus determined that an unidentified species of Psathyloma was also present in Patagonia based on ITS sequences...
El cultivo y consumo de hongos comestibles ha estado en aumento en los últimos años. Existe una demanda no satisfecha de este producto que hoy en día es necesario cubrir. En comparación con otros países, Argentina no tiene ligado a su historia el consumo de especies silvestres. A pesar de que los hongos cultivables más consumidos son los champiñone...
This chapter compiles data on various aspects of ectomycorrhizal fungal taxa research, carried out in South America (SA) since the first studies in the early 1900. Early research was achieved by foreign mycologists and the development of the first biological research centers in the region. The diversity of fungal taxa and data on the associated pla...
Because of systematic sampling campaigns in the northern Patagonian Nothofagaceae forests of Argentina, several specimens of sequestrate fungi were collected. Some of those collections showed phylogenetic affinities and morphological similarities to members of the formerly recognized sequestrate genus Thaxterogaster, currently a synonym of Cortinar...
Cuando pensamos en los hongos lo primero que se
nos viene a la mente es la imagen de las típicas
setas con sombrero o las repisas que crecen
sobre el tronco de los árboles. Sin embargo,
estas imágenes sólo representan la estructura
reproductiva de algunos hongos. El verdadero
cuerpo de los hongos consiste en células
individuales u organizadas a mod...
El advenimiento de la microscopía óptica produjo una revolución en las ciencias naturales, con su mayor impacto en el estudio de los seres vivos. La capacidad de distinguir las mínimas unidades de la vida reveló la presencia de grupos de organismos insospechados hasta entonces y comenzó a mostrar las increíbles formas de reproducirse y dispersarse...
As public policies and conservation requirements for biodiversity evolve there is a need for a term for the kingdom Fungi equivalent to Fauna and Flora. This need is considered to be urgent in order to simplify projects oriented toward implemention of educational and conservation goals. In an informal meeting held during the IX Congreso Latinoameri...
El advenimiento de la microscopía óptica produjo una revolución en las ciencias naturales, con su mayor impacto en el estudio de los seres vivos. La capacidad de distinguir las mínimas unidades de la vida reveló la presencia de grupos de organismos insospechados hasta entonces y comenzó a mostrar las increíbles formas de reproducirse y dispersarse...
Nomenclatural type definitions are one of the most important concepts in biological nomenclature. Being physical objects that can be re-studied by other researchers, types permanently link taxonomy (an artificial agreement to classify biological diversity) with nomenclature (an artificial agreement to name biological diversity).
Two proposals to am...
Thelephoroid fungi are abundant ectotrophic symbionts in temperate forests worldwide. The state of Sikkim, in India, constitutes a hot spot of fungal diversity due to the occurrence of many ectomycorrhizal tree species. Collections of a stipitate thelephoroid species were found under Castanopsis hystrix in the district South of this state. Molecula...
Solid-state fermentation (SSF) with the medicinal higher Basidiomycete Ganoderma lucidum was
studied as a strategy to use pine (Pinus radiata D. Don) and poplar (Populus nigra L.) wood chips and sawdust.
Fruiting bodies were produced and the value of the biotransformed substrate was assessed. The highest mushroom
yield (63 g dry weight per kilogram...
Tomentella (Thelephorales, Basidiomycota) in Nothofagaceae forests of Patagonia, Argentina: mycorrhizae of new species. Tomentella is a mycorrhizal genus whose presence in temperate, tropical and circumpolar forests has been widely reported. It typically forms ectomycorrhizae (EM), but also orchidioid, ericoid, monotropoid and arbutoid symbiosis. T...
Evolution of traits associated to sequestration in basidiomycetes Francisco Kuhar Centro de Investigación y Extensión Forestal Andino Patagónico (CONICET) fkuhar@gmail.com The set of features associated with the sequestration process within basidiomycetes has called the attention of many mycologists in the past and has been referred to as the " sec...
Inocybe sindonia (Fr.) P. Karst. y Amanita rubescens Pers. son especies típicamente asociadas a bosques de Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco y Pinus radiata D. Don respectivamente. Se reporta por primera vez su presencia en Argentina en bosques de Nothofagus de la Patagonia andina como resultado de la invasión de especies forestales introducidas...
Representatives of the family Thelephoraceae have not been studied in depth in Andean forests due to their inconspicuous fruiting bodies of relatively low abundance. Nothofagaceae-dominated ecosystems constitute one of the most extensive ectomycorrhizal forest types in the southern hemisphere. Growing evidence suggests that many Thelephoraceae spec...
The descolea clade includes species of ectomycorrhizal basidiomycetes in the genera Descolea,
Setchelliogaster, Descomyces, and Timgrovea that are known primarily from the Southern
Hemisphere. Taxa in this group produce basidiomes that range in morphology from
typical epigeous mushrooms (Descolea) and secotioid taxa (Setchelliogaster) to fully gast...
