In 2015, white cottony tufts were observed on gametophytes of the kelp Saccharina japonica. Wet mount and histopathology examination revealed numerous fungal hyphae and mycelium around the gametophytes. The gametophytes surrounded by fungal hyphae were generally round and empty. A specific 610-bp fragment of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS)-5.8S rDNA-ITS gene of fungi was amplified by polymerase chain reaction and the nucleotide sequence showed 100% identity with those of Acremonium sclerotigenum, Acremonium sp. and Ascomycota sp. When fungus-infected gametophytes were mixed with healthy gametophytes, a high transmission rate (100%) resulted. This is the first report of mycosis of gametophytes in Korea.
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Oh et al. (2017) studied this question.
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