• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.13-16
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• 1973

Two species of the family Clavicipitaceae, Cordyceps tricentri Yasuda and Cordyceps sphecocephala (Klotz) Mass. which have not been reported so far in Korea, were collected and identified. These are added to the list of three previously recorded species, Cordyceps sobolifera, C, militaris, and C. nutans.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.57-61
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• 2006

In this study, morphology of perithecia, asci, ascospores, etc. of C. sphecocephala were examined for its telemorphic characteristics. Its colony grew up to 32 mm in diameter on potato dextrose agar (PDA) for 30 days under the condition of $24{\pm}1^{\circ}C$. PDBLA and PDBAA media were selected as optimal media for C. sphecocephala, on which the growth was 1.5 times as fast as on PDA medium. Moreover, PDBLA medium induced successfully the synnemata of anamorphic state. C. sphecocephala was able to be proliferated in vitro on both larva and adult of honeybee drone as its substrate. After inoculated onto the drone larva, it produced mycelium at $24{\pm}1^{\circ}C$, with the maximum yield up to $67{\pm}3mg$ on the $50^{th}$ day.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.94-105
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• 1993

The genus Cordyceps known as an insect parasite forms a sclerotium in insect bodies and then produces perithecia on the single or multiple stromata produced from sclerotium. Collected Cordyceps were identified into 5 species: Cordyceps militaris, C. nutans, Cordyceps sphecocephala, Isaria japonica, and Torrubiella sp. The fruit bodies of Cordyceps in petri-dish cover were fixed by tape and put the lid on water agar plates to isolate these collected Cordyceps. The germinated spores were transferred from water agar to Potato dextrose agar(PDA) after six hours. Mycelial growth of C. nutans and C. militaris was the most successful on Hamada media and was also good on Complete media and PDA. Mannose as a carbon source was good for two species and Glutamic acid as a nitrogen source was satisfactory to C. militaris and Asparagine gave a good result to C. nutans. C. militaris and C. nutans showed similar mycelial growth rate on the media that contained thiamine-HCI, biotine or nicotinic acid as a vitamine. When conidia of C. nutans were inoculated to insects, mortality was high in Artogeia napi L, Hemiptera, Plutella xylostella and 50% in Orthoptera, 12% in Acantholyda posticalise M, but not Agelastica coerulea B. in Aphididae, C. nutans was collected from only Hemiptera in nature, but killing effect on other insects was proved. Mycelial growth and fruit-body formation were good on the media that consist of rice powder 5g, wheat flour 5g, water 100ml, but formed fruit-body was not complete stromata but a mass of conidia according to results of observing microscope.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.23 no.1 s.72
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• pp.92-104
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• 1995

Ten species of Cordyceps species were collected throughout Kangwon province including Chuncheon Dongsanmyun KNU forest experiment from June to September, 1993. Collected Cordyceps species were identified as Cordyceps militaris, C. roseostromata, C. kyushuensis, C. scarabaeicola, Phytocordyceps ninchukiospora, C. nutans, Paecilomyces tenuipes, C. sphecocephala, Hymenostilbe odonatae, Torrubiella sp.. C. militaris, type species of Cordyceps species, was mainly formed on pupae of Lepidoptera and found after the rainy season around July. Fruiting body of C. roseostromata was morphologically similar to those of C. militaris, but relatively small in size and they were also found on lawn or pupa of Lepidoptera. Fruiting body of C. scarabaeicola was found on adult Scarabaeidae specifically and collect fruiting bodies of C. kyushuensis were on larva of moth. C. nutans and C. sphecocephala had host specificity on Hemiptera and Hymenoptera, respectively. Each species formed elliptical fertile part attach to the slim and carneous stalk and they were collected the most in specimen number through whole season of the summer. Ascospore of Phytocordyceps ninchukiospora on seed was characterized by two viable, multiseptate, fusiform units linked end-to-end by a long, filiform connective. Paecilomyces tenuipes, imperfect stage of the genus Cordyceps is multi-infective fungi that attack all stages of all groups of insects. Hymenostilbe odonatae attacks only adult Odonata and Torrubiella sp. formed on spider was difficult to collect because it was found the back side of leaf. As results of cultural test PDA medium showed the best mycelial growth. In the experiment of effect of the acidity inside of the media, C. militaris was good on pH 5, C. nutans and Phytocordyceps ninchukiospora were good on pH 6 and Paecilomyces tenuipes was on pH 7 and C. scarabaeicola was on pH 9. All isolates tested showed the best mycelial growth at $20^{\circ}C$. Morphologically similar isolates were used to analyze protein banding pattern among and within species. As a result, C. militaris, C. roseostromata and C. kyushuensis were clustered into close species and C. scarabaeicola and Phytocordyceps ninchukiospora were relatively distant from those species.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.512-519
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• 2008

