Freshwater Dothideomycetes are a highly diverse group of fungi, which are mostly saprobic in freshwater habitats worldwide. They are important decomposers of submerged woody debris and leaves in water. In this paper, we outline the genera of freshwater Dothideomycetes with notes and keys to species. Based on multigene analyses and morphology, we introduce nine new genera, viz . Aquimassariosphaeria , Aquatospora , Aquihelicascus , Fusiformiseptata , Neohelicascus , Neojahnula , Pseudojahnula , Purpureofaciens , Submersispora ; 33 new species, viz . Acrocalymma bipolare , Aquimassariosphaeria kunmingensis , Aquatospora cylindrica , Aquihelicascus songkhlaensis , A. yunnanensis , Ascagilis submersa , A. thailandensis , Bambusicola aquatica , Caryospora submersa , Dictyocheirospora thailandica , Fusiformiseptata crocea , Helicosporium thailandense , Hongkongmyces aquaticus , Lentistoma aquaticum , Lentithecium kunmingense , Lindgomyces aquaticus , Longipedicellata aquatica , Neohelicascus submersus , Neohelicomyces dehongensis , N. thailandicus , Neohelicosporium submersum , Nigrograna aquatica , Occultibambusa kunmingensis , Parabambusicola aquatica , Pseudoasteromassaria aquatica , Pseudoastrosphaeriella aquatica , Pseudoxylomyces aquaticus , Purpureofaciens aquatica , Roussoella aquatica , Shrungabeeja aquatica , Submersispora variabilis , Tetraploa puzheheiensis , T. yunnanensis ; 16 new combinations, viz. Aquimassariosphaeria typhicola , Aquihelicascus thalassioideus , Ascagilis guttulaspora , A. queenslandica , A. seychellensis , A. sunyatsenii , Ernakulamia xishuangbannaensis , Neohelicascus aquaticus , N. chiangraiensis , N. egyptiacus , N. elaterascus , N. gallicus , N. unilocularis , N. uniseptatus , Neojahnula australiensis , Pseudojahnula potamophila ; 17 new geographical and habitat records, viz. Aliquandostipite khaoyaiensis , Aquastroma magniostiolata , Caryospora aquatica , C. quercus , Dendryphiella vinosa , Ernakulamia cochinensis , Fissuroma neoaggregatum , Helicotruncatum palmigenum , Jahnula rostrata , Neoroussoella bambusae , N. leucaenae , Occultibambusa pustula , Paramonodictys solitarius , Pleopunctum pseudoellipsoideum , Pseudocapulatispora longiappendiculata , Seriascoma didymosporum , Shrungabeeja vadirajensis and ten new collections from China and Thailand, viz. Amniculicola guttulata , Aquaphila albicans , Berkleasmium latisporum , Clohesyomyces aquaticus , Dictyocheirospora rotunda , Flabellascoma fusiforme , Pseudoastrosphaeriella bambusae , Pseudoxylomyces elegans , Tubeufia aquatica and T. cylindrothecia . Dendryphiella phitsanulokensis and Tubeufia roseohelicospora are synonymized with D. vinosa and T. tectonae , respectively. Six orders, 43 families and 145 genera which belong to freshwater Dothideomycetes are reviewed. Of these, 46 genera occur exclusively in freshwater habitats. A world map illustrates the distribution of freshwater Dothideomycetes.

Climate change, inadequate possessions, and land degradation all pose obstacles to modern agriculture. In the current scenario, the agriculture industry is mainly dependent on the use of chemical-based pesticides and fertilizers that impact soil health and crop productivity. Moreover, water scarcity leads farmers in drastically affected regions to use heavy metal-enriched water sources mainly originating from industrial sources for field crops irrigation. Soil pollutants can be carried into the human body via dust and water, creating negative health effects varying from simple symptoms, e.g., nausea and diarrhea and reaching death in critical cases. Thus, to clean soil contaminants, and improve soil fertility and agricultural production, alternatives to chemical fertilizers must be developed. Therefore, using beneficial microbes found in plant-associated soil microorganisms offers an effective strategy to alleviate some of these challenges, improving soil fertility, and crop yield, and protecting plants from stress conditions. Through the use of synergistic interactions, the synthetic consortium strategy seeks to improve the stability of microbial communities. In this review, synthetic consortia and their potential use in agriculture were discussed. Further, engineering new effective synthetic consortia was suggested as an effective approach in the concept of environmental bioremediation of soil pollutants and contaminants.

Fermented foods were likely to have been the first among all types of processed foods consumed by human beings. The role that fermented food plays is not only related to the development of civilizations and cultural relationships between countries but also related to the nutritional importance of its population. Of course, the early manufacturers of fermented foods didn’t take into account the advantages of modern sciences, because enzymes and microorganisms were discovered just 150-200 years ago. For that reason, we can conclude why the ancient fermentation techniques were known to philosophers and alchemists, but not to biologists. It demonstrated that the fermentation mechanisms involved many secrets still undiscovered. Recently, applications of molecular techniques for analyzing and study the fermented foods have been explored. In this review, we provide answers with a critical vision to many questions for understanding the role of molecular techniques to discover the secrets of fermented foods such as how to evaluate the traditional fermented foods? Why using molecular techniques to study the fermented foods not else? Is the future will carry to us a boom in molecular technologies contribute to the detection of more secrets of the fermented food?

Three new freshwater ascomycetes, Diaporthe aquatica sp. nov. (Diaporthaceae), Ophioceras aquaticus sp. nov. (Magnaporthaceae) and Togninia aquatica sp. nov. (Togniniaceae), are described and illustrated based on morphological and molecular data (ITS, 18S, 28S rDNA sequences). Diaporthe aquatica is characterized by globose to subglobose, black ascomata with long necks, broadly cylindrical to obclavate asci, and small, ellipsoidal to fusiform, one-septate, hyaline ascospores; it is unusual among Diaporthe species in the fact that it lacks a stroma and has freshwater habitat. Ophioceras aquaticus is characterized by globose ascomata with a long beak, cylindrical, eight-spored asci with J- subapical rings and 3-5-septate filiform ascospores with slightly acute ends. Togninia aquatica is characterized by globose ascomata with long necks, clavate and truncate asci clustered on distinct ascogenous hyphae, and small, reniform, hyaline ascospores. Differences among the new taxa and similar species are discussed.

Westerdykella aquatica, isolated from rice field mud and as an endophyte from Acorus calamus, is described as a new species. The fungus is characterized by its globose cleistothecia, globose to subglobose, persistent, 8-spored asci, and cylindrical, 3-septate, light brown ascospores. A phylogenetic tree based on ITS, LSU, and β-tubulin sequences was constructed to infer the phylogenetic relationship between W. aquatica and other Westerdykella species in the genus. The new species was found to produce phytase, an important enzyme to release organic phosphorus in the soil.