Novel Collophorina and Coniochaeta species from Euphorbia polycaulis, an endemic plant in Iran

Abstract

During a study on the biodiversity of yeasts and yeast-like ascomycetes from wild plants in Iran, four strains of yeast-like filamentous fungi were isolated from a healthy plant of Euphorbia polycaulis in the Qom Province, Iran (IR. of). All four strains formed small hyaline one-celled conidia from integrated conidiogenous cells directly on hyphae and sometimes on discrete phialides, as well as by microcyclic conidiation. Two strains additionally produced conidia in conidiomata that open by rupture. The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences suggested the placement of these strains in the genera Collophorina (Leotiomycetes) and Coniochaeta (Sordariomycetes), respectively. Blast search results on NCBI GenBank and phylogenetic analyses of ITS, the glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) and the translation elongation factor 1α (EF-1α) sequences, and the nuclear large subunit ribosomal gene (LSU), partial actin (ACT), and β-tubulin (TUB) sequences, respectively , revealed the isolates to belong to three new species, that are described here as Collophorina euphorbiae, Coniochaeta iranica, and C. euphorbiae. All three species are characterised by morphological, physiological, and molecular data.

Coniochaeta endophytica sp. nov., a foliar endophyte associated with healthy photosynthetic tissue of Platycladus orientalis (Cupressaceae)

“…The use of a polyphasic, multilocus phylogenetic species concept per Gazis et al (2011) suggests that even the lowest ITSrDNA divergence threshold used to define this kind of species hypothesis may underestimate fungal diversity in some cases: different species can have 100% identical ITSrDNA sequences (see Lieckfeldt & Seifert 2000;Schoch et al 2012). This is consistent with previous observations of extremely high ITSrDNA similarity between isolates from different species of Coniochaeta (i.e., limited ITSrDNA sequence variability in this genus; Nasr et al 2018).…”

Dieback and decline of wild almond (Amygdalus scopariaSpach) in the Harat protected forest of Yazd Province, Iran

“…C. pallida), C. aceris and C. euphorbiae (Nasr et al, 2018;Wijayawardene et al, 2017). Crous and Shin originally collected Th.…”

“…Crous and Shin originally collected Th. The majority of Collophorina species, with the exception of the endophytes C. aceris and C. euphorbiae (Nasr et al, 2018;Xie et al, 2013), are associated with dark brown-to-black streaking, black spots and even red stain of the xylem tissues of woody hosts, and can cause wood necrosis (Arzanlou et al, 2016;Gierl & Fischer, 2017;Gramaje et al, 2012;Wijayawardene et al, 2017;Yurkewich, Castaño, & Colinas, 2017 in Iran (Aghdam & Fotouhifar, 2016), and in spore traps attached to peach trees located next to vineyards in Germany (Fischer et al, 2016). C. pallida), C. aceris and C. euphorbiae (Nasr et al, 2018;Wijayawardene et al, 2017).…”

“…cornicola associated with leaf spots on Cornus officinalis (Cornaceae) in Korea , while in the present study C. paarla (Syn. C. pallida), C. aceris and C. euphorbiae (Nasr et al, 2018;Wijayawardene et al, 2017). It should be noted that species C. pallida and C. capensis were considered to be two distinct species (Damm et al, 2010), but reevaluation of the Collophorina species based on multigene sequence data showed that C. capensis and C. pallida are synonyms to C. africana and C. paarla, respectively (Gramaje et al, 2012).…”

“…It should be noted that species C. pallida and C. capensis were considered to be two distinct species (Damm et al, 2010), but reevaluation of the Collophorina species based on multigene sequence data showed that C. capensis and C. pallida are synonyms to C. africana and C. paarla, respectively (Gramaje et al, 2012). The majority of Collophorina species, with the exception of the endophytes C. aceris and C. euphorbiae (Nasr et al, 2018;Xie et al, 2013), are associated with dark brown-to-black streaking, black spots and even red stain of the xylem tissues of woody hosts, and can cause wood necrosis (Arzanlou et al, 2016;Gierl & Fischer, 2017;Gramaje et al, 2012;Wijayawardene et al, 2017;Yurkewich, Castaño, & Colinas, 2017 in Iran (Aghdam & Fotouhifar, 2016), and in spore traps attached to peach trees located next to vineyards in Germany (Fischer et al, 2016). The results of the pathogenicity test on detached shoots of wild almond revealed that C. paarla caused wood necrosis on shoots and was one of the most virulent fungi of this study (Table 3; Figure 6).…”