Functional analysis of Fairy chemicals in basidiomycete fungi and plants.

Circular patterns in fields called fairy rings are a common phenomenon on turfgrass that result from the interactions between basidiomycete fungi and plants. To date, 2-azahypoxanthine (AHX) and imidazole-4-carboxamide (ICA), which regulate plant growth, was isolated from the basidiomycete Lepista sordida . In addition, we isolated a derivative of AHX, 2-aza-8-oxohypoxanthine (AOH), from plants. These three compounds, named fairy chemicals (FCs), were endogenously synthesized in plants from 5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide (AICA) via a novel purine metabolic pathway. In this project, we try to investigate the interaction between basidiomycete fungi and plants via these three compounds.