Amanita is a diverse and cosmopolitan genus of ectomycorrhizal fungi. Although most species fruit aboveground, some sequestrate taxa have been documented from Australia and the Mediterranean region. We describe A. nouhrae sp. nov., a new hypogeous (‘truffle-like’) species associated with Nothofagus antarctica in northern Patagonia. This constitutes...
The VIIIth Brazilian Mycological Congress, held in Florianópolis (Brazil) in October 2016, was organized by the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina and brought together more than 1000 scientists of 20 nationalities, which illustrates the dynamism of South American mycology, in many fields. One of the major take-home messages, amongst many resear...
Identificación del oídio causado por Erysiphe trifoliorum (Wallr.) U. Braun en Melilotus officinalis. Identification of the powdery mildew caused by Erysiphe trifoliorum (Wallr.) U. Braun on Melilotus officinalis.
Knowledge regarding the enzymatic machinery of fungi is decisive to understand their ecological role. The species of the genus Geastrum are known to grow extremely slowly in pure culture, which makes it difficult to evaluate physiological parameters such as enzyme activity. Qualitative assays were performed on isolates of four species of this genus...
Molecular identification of powdery mildews
is challenging due to the impossibility of
processing sterile mycelium or cultures. For this
reason, inexpensive and fast methods based on conidial germination are still a very reliable alternative
for identifications at the species level. Melilotus
officinalis is a very extended forage crop in the
centra...
Ectomycorrhizae are mutualistic root symbionts of many trees, including Nothofagus, that facilitate the mobilization of essential nutrients to the plant. In return, plants provide the fungi with sugar produced via photosynthesis. The transoceanic distribution of Nothofagus forests in the Southern hemisphere represents an example of isolation by con...
The genusTomentella forms abundant ectomycorrhizae in coniferous and deciduous forests worldwide. Molecular identification of root tips suggests undescribed species in the Nothofagus forests of Patagonia, Argentina. Tomentella tenuissima, T. pulvinulata and T. patagonica are described here as new to science based on morphological and molecular anal...
ECM morphotypes were separated from whole root systems of 600 juvenile plants extracted from Nothofagus
pumilio forests from three locations of the province Chubut:Laguna Villarino (Villa), Lago Baggilt (Bagg) and
Cañadón Huemules (Huem) during autumn and spring of 2013 and 2014. Morpho-anatomical and
histochemical comparisons were performed and id...
An expanded-polystyrene factory located in northern Buenos Aires reported unusual
dark spots causing esthetic damage in their production. A fungal strain forming black-olive
colonies on extract malt agar medium was isolated from the damaged material and identified
as Aureobasidium pullullans var. melanogenum. This fungus is particularly known for i...
Rugolo Maximiliano; Francisco Kuhar. 2014. " Brief notes on three gaste-roid fungi in the Andean Patagonia ". Lilloa 51 (1). In reviewing the entire collection of the ge-nus Geastrum of the BAFC herbarium, two samples were found containing unidentified specimens from Patagonia, one from Los Alerces National Park (Argentina, Chubut) and the other on...
Ganoderma lucidum (Curtis) P. Karst is a white rot fungus that is able to degrade the
lignin component in wood. The ability of two strains of this species to produce
the ligninolytic enzyme laccase was assessed. After the evaluation of induction with
heavy metals and phenolic compounds, it was found that among the tested substances,
copper and feru...
Ganoderma lucidum (Curtis) P. Karst es un hongo causante de pudrición
blanca y por consiguiente es capaz de degradar la lignina de la madera y otros
sustratos sobre los que crece. Se evaluó su capacidad de producir las enzimas
ligninolíticas lacasa, manganeso peroxidasa y lignina peroxidasa,
encontrándose que sólo la lacasa se produce con una activ...
Ganoderma lucidum (Curtis) P. Karst es un hongo causante de pudrición blanca, capaz
de degradar la lignina de la madera y otros sustratos en los que crece. En este trabajo
se evaluó la capacidad de dos cepas de esta especie de producir la enzima ligninolítica
lacasa. Asimismo, se ensayó la inducción de esta enzima con diferentes compuestos fenólico...
El nonil fenol (NP) es un resultante de la degradación de sus etoxilatos, utilizados por la industria como surfactantes. Su actividad estrogénica ha sido reportada numerosas veces. Dada su estructura aromática su degradación por ligninasas es una alternativa promisoria. Los objetivos de este trabajo son: 1) Proveer un ensayo sencillo, económico y r...
La degradación de colorantes trifenilmetánicos con cepas fúngicas se ha centrado tradicionalmente en hongos de la pudrición blanca, debido a su maquinaria enzimática oxidativa. Recientemente se han reportado actividades enzimáticas ligninolíticas en hongos de otros grupos ecológicos, que estarían asociadas a procesos como la interacción o la pigmen...
Geastrum argentinum, a long forgotten species described by Spegazzini and previously regarded by Soto and Wright (2000) as a synonym of G. fimbriatum, has been found in several locations in Argentina. A careful analysis revealed relevant differences between those taxa, proving the validity of Spegazzini's species. Here we re-describe Spegazzini's s...
