doi: 10.4489/KJM.2025.53.2.7 Citation BibTeX RIS Mendeley

First Report of Chlorocillium lepidopterorum as a Pathogen of Cultivated Cordyceps militaris in Korea

First Report of Chlorocillium lepidopterorum as a Pathogen of Cultivated Cordyceps militaris in Korea

• Min Kyung Kim (Department of Mushroom Science, Korea National University of Agriculture and Fisheries, Jeonju 54874, Korea)
• Hong Hee Jeong (Mush&, Jeonju 54874, Korea)
• In Cheol Baek (farmOLIN, Pyeongtaek 17716, Korea)
• Geon Sik Seo (Department of Mushroom Science, Korea National University of Agriculture and Fisheries, Jeonju 54874, Korea)
• Myung Soo Park (Department of Mushroom Science, Korea National University of Agriculture and Fisheries, Jeonju 54874, Korea)

Cordyceps militaris is widely cultivated in East Asia as an edible and medicinal mushroom. Although fungal infections affecting C. militaris have been reported in several countries, no such outbreaks have been documented in South Korea. In the present study, we investigated an occurrence of fungal infection of C. militaris at a farm in Pyeongtaek, South Korea. Infected fruiting bodies were initially covered with white cottony mycelia that later developed into yellowish-green colonies. Two fungal strains were isolated from the infected fruiting bodies and identified as Chlorocillium lepidopterorum based on morphological characteristics and phylogenetic analysis using a multigene dataset (the large subunit of nuclear ribosomal RNA gene, internal transcribed spacer regions, translation elongation factor 1-alpha, and RNA polymerase II second largest subunit). Pathogenicity of the strains was confirmed by artificial inoculation. The symptoms of the strains were consistent with those observed in naturally infected fruiting bodies on farms. This is the first report of C. militaris infection caused by C. lepidopterorum in South Korea.