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Mollisia is a taxonomically neglected discomycete genus ( Helotiales, Leotiomycetes ) of commonly encountered saprotrophs on decaying plant tissues throughout temperate regions. The combination of indistinct morphological characters, more than 700 names in the literature, and lack of reference DNA sequences presents a major challenge when working with Mollisia . Unidentified endophytes, including strains that produced antifungal or antiinsectan secondary metabolites, were isolated from conifer needles in New Brunswick and placed with uncertainty in Phialocephala and Mollisia , necessitating a more comprehensive treatment of these genera. In this study, morphology and multigene phylogenetic analyses were used to explore the taxonomy of Mollisiaceae , including Mollisia , Phialocephala , and related genera, using new field collections, herbarium specimens, and accessioned cultures and sequences. The phylogeny of Mollisiaceae was reconstructed and compared using the nuc internal transcribed spacer rDNA (ITS) barcode and partial sequences of the 28S nuc rDNA (LSU) gene, largest subunit of RNA polymerase II ( RPB1 ), DNA topoisomerase I ( TOP1 ), and the hypothetical protein Lipin/Ned1/Smp2 ( LNS2 ). The results show that endophytism is common throughout the Mollisiaceae lineage in a diverse range of hosts but is infrequently attributed to Mollisia because of a paucity of reference sequences. Generic boundaries within Mollisiaceae are poorly resolved and based on phylogenetic evidence the family included species placed in Acephala , Acidomelania , Barrenia , Bispora , Cheirospora , Cystodendron , Fuscosclera , Hysteronaevia, Loramyces, Mollisia, Neopyrenopeziza , Obtectodiscus, Ombrophila, Patellariopsis , Phialocephala , Pulvinata , Tapesia (= Mollisia ), and Trimmatostroma. Taxonomic novelties included the description of five novel Mollisia species and five novel Phialocephala species and the synonymy of Fuscosclera with Phialocephala , Acidomelania with Mollisia , and Loramycetaceae with Mollisiaceae .
Mollisia is a taxonomically neglected discomycete genus ( Helotiales, Leotiomycetes ) of commonly encountered saprotrophs on decaying plant tissues throughout temperate regions. The combination of indistinct morphological characters, more than 700 names in the literature, and lack of reference DNA sequences presents a major challenge when working with Mollisia . Unidentified endophytes, including strains that produced antifungal or antiinsectan secondary metabolites, were isolated from conifer needles in New Brunswick and placed with uncertainty in Phialocephala and Mollisia , necessitating a more comprehensive treatment of these genera. In this study, morphology and multigene phylogenetic analyses were used to explore the taxonomy of Mollisiaceae , including Mollisia , Phialocephala , and related genera, using new field collections, herbarium specimens, and accessioned cultures and sequences. The phylogeny of Mollisiaceae was reconstructed and compared using the nuc internal transcribed spacer rDNA (ITS) barcode and partial sequences of the 28S nuc rDNA (LSU) gene, largest subunit of RNA polymerase II ( RPB1 ), DNA topoisomerase I ( TOP1 ), and the hypothetical protein Lipin/Ned1/Smp2 ( LNS2 ). The results show that endophytism is common throughout the Mollisiaceae lineage in a diverse range of hosts but is infrequently attributed to Mollisia because of a paucity of reference sequences. Generic boundaries within Mollisiaceae are poorly resolved and based on phylogenetic evidence the family included species placed in Acephala , Acidomelania , Barrenia , Bispora , Cheirospora , Cystodendron , Fuscosclera , Hysteronaevia, Loramyces, Mollisia, Neopyrenopeziza , Obtectodiscus, Ombrophila, Patellariopsis , Phialocephala , Pulvinata , Tapesia (= Mollisia ), and Trimmatostroma. Taxonomic novelties included the description of five novel Mollisia species and five novel Phialocephala species and the synonymy of Fuscosclera with Phialocephala , Acidomelania with Mollisia , and Loramycetaceae with Mollisiaceae .
Aplosporella abexaminans, a new sexual morph fungus belongs to family Aplosporellaceae, was discovered on the bark of stem of Murraya koenigii (Rutaceae) and identified by morphological characteristics and analysis of combined ITS and LSU sequence data. This is the second report of a sexual morph with molecular evidence for this genus and the second record of conidiogenesis and chlamydospores associated with the asexual state of this family. It is characterized by its larger ascostromata, locules without ostioles, thinner locule peridium, two to multi-layered, larger asci, surrounded by an additional hyaline sac like structure, larger and hyaline to light olivaceous ascospores, asexual state without conidiomata formation, conidiogenous cells light brown to brown, conidia brown without granular content, smooth and presence of chlamydospores. The sexual morph of Aplosporella abexaminans resembles Bagnisiella and the asexual morph resembles Aplosporella, thus proving the sexual-asexual connection for the second time for this family.
Botryosphaeriales (Dothideomycetes, Ascomycota) occur in a wide range of habitats as endophytes, saprobes, and pathogens. The order Botryosphaeriales has not been subjected to evaluation since 2019 by Phillips and co-authors using phylogenetic and evolutionary analyses. Subsequently, many studies introduced novel taxa into the order and revised several families separately. In addition, no ancestral character studies have been conducted for this order. Therefore, in this study, we re-evaluated the character evolution and taxonomic placements of Botryosphaeriales species based on ancestral character evolution, divergence time estimation, and phylogenetic relationships, including all the novel taxa that have been introduced so far. Maximum likelihood, maximum parsimony, and Bayesian inference analyses were conducted on a combined LSU and ITS sequence alignment. Ancestral state reconstruction was carried out for conidial colour, septation, and nutritional mode. Divergence times estimates revealed that Botryosphaeriales originated around 109 Mya in the early epoch of the Cretaceous period. All six families in Botryosphaeriales evolved in the late epoch of the Cretaceous period (66–100 Mya), during which Angiosperms also appeared, rapidly diversified and became dominant on land. Families of Botryosphaeriales diversified during the Paleogene and Neogene periods in the Cenozoic era. The order comprises the families Aplosporellaceae, Botryosphaeriaceae, Melanopsaceae, Phyllostictaceae, Planistromellaceae and Saccharataceae. Furthermore, current study assessed two hypotheses; the first one being “All Botryosphaeriales species originated as endophytes and then switched into saprobes when their hosts died or into pathogens when their hosts were under stress”; the second hypothesis states that “There is a link between the conidial colour and nutritional mode in botryosphaerialean taxa”. Ancestral state reconstruction and nutritional mode analyses revealed a pathogenic/saprobic nutritional mode as the ancestral character. However, we could not provide strong evidence for the first hypothesis mainly due to the significantly low number of studies reporting the endophytic botryosphaerialean taxa. Results also showed that hyaline and aseptate conidia were ancestral characters in Botryosphaeriales and supported the relationship between conidial pigmentation and the pathogenicity of Botryosphaeriales species.
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