Rajesh Jeewon

University of Mauritius | UoM · Faculty of Science

The gut microbiome plays a key role in the pathogenesis and disease activity of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). While research has focused on the bacterial microbiome, recent studies have shifted towards host genetics and host-fungal interactions. The mycobiota is a vital component of the gastrointestinal microbial community and plays a significa...

Xiuguozhangia species are dematiaceous hyphomycetes that are characterised by acropleurogenous, dictyoseptate, campanulate or cheiroid, and brown to dark brown conidia that are composed of several layers of cells radiating from a protuberant basal cell, and mostly seen with appendages arising from the apical cells. The genus was introduced based on...

Bioprospecting robust and oleaginous strain is crucial for the commercialization of microalgae-based biodiesel. In this study, a microalgal strain SCH18 was isolated from a solar saltern located in Mauritius. This isolate was identified as Dunaliella tertiolecta based on a polyphasic approach that combined molecular, physiological, and morphologica...

This study introduces a new species of Striaticonidium from the evergreen forests of Karadichola, Vazhachal in the southern Western Ghats of Kerala, India. This new species is distinct from the other members of the Striaticonidium genus due to its significantly longer determinate synnemata with twisted stalk and marginal, flexuous, coarsely ornamen...

With the simultaneous growth in interest from the mycological community to discover fungal species and classify them, there is also an important need to assemble all taxonomic information onto common platforms. Fungal classification is facing a rapidly evolving landscape and organizing genera into an appropriate taxonomic hierarchy is central to be...

Estimates of global fungal diversity have varied widely, suggesting a range from fewer than one million to over 10 million species, with each of the estimates drawing data from various criteria. In 2022, Fungal Diversity published a special issue on fungal numbers. It had been hoped that the editorial would provide a more accurate account of the nu...

During a survey of microfungi associated with forest plants, four specimens related to Kirschsteiniothelia were collected from decaying wood in Guizhou, Hainan and Yunnan Provinces, China. Kirschsteiniothelia species have sexual and asexual forms. They are commonly found as saprophytes on decaying wood and have been reported as disease-causing path...

Bambusicolous fungi inhabit bamboo tissues and play vital roles in bamboo ecosystems, mostly composed of saprobes, epiphytes, pathogens, and endophytes. Each category of fungus plays a distinct role: saprobes aid in decomposition, endophytes and epiphytes enhance plant health by establishing biochemical defense barriers, while pathogens can cause h...

As a result of increasing industrialisation in various countries and the change in their populations' eating patterns, residents may be shifting from a low-calorie diet to one with a high energy density. People tend to consume fewer fruits and vegetables and instead, they opt for more refined carbs, animal protein, processed meat, and fast food. Th...

Globally, breast cancer is a primary contributor to cancer-related fatalities and illnesses among women. Consequently, there is a pressing need for safe and effective treatments for breast cancer. Bioactive compounds from endophytic fungi that live in symbiosis with medicinal plants have garnered significant interest in pharmaceutical research due...

Background: Fusarium species, a group of economically destructive phytopathogens, are poorly studied in Mauritius where agriculture holds much significance. Furthermore, the increasing popularity of organic farming has prompted interest in alternatives to chemical fungicides. Methods: After gaining an overview of Fusarium prevalence in Mauritius fi...

Marine fungi represent an important proportion of the microbial diversity in the oceans. They are attractive candidates for biotechnological purposes and industrial applications. Despite an increasing interest in mycology, marine fungi associated with sponges and algae have been poorly studied in Mauritius. The objectives of this study were to: 1)...

This is the tenth of the series Mycosphere Notes, wherein we present newly discovered saprobic and endophytic fungi isolated from various hosts in China, Thailand, and Uzbekistan. In this compilation, we introduce three new genera, viz., Conicotenuis (Phomatosporaceae), Irregularispora (Stictidaceae) and Minimispora (Phomatosporaceae), and 14 new s...

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...

Tetraplosphaeriaceae (Pleosporales, Ascomycota) is a family with many saprobes recorded from various hosts, especially bamboo and grasses. During a taxonomic investigation of microfungi in tropical and subtropical forest regions of Guizhou, Hainan and Yunnan provinces, China, several plant samples were collected and examined for fungi. Four newly d...

