BIOLOGY

RENOWNED MYCOLOGISTS
• He is mainly known as a researcher
of fungi and wheat rust .
• Arthur H.R.Buller is well known
for his researches on spore
discharge and sexuality in higher
fungi.
• His major writings include
“Researches on Fungi” published
in six volume.
• “Buller’s phenomenon”, a term
given for Buller’s discovery of “the
dikaryotisation of a homokaryon
by a dikaryon” is widely known as
fungi.
1. John Webster (25 May 1925 – 27 December 2014) was
an internationally renowned mycologist, head of
biological sciences at the University of Exeter in England,
and twice president of the British Mycological Society.
2. He is recognised for determining the physiological
mechanism underpinning fungal spore release, though is
probably best known by students of mycology for his
influential textbook, Introduction to Fungi.
https://youtu.be/SbLva72F-c4
 PROF K.C.MEHTA
1. Stem rust, also known as cereal rust, black rust,red
rust or red dust,is caused by the fungus Puccinia graminis,
which causes significant disease in cereal crops.
2. Crop species that are affected by the disease include 
bread wheat, durum wheat, barley and triticale.
3. These diseases have affected cereal farming throughout history.
4. The annual recurrence of stem rust of wheat in North Indian
plains was discovered by Prof. K.C. Mehta.
• While serving as a senior lecturer at Madras University,
Subramanian published a two-volume work in 1956 under
the title, List of Indian Fungi, which listed the known
species of fungi in India.
• Major focus of his research was on Fungi imperfecti.
• He was known to have conducted extensive research on 
Hyphomycetes and his work has been detailed in a
monograph, Hyphomycetes: An Account of Indian Species,
Except Cercosporae, published in 1971and another
book, Hyphomycetes, taxonomy and biology, published in
1983,where he proposed a classification based on 
conidium ontogenesis.
• He also proposed a new nomenclature protocol based on Sanskrit terminology;
• MycoBank, an online repository managed by the 
International Mycological Association has listed 384 genera of fungi named by him
and Angulimaya,Dwayabeeja, Kutilakesa, Nalalanthamala, and Tharoopamaare
some of them.
•  Aspergillus, a genus of moulds, was another subject of his developmental
taxonomical studies and his research on its teleomorphs helped in the better
understanding of the fungi.
• His researches also explained the systematics, distribution and ecological
behaviour of Fusarium and Drechslera, two plant pathogens.
• He documented his researches in several articles and books besides the ones
noted above; Moulds, Mushrooms and Men and Soil microfungi of Israel are two
such works.
• worked at the Rothamsted Experiment Station
(present-day Rothamsted Research), Harpenden
 on plant virology and soil mycology for a while
before returning to Punjab Agricultural College, 
Lyallpur (present-day 
University of Agriculture, Faisalabad) to start his
career as a microbiologist, in 1941.

• At UBL, Sadasivan formed a research group to

pursue studies soil-borne diseases affecting 
cash crops like cotton, pigeonpea and rice which
is reported to have assisted in the better
understanding of the soil-borne pathogens.
• He developed several concepts such
as competitive saprophytic
 ability and Rhizosphere effect and these studies
were utilized by the Indian taxonomist, C. V.
Subramanian, in his classification of 
Hyphomycetes.
• While working on the toxin pyriculol produced by this blast
fungus demonstrated permeability changes in the host tissues.
• Furthermore it was demonstrated for the first time that the toxins
of the fungus induced 'green islands' in rice leaf tissues.
• Work on the cotton wilt problem caused by the soil inhabiting
fungus Fusarium vasinfectum led to a better understanding of
rhizosphere effect where the role of root exudates in promoting
the growth and survival of specific pathogens became well
established.
• First ever demonstration of the fungal toxin fusaric acid in vivo
led to designating this toxin as a vivotoxin and was advanced by
the group.
• Put forward definitive evidence of ionic imbalance in wilted plants
in the form of excessive excretion and enhanced transpiration
resulting in loss of potassium and accumulation of divalent
cations.
• The other host-parasite system studied was the blast disease of
rice caused by the air-borne fungus Pyricularia oryzae.
During his twenty years in India, he began large
scale surveys on fungi and plant pathology and
published the landmark book Fungi and Disease in
Plants: An Introduction to the Diseases of Field and
Plantation Crops, especially those of India and the
East (1918) and has been called the Father of
Mycology and Plant Pathology in India. Several
species of fungal pathogens were named by him
and many have been named in his honour.
THANK YOU

-MARK DILLON