Isolation of vegetable wasps and plant worms, Cordyceps nutans, from fruit-body tissue.

We isolated Cordyceps nutans from the stipe and abdominal tissues of fruit bodies using a surface sterilization method. Hyphal growth was observed in inocula from both the stipe and abdominal tissue. Some strains from discharged ascospores were obtained and colony characteristics were compared to the strains isolated from the tissues. Colonies of isolates from ascospores grew quite slowly. Isolates of 43 from the 52 examined fruit bodies formed colonies similar to those from ascospores. To confirm the success of isolation, we analyzed by PCR-RFLP of the ITS regions of rDNA samples from fruit bodies, isolates from fruit bodies, and isolates from ascospores. All the isolates obtained from stipe and abdominal tissues presented identical patterns. In this study, we report the first successful isolation of C. nutans from fruit-body tissue using a surface sterilization method.