As the largest habitat on Earth, the marine environment harbors various microorganisms of biotechnological potential. Indeed, microbial compounds, especially polysaccharides from marine species, have been attracting much attention for their applications within the medical, pharmaceutical, food, and other industries, with such interest largely stemm...

Background: The aging population is becoming a global issue and Mauritius has experienced a 20.4 % growth in the last four years. There is a lack of information regarding nutrition among the Mauritian elderly. This study aimed to investigate dietary patterns and energy intake and their associated factors, to determine the relationship between body...

The fungal genus Microcera consists of species mostly occurring as parasites of scale insects, but are also commonly isolated from soil or lichens. In the present study, we surveyed the diversity and assess the taxonomy of entomopathogenic fungi in Sichuan Province, China. Two new species of Microcera , viz. M. chrysomphaludis and M. pseudaulacaspi...

Microalgae are unicellular organisms and commonly present in the euphotic zone of marine ecosystems. From the western coast of Mauritius, three strains of Prorocentrum species were isolated from macrophytes and cultured under standard laboratory conditions. Morphologies were examined by light, fluorescence, and scanning electron microscopy, and phy...

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Characterisation of Dinoflagellates in Mauritius

Alternaria, a genus of ascomycetes, comprises major plant pathogens, saprobes and are common allergens to humans. There are more than 360 accepted species in the genus, which are currently divided into 29 sections. This paper aims to elaborate the taxonomy of Alternaria with multi-locus phylogenetic trees derived by analyses of a concatenated DNA s...

Evidence on what people eat globally is limited in scope and rigour, especially as it relates to children and adolescents. This impairs target setting and investment in evidence-based actions to support healthy sustainable diets. Here we quantified global, regional and national dietary patterns among children and adults, by age group, sex, educatio...

The normal process of aging consists of numerous behavioral, social, physical, psychological, and socioeconomic factors which may negatively affect the nutritional status of a senior. Old people are susceptible to poor nutritional status as they are mostly affected by nutritional deficiencies compared to individuals that belong to other age groups....

Marine fungi are largely associated with second most inhabitants of the marine ecosystem such as sponges and algae. They are important colonizers and play vital ecological roles, such as nutrient cycling, organic matter decomposition, and symbiosis with other organisms. High throughput sequencing methods have been used successfully to reveal unknow...

In the present study, we report two new asexual fungal species (i.e., Discosia rhododendricola, Neopestalotiopsis rhododendricola (Sporocadaceae) and a new host for a previously described species (i.e., Diaporthe nobilis; Diaporthaceae). All species were isolated from Rhododendron spp. in Kunming, Yunnan Province, China. All taxa are described base...

The ascomycete class Dothideomycetes encompasses a diverse range of fungi characterized mainly by bitunicate asci, typically with fissitunicate dehiscence. Species are mostly saprobes, with the asexual states acting as important plant pathogens. Some members are also endophytes, epiphytes, fungicolous, lichenized, or lichenicolous fungi. They occur...

Plant pathogenic fungi and fungus-like taxa (oomycetes) form part of the ecological makeup of healthy natural forest ecosystems. Some help to eliminate unhealthy trees, while others are essential for the conservation of plant species diversity, particularly soil-borne pathogens. However, many fungal pathogens also have devastating effects on forest...

Mushrooms have long been considered as delicacies as well as used as important dietary supplements and food. However, there are major concerns with poisonous mushrooms as these pose threats to public health and safety. In this paper, we provide a review focusing on poisonous mushrooms, their toxins, symptoms and utilizations. In addition, this pape...

Seven Fusarium species complexes are treated, namely F. aywerte species complex (FASC) (two species), F. buharicum species complex (FBSC) (five species), F. burgessii species complex (FBURSC) (three species), F. camptoceras species complex (FCAMSC) (three species), F. chlamydosporum species complex (FCSC) (eight species), F. citricola species compl...

We have been studying Rhytidhysteron Speg. species on different native trees of economic or landscape importance from different geographical regions in China. In this study, we describe three new species, Rhytidhysteron ligustrum X.-L. Xu & C.-L. Yang, sp. nov., R. sichuanensis X.-L. Xu & C.-L. Yang, sp. nov., R. subrufulum X.-L. Xu & C.-L. Yang, s...

