Fusarium and allied genera from China: species diversity and distribution

Abstract

The genus Fusarium includes numerous important plant and human pathogens, as well as many industrially and commercially important species. During our investigation of fungal diversity in China, a total of 356 fusarioid isolates were obtained and identified from diverse diseased and healthy plants, or different environmental habitats, i.e., air, carbonatite, compost, faeces, soil and water, representing hitherto one of the most intensive sampling and identification efforts of fusarioid taxa in China. Combining morphology, multi-locus phylogeny and ecological preference, these isolates were identified as 72 species of Fusarium and allied genera, i.e., Bisifusarium (1), Fusarium (60), and Neocosmospora (11). A seven-locus dataset, comprising the 5.8S nuclear ribosomal RNA gene with the two flanking internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions, the intergenic spacer region of the rDNA (IGS), partial translation elongation factor 1-alpha (tef1), partial calmodulin (cam), partial RNA polymerase largest subunit (rpb1), partial RNA polymerase second largest subunit (rpb2) gene regions, and partial β-tubulin (tub2), were sequenced and employed in phylogenetic analyses. A genus-level phylogenetic tree was constructed using combined tef1, rpb1, and rpb2 sequences, which confirmed the presence of four fusarioid genera among the isolates studied. Further phylogenetic analyses of two allied genera (Bisifusarium and Neocosmospora) and nine species complexes of Fusarium were separately conducted employing different multi-locus datasets, to determine relationships among closely related species. Twelve novel species were identified and described in this paper. The F. babinda species complex is herein renamed as the F. falsibabinda species complex, including descriptions of new species. Sixteen species were reported as new records from China.

Co-infection of Fusarium aglaonematis sp. nov. and Fusarium elaeidis Causing Stem Rot in Aglaonema modestum in China

“…Notes: In the phylogenetic tree, three isolates in this study formed a lineage with 100% ML bootstrap support and a 1.00 BYPP value. Morphologically, F. aglaonematis is distinguished from its closely related taxa, F. panlongense by the size of microconidia and macroconidia ( Wang et al, 2022 ; Table 2 ). The length of macroconidia and microconidia of new species is longer than those of F. panlongense described in a study by Wang et al (2022 ; Table 2 ).…”

“…Based on colony morphology and morphological characters, we identified our isolates belong to Fusarium ( Wang et al, 2022 ). The genomic DNA was extracted using the DNA Rapid Extraction Kit (Aidlab Biotechnologies Corporation Ltd., Beijing, China) from 5-day-old cultures grown on PDA.…”

“…We identified our isolates belonging to Fusarium fujikuroi ( F. fujikuroi ) species complex (FFSC) and F. oxysporum species complex (FOSC). Sequences of F. fujikuroi species complex (FFSC) were downloaded from the NCBI following a study by Crous et al (2021) ; Yilmaz et al (2021) , and Wang et al (2022 ; Supplementary Table 1 ). Sequences of F. oxysporum species complex (FOSC) were downloaded from the NCBI following a study by Lombard et al (2019 ; Supplementary Table 2 ).…”

“…Using BioEdit 7.0.5.2, sequences were improved manually when necessary ( Hall, 1999 ). Combined sequences dataset of five loci, namely, cmdA , rpb1 , rpb2 , tef1- α, and β -tubulin , were used for phylogenetic analyses of FFSC following a study by Crous et al (2021) ; Yilmaz et al (2021) , and Wang et al (2022) . Combined sequences dataset of three loci, namely, rpb2 , tef1- α, and β -tubulin , were used for phylogenetic analyses of FOSC following a study by Lombard et al (2019) .…”

“…Fusarium accommodates 18 species complexes ( Laurence et al, 2011 ; O’Donnell et al, 2013 ; Aoki et al, 2014 ; Zhou et al, 2016 ; Sandoval-Denis et al, 2018 ; Lombard et al, 2019 ; Crous et al, 2021 ) with over 100 species. These species represent some of the most devastating plant pathogens worldwide ( Wang et al, 2022 ). In recent years, many Fusarium diseases have been reported to be associated with ornamental plants ( Gullino et al, 2012 , 2015 ; Srivastava et al, 2018 ; Muaz et al, 2020 ; He et al, 2021 ; Kamali-Sarvestani et al, 2022 ).…”