The worldwide decline in frogs has been linked to a deadly disease (Chytridiomycosis) caused by the chytrid fungus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis. We used Congo red to study chytrid fungi in skin scrapings taken from formalin preserved animals, from non-preserved decaying or dead animals, as well as from apparently healthy animals. We were able to distinguish immature and mature zoosporangia, zoospores and germling stages of the fungus within the host tissue. Staining patterns varied. Zoospores (including flagellum) stained orange but the walls of all other stages stained a reddish-orange. The inoperculate discharge tube was always intensely stained. However, when zoosporangia were within intact epidermal cells, only the exposed discharge tube stained unless the keratinized layer was breached. The epidermal cells either did not stain or stained pale orange. Congo red is cheap, easy to use and relatively non-hazardous, making it a valuable tool to study the spread and role of chytridiomycosis in frog decline.

Eleven species of mushrooms are currently known to be utilized as a food source by the indigenous Patamona Amerindians of the rain forested Pakaraima Mountains of Guyana. The majority of these fungi are undescribed species; many belong to groups that are infrequently collected for the table by North Americans (e.g. Clavulinaceae, Sarcoscyphaceae, Amanitaceae) whereas groups which contain highly prized culinary mushrooms by north temperate standards (e.g. Cantharellaceae) are traditionally shunned by the Patamona. Here we discuss some of the more commonly collected mushroom species of the Patamona and their methods of preparation as well as some mushrooms that we have discovered to be choice edibles of the region.

Ibotenic acid (α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-isoxazole acetic acid) was separated from spores and caps from Amanita muscaria by reversed phase high performance liquid chromatography and identified by flow injection analysis with mass spectrometric detection. The keto and enol tautomers of ibotenic acid were separated and their ratio of 96:4 in favour of the enol form was determined. On average the ibotenic acid content was 0.0054±0.0010% of the spores and 0.017±0.010% in fresh caps. Muscimol, the decarboxylated product from ibotenic acid, was neither detected in spores nor in caps. 50 nanomol of ibotenic acid, muscimol or extracts from spores or caps did not inhibit the growth of Bacillus subtilis.

A brief introductory exercise in the use of on-line databases to examine fungal genes and their products is described. Fungal genes make particularly good teaching models owing to their relatively simple eukaryotic structure and wide range of homologues in higher organisms including humans. An evaluation of students' reactions to the exercise is included.

Most nematode-trapping fungi are dependent on specific hyphal structures on or in which nematodes can be trapped mechanically or by adhesion. These structures are a prerequisite for the ability of the fungus to invade a host and are thus crucial for survival as well as virulence. The diversity of trapping structures is large and highly dependent on the environment of the fungus. Within one single species, Arthrobotrys oligospora, not only adhesive nets are formed but also so-called conidial traps, hyphal coils around hyphae of other fungi, and appressoria in the rhizosphere of agricultural crops. In this article these structures and the conditions for their development are described. Since the trapping structures influence the survival and the virulence of their producer, it is important that we know more about the molecular background of their development and function. The application of genomics to understand the function and the development of infection structures, therefore, has substantially increased the potential of A. oligospora to become a model system for fungal morphogenesis.