Extracellular polysaccharides (EPS) of microbial origin are polymers with great potential for research and industrial applications. In this study, a sulphated EPS from Alcaligenes faecalis, previously isolated from Mauritius seawater, was investigated for its antioxidant potential using DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) and ferric reducing capac...

Decoctions (leaves and roots) of Bruguiera gymnorhiza (L.) Lam. are traditionally used against diabetes in many countries, including Mauritius. This study endeavoured to evaluate the inhibitory potential of leaves, roots, twigs and fruits extracts (decoction and maceration) of B. gymnorhiza against key enzymes relevant to diabetes. Considering comp...

There is a critical need to develop animal models to alleviate vaccine and drug development difficulties against zoonotic viral infections. The coronavirus family, which includes severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 1 and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, crossed the species barrier and infected humans, causing a global outb...

During our survey into the diversity of woody litter fungi across the Greater Mekong Subregion, three rhytidhysteron-like taxa were collected from dead woody twigs in China and Thailand. These were further investigated based on morphological observations and multi-gene phylogenetic analyses of a combined DNA data matrix containing SSU, LSU, ITS, an...

Over the years, there have been continuous updates in the taxonomy of coelomycetes. In particular, traditional classification has been revised and updated based on extensive collections supplemented with morphological examinations and phylogenetic analyses. Most of the data available are scattered in the literature. In an attempt to ease the work o...

In agricultural lands, long-term chemical inputs for the purpose of disease control result in both chronic and acute negative effects, such as environment pollution, human health complications, and spray-resistant pest populations (Aktar et al., 2009). For sustainable agriculture, biotechnological products are developed using targeted fungal specie...

This article is the 13th contribution in the Fungal Diversity Notes series, wherein 125 taxa from four phyla, ten classes, 31 orders, 69 families, 92 genera and three genera incertae sedis are treated, demonstrating worldwide and geographic distribution. Fungal taxa described and illustrated in the present study include three new genera, 69 new spe...

The modern mycology has move forward with the combination of chemotaxonomy, phylogeny, genetics and molecular biology. The utilization of DNA sequencing for the phylogenetic analysis explains the relationships between fungi and its diversity clearly. However fungal morphological characterization is fundamental and still essential even though molecu...

Sordariomycetes is an earlier-introduced and one of the widely distributed class of Ascomycota. The class was initially classified based on morphology in having inoperculate and unitunicate asci. With the development of DNA based phylogenetic analysis, several undetermined or polyphyletic members of Sordariomycetes were reclassified. However, not a...

The placement of the dothideomycetous family Teichosporaceae has been controversial. Recent phylogenetic investigations have used a taxonomic lumping approach with the Floricolaceae and its genera have been synonymized under the earlier family name, Teichosporaceae. Intergeneric relationships were therefore obscure and proper generic delimitation w...

species are now emergent as potential plant pathogens. The latter can represent a major threat to staple crops such as rice, wheat, maize and potatoes either during cultural practices or during the post-harvest/storage stages (Alshannaq and Yu, 2017). If these pathogens are not detected and accurately identified in a timely matter and targeted dise...

Pleurotheciales is the largest order in Savoryellomycetidae with a large proportion of species known from freshwater habitats. In order to investigate the phylogenetic relationships of taxa within Pleurotheciales and contribute to their diversity, submerged wood was collected from freshwater habitats in China (Yunnan Province) and Thailand. Two dem...

The species is one of the basic units of biological classification. Both species concepts and recognition are essential topics in taxonomic studies and other biological research. In the first part of this review, we briefly discuss the taxonomic history of the class Dothideomycetes. In the second part of the paper, we review four commonly used spec...

Freshwater hyphomycetes are a highly diverse group of fungi with a worldwide distribution and have been mostly reported from tropical and subtropical regions. During investigations of freshwater fungi from the Greater Mekong subregion in China and Thailand, sixteen freshwater hyphomycetes (three of them belong to the class Dothideomycetes while thi...

Recent publications have argued that there are potentially serious consequences for researchers in recognising distinct genera in the terminal fusarioid clade of the family Nectriaceae. Thus, an alternate hypothesis, namely a very broad concept of the genus Fusarium was proposed. In doing so, however, a significant body of data that supports distin...