Three different polysaccharide-peptide complexes (PPC, named as Fr-I, Fr-II, and Fr-III) were produced by submerged mycelial culture of an entomopathogenic fungus Cordyceps sphecocephala, and their anticancer activities were investigated in human hepatocarcinoma (HepG2) and neuroblastoma (SK-N-SH) cells. The highest inhibitory effects of PPC on both HepG2 and SK-N-SH cells were achieved with Fr-I, whereas Fr-III with low molecular mass showed lower inhibition effects. Interestingly, the inhibitory effects of the three fractions were increased after protease digestion, suggesting that the inhibitory effects resulted mainly from the carbohydrate moiety, at least in the case of Fr-II and Fr-III, of PPC. The results of DNA fragmentation in PPC-induced apoptotic cells were confirmed by both DNA ladder assay and comet assay. Our investigation also showed that PPC-induced apoptosis of both cancer cells was associated with intracellular events including DNA fragmentation, activation of caspase-3, and modulation of Bcl-2 and Bax. We conclude that PPC has potential as a novel therapeutic agent for the treatment of both HepG2 and SK-N-SH cancer cells without any cytotoxicity against normal cells.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.25 no.4 s.83
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• pp.239-252
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• 1997

Thirty three entomopathogenic species belonging to twelve genus were collected throughout 16 collecting sites from 1990 to 1996. Among those collected species, 14 unrecorded species such as Cordyceps bifusispora, C. martialis, C. oxycephala, C. paludosa, C. pentatomi, C. rosea, C. ryogamiensis, Shimizuomyces paradoxa, Akanthomyces aculeatus, Polycephalomyces ramosus, Tilachlidiopsis nigra were added to Korean entomopathogenic species through this study. In nature, occurrence of Cordyceps nutans, C. sphecocephala and Paecilomyces tenuipes were from early June to late September. On the other hand, C. militaris, C. kyushuensis and C. pruinosa were mainly found from mid July to mid August when relative humidity are increased. Nine species of the genus Cordyceps including C. bifusispora and four deuteromycetous species were isolated. As a result of cultural test using six Cordyceps species, anamorph of C. militaris, C. kyushuensis were proved as Verticillium sp. C. pruinosa as Acremonium sp., C. sphecocephala as Hymenostilbe sp. and C. scarabaeicola as Beauveria sp., respectively.

• Mycobiology
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.235-239
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• 2005

The present study was carried out to explore the Cordyceps species and other entomopathogenic fungal flora around Kathmandu Valley and a few high altitude locations of Nepal. In this paper, we report eight Cordyceps species as new to Nepal: C. gracilis, C. ishikariensis, C. liangshanensis, C. martialis, C. militaris, C. pruinosa, C. sphecocephala and C. tricentri. We also mention a few allied genera such as Beauveria, Hirsutella and Paecilomyces from Nepal. Further collections from different ecological regions of Nepal will show the richness of entomopathogenic fungal floral diversity of Nepal.

• Journal of Sericultural and Entomological Science
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.18-30
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• 2005

Morphological characteristics of Cordyceps species and its allies collected in Korea were clarified. Through the survey conducted from June 1999 to October 2002 in 19 mountains in Korea, 667 samples of entomogenous fungi were collected. Cordyceps and its allies of 17 species of 5 genera were identified as Cordyceps gracilioides, C. japonica, C. longissima, C. martialis, C. militaris, C. myrmecophila, C. nutans, C. pruinosa, C. sphecocephala, C. tricentri, Hirsutella nutans, Paecilomyces cicadae, P. farinosus, P. tenuipes, Paecilomyces sp., Shimizuomyces paradoxa, Tilachlidiopsis nigra. The fungi with insect hosts have been collected mainly in the place of shade or mosses near brooks and streams that had high humidity. Overall the frequenct of fungal infection in natural ecosystem was relatively low as few as 10 collections per each species. However, many species were found in terms of the few number of colleciton sites with seasonal limitations. Occurrence of the fungi in Jeju island remote from inland of the Korean peninsula were diverse in their species due to the varied weather of vertical distribution following the altitude. Three most common species were C. nutans, P. tenuipes and C. militaris, mainly found early in August when the relative humidity and temperature were high, of which C. nutans occupied the highest frequency consisting of 65% in total collections. Neither variation in ascomata arrangement in stromata nor developement of secondary spores was recognizable, while the number, shape and colour of stromata varied with insect hosts and weather conditions.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.85-91
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• 2002

The sequences of the internal transcribed spacers (ITS1 and ITS2) and 5.8S ribosomal DNA gene from five Cordyceps species and one Paecilomyces japonica were determined. The total length of the ITSI, 5.8S and ITS2 regions ranged from 528 to 549 bp. When the C. militaris collected from Korea was used as a standard genotype, the sequence showed 88.4%, 88.6%, 91.1% and 86.8% identity to C. pruinosa, C. sphecocephala, C. scarabaeucika and R japonica, respectively, while the lowest identity was found with C. sinensis (75.4%). Interestingly, C. sinensis was phylogenetically distant from the other Cordyceps species. To test geographic variation, furthermore, sequences of the ITS regions in the 8 samples of C. militaris collected from two localities in Korea and China analyzed and compared with the GenBank-searched sequences from Japan and China. The total length of the ITS regions of C. militaris from Korea, Japan and China was completely identical to each other with 528 bp, and the sequence divergence among three localities in pairwise comparisons ranged from 0.2% (1 bp) to 0.4% (2 bp).