La Micología es una disciplina científica cuyo objeto de estudio son los hongos; las investigaciones pueden ser encaradas desde la fisiología, taxonomía, biogeografía, etc. Para llevar adelante cualquiera de estos estudios los micólogos necesitan trabajar con cultivos puros de hongos y además con materiales de herbario. Por lo tanto el primer paso...
Con el fin de obtener cepas fúngicas aptas para la biodegradación de colorantes trifenilmetánicos usando residuos de la producción maderera, se evaluó la capacidad de degradación de los colorantes verde de malaquita y violeta de genciana, por parte de sistemas consistentes en viruta de pino de producción local como medio de cultivo, y aislamientos...
La Micología es una disciplina científica cuyo objeto de estudio son los hongos; las investigaciones pueden ser encaradas desde la fisiología, taxonomía, biogeografía, etc. Para llevar adelante cualquiera de estos estudios los micólogos necesitan trabajar con cultivos puros de hongos y además con materiales de herbario. Por lo tanto el primer paso...
Ganoderma lucidum (Curtis) P. Karst is a white rot fungus and therefore is able to degrade the lignin of wood and other substrates on which it grows. The ability to produce the ligninolytic enzymes laccase, lignin peroxidase and manganese peroxidase were assessed. It was found that only laccase occurs with appreciable activity. Induction with heavy...
En este artículo solo trataremos dos grandes grupos de hongos: Ascomycota y Basidiomycota, y hablaremos un poco de los distintos “tipos” que podemos encontrar dentro de estos dos grupos basándonos en la morfología de sus fructificaciones. El objetivo es orientar un poco a aquellas personas que se encuentran con un hongo en la naturaleza y quieren d...
A survey of gasteroid fungi from arid regions in the La Rioja province (northwestern Argentina) resulted in 20 species of 13 genera. Each species is briefly commented on and descriptions are provided for taxa poorly known or with few records in the world. In addition, photographs of basidiomata and SEM micrographs illustrating basidiospores are pro...
A survey of Geastrum species from arid lands in the La Rioja province (northwestern Argentina) recovered fourteen species previously unreported from the province: G. arenarium, G. campestre var. famatinum, G. corollinum, G. fimbriatum, G. floriforme, G. glaucescens, G. hieronymi, G. aff. lloydianum, G. pampeanum, G. pampeanum var. pallidum, G. parv...
La remoción de los restos leñosos de la tala comercial de árboles constituye un problema considerable para la silvicultura debido a los costos que implica esta tarea. El objetivo del trabajo es emplear hongos lignocelulolíticos, responsables naturales de la degradación de la madera, para acelerar la descomposición de los tocones a un período estima...
Ganoderma lucidum (russulales) es un hongo empleado por la medicina tradicional oriental desde antes de nuestra era. En la actualidad se le han reconocido nuevas aplicaciones en areas tales como medicina, biotecnología, biorremediación entre otras. Muchas sustancias aromáticas son reconocidos inductores de enzimas ligninolíticas. Al ensayar una bat...
The aim of a joint effort by different research teams was to provide an improved procedure for enzyme activity profiling of field-sampled ectomycorrhizae, including recommendations on the best conditions and maximum duration for storage of ectomycorrhizal samples. A more simplified and efficient protocol compared to formerly published procedures wa...
Ganoderma lucidum y Trametes versicolor son dos hongos causantes de pudrición blanca en maderas debido a que su maquinaria enzimática oxidativa les permite degradar eficientemente la lignina. Dado que se trata de reconocidos productores de la enzima lacasa, se ensayó el cocultivo en distintos medios con el fin de incrementar esta actividad. Los ens...
Logotype of HONGOS·AR - Hongos de Argentina. A multimedia website to learn all about Fungi!
Visit us at www.hongosdeargentina.org or at www.hongosdeargentina.com.ar
*The three authors equally contribute to HONGOS·AR project
El género Geastrum perteneciente al orden Geastrales se caracteriza por un exoperidio que se rompe en lacinias (radios) a modo de brazos de estrella dejando al descubierto el endoperidio globoso que libera las esporas por un poro ap ica l. Este género ha s ido poco estud iado en la provincia de La Rio ja (Argentina) caracterizada por un clima semiá...
A new species, Geastrum episcopale, is described from Argentina. Detailed descriptions and illustrations of fresh and dry basidiomata are provided along with photographs of microscopic elements, such as spores, capillitium, calcium oxalate crystals, and exo- and endoperidium surfaces. This fungus is typical of the genus in its morphology and ecolog...
Questions
Questions (8)
I normally use the Plackett Burman design to evaluate the importance of each component, but in this case, I'm using a mixture of substrates for solid-state fermentation and the amount of each of them influences the proportion of the others in the mixture. We've performed mixture experimental designs in these cases, but now we would need to use around eight factors. My question is; which design based on mixtures would allow us to use many factors in two levels in order to obtain a Pareto chart showing the importance of each factor? I think an adaptation of Plackett Burman for mixtures would be ideal, but I only find normal mixture designs with up to three ingredients. Any ideas?