This study led to the discovery of three entomopathogenic fungi associated with Kuwanaspis howardi, a scale insect on Phyllostachys heteroclada (fishscale bamboo) and Pleioblastus amarus (bitter bamboo) in China. Two of these species belong to Podonectria: P. kuwanaspidis X.L. Xu & C.L. Yang sp. nov. and P. novae-zelandiae Dingley. The new species...

Camarosporidiella specimens collected from woody plants in central Italy, eastern Ukraine, and southeastern Russia were identified based on morphology and multi-gene (LSU, SSU, ITS, and TEF) sequence analyses. Camarosporidiella caraganicola on Amorpha fruticosa , C. celtidis on Ulmus pumila , C. elaeagnicola on Cytisus ruthenicus are described with...

Botryosphaeriaceous fungi cause stem blight, canker and dieback in woody plants. During a survey on the fungal pathogens associated with blueberries in China, 135 blighted, cankered or dead blueberry branches were collected from Fujian and Shandong Provinces. Based on the morphological characterization and phylogenetic analyses of a concatenated IT...

The Mauritian waters harbour micro-organisms that have successfully adapted to their environment; however, the mycobiota associated with algae and sponges have been poorly studied and are awaiting to be identified and exploited. This study focusses on the fungi associated with the sponge Haliclona sp. and two brown algae Turbinaria conoides and Sar...

Sordariomycetes is an earlier and one of the widely distributed class of Ascomycota. The class was initially classified based on morphology in having inoperculate and unitunicate asci. With the development of DNA based phylogenetic analysis, several undetermined or polyphyletic members of Sordariomycetes were reclassified. However, not all species...

Immotthia is a poorly known genus, and currently, no DNA sequence data are available to ascertain its proper phylogenetic placement and evolutionary relationships with other bitunicate fungi. To date, there are only two species accepted in the genus. During our ongoing research study of bambusicolous fungi in southwest China and Thailand, a fungus...

Taxonomic studies of saprobic ascomycetes in Thailand and China revealed two new taxa belonging to the family Bambusicolaceae. Bambusicola fusispora sp. nov. isolated from dead branches of Gigantochloa albociliata in Thailand and Palmiascoma qujingense sp. nov. isolated from dead twigs of Fagaceae sp. in Yunnan, China, are described and illustrated...

Leaf litter decomposition plays a vital role in the nutrient budget of forest ecosystems. Fungal communities colonising leaf litter are "key players" in decomposition and nutrient recycling, because of their ability to produce a wide range of extracellular enzymes that facilitate breakdown of leaf litter. Fungal colonization of decomposing leaf lit...

Collections of fungal samples from two dead leaf specimens from Italy were subjected to morphological examination and phylogenetic analyses. Two coelomycetous taxa belonging to two different genera in Xylariomycetidae, Sordariomycetes, namely Discosia and Sporocadus, were identified. The Discosia taxon is revealed as a new species and is herein int...

Purpose of the study: Marine fungi of Mauritius have been poorly studied. There are numerous reports on the bioactive secondary metabolites that are produced by fungi around the world. Yet, research on the molecular characterisation and the pharmaceutical potential of marine fungi in Mauritius is rather scanty. Method: The samples, which consisted...

Species of Absidia Tiegh. (Mucorales) are commonly isolated from soil, dead plant materials and dung. The genus is of interest in industrial and medical fields due to the presence of active compounds and secondary metabolites. Absidia species are typically characterized by an arcuate stolon with rhizoids, zygospores with appendaged suspensors and c...

The identification and proper naming of microfungi, in particular plant, animal and human pathogens, remains challenging. Molecular identification is becoming the default approach for many fungal groups, and environmental metabarcoding is contributing an increasing amount of sequence data documenting fungal diversity on a global scale. This include...

Species of Cordyceps sensu lato (Hypocreales, Sordariomycetes) have always attracted much scientific attention for their abundant species diversity, important medicinal values and biological control applications. The insect superfamilies Elateroidea and Tenebrionoidea are two large groups of Coleoptera and their larvae are generally called wireworm...

Within the field of mycology, macrofungi have been relatively well-studied when compared to microfungi. However, the diversity and distribution of microfungi inhabiting woody material have not received the same degree of research attention, especially in relatively unexplored regions, such as Yunnan Province, China. To help address this knowledge g...