A special issue dedicated to Prof. Jack D. Rogers edited by Yu-Ming Ju and Julia Kerrigan
This is an article collection published in Botanical Studies.
This special issue is a tribute to the late Prof. Jack D. Rogers, a respected mycologist renowned for his significant work on Ascomycota, the largest phylum in the Fungi kingdom, with an emphasis on the family Xylariaceae. As such, the issue brings together contributions from his colleagues who specialize in ascomycetes, with a particular focus on xylariaceous fungi.
Prof. Rogers, who for many years taught the “Ascomycetes” course at Washington State University, Pullman, described numerous new genera and species of Ascomycota, including Jumillera, Pareutypella, Vivantia, and Whalleya among others. His global collaborations with fellow mycologists and his initiation of a website dedicated to xylariaceous fungi, a group that intrigued him since the beginning of his academic journey in the 1960s, are a testament to his commitment to mycology. Prof. Rogers passed away on June 14, 2021, at the age of 83 in Pullman.
Ascomycota, also known as sac fungi or ascomycetes, are characterized by their sexual spores—ascospores—enclosed within a sac-like structure known as an ascus. This phylum comprises over described 64,000 species of fungi that inhabit various natural environments such as forests, soil, rivers, and polar regions. They play vital roles in decomposition, nutrient cycling, symbiosis, and pathogenesis. Moreover, they are prevalent in our surroundings where they serve beneficial roles in food fermentation and production of useful antimicrobial metabolites but can also inflict economic damage as pathogens to plants and animals.
Xylariaceous fungi are commonly found on wood, seeds, fruits, plant leaves and even associated with insect nests. These fungi are characterized by a set of morphological features, including colored ascospores with a germination slit and a ring-like ascus apical apparatus that turns blue in an iodine reagent. They are among the most frequently encountered groups of ascomycetes. They are distributed across the temperate and tropical regions of the world, with at least 50 accepted genera and several thousand accepted species. While most decay wood and many are plant pathogens, over the past few decades, many xylariaceous fungi have been identified as endophytes in living plant tissues.