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.
Additions to IRhytidhysteron/I in China Du, Tian-Ye; Dai, Dong-Qin; Mapook, Ausana ...
Journal of fungi (Basel),
01/2023, Letnik:
9, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
In this study, twelve terrestrial hysteriaceous saprobic fungi growing on different pieces of dead wood were collected from Yunnan Province, China. All hysteriaceous strains isolated in this study ...tallied with the general characteristics associated with Rhytidhysteron. Detailed morphological characteristics and combined multigene phylogeny of LSU, ITS, SSU, and TEF showed that the twelve hysteriaceous fungi strains represent four distinct new species, and seven new host or geographical records of Rhytidhysteron. Based on morphological and phylogenetic evidence, the four new species (Rhytidhysteron bannaense sp. nov., R. coffeae sp. nov., R. mengziense sp. nov., and R. yunnanense sp. nov.) expand the number of species of Rhytidhysteron from thirty-three to thirty-seven, while seven new geographical records expand the records of Rhytidhysteron in China from six to thirteen. In addition, 10 new Rhytidhysteron host records are reported for the first time, thus expanding the known hosts for Rhytidhysteron from 52 to 62. Full descriptions, images of the morphology, and phylogenetic analyses to show the position of the Rhytidhysteron taxa are provided. In addition, the present study summarizes the main morphological characteristics, host associations, and locations of this genus.
Water scorpions belonging to the genus
Nepa
are predatory freshwater aquatic insects of the order Hemiptera. There are currently five accepted species, with a Holarctic distribution:
N. cinerea
...(Eurasia and Northern Africa),
N. sardiniensis
(Sardinia and Corsica),
N. anophthalma
(endemic to Movile Cave, Romania),
N. apiculata
(North America) and
N. hoffmanni
(Eastern Asia). Mitochondrial and nuclear genetic markers indicate a correlation between genetic diversity and geographic distribution. Analyses also reveal a cryptic diversity in the Western Mediterranean basin, with specimens of the
cinerea
clade being assigned to the
sardiniensis
clade. The cave-adapted
N. anophthalma
is genetically closest to
N. cinerea
, suggesting surface populations of
N.
cinerea
as possible ancestors.
N. cinerea
samples from three cave systems in Italy indicate various degrees of gene flow between surface and subterranean populations and an instance of a possible incipient speciation event. Despite the overlap in distribution range in mainland Eastern Asia between
N. cinerea
and
N. hoffmanni
, there is a high genetic distance between the two species. A similar value of genetic distance is found between
N. cinerea
and
N. apiculata
, but also between
N. hoffmanni
and
N. apiculata
, suggesting the assignment of
N. hoffmanni
and
N. apiculata
to different genera. The single species currently considered as stygobiotic,
N. anophthalma
, deserves more research to understand the timing of colonization of Movile groundwater by its surface ancestors.
Fungi of the genus
Colletotrichum
are causal agents of plant diseases with constantly growing economic importance. Accurate pathogen identification is a significant prerequisite for effective disease ...control. The aim of the present investigation was to clarify the species affiliation of
Colletotrichum
isolates obtained from different hosts in Bulgaria and to determine the phylogenetic relationships between them by applying DNA barcoding. Thirty-five fungal isolates obtained from five botanical families (Solanaceae, Rosaceae, Musaceae, Cucurbitaceae and Caryophyllaceae) were morphologically characterized and subjected to molecular analysis based on four fungal barcode markers – the primary ITS barcode and the secondary marker regions ACT, EF-1a and TUB2 (Fig. 1). Three of the barcodes (ITS, ACT and TUB2) showed complete success rate of PCR amplification and sequencing and proved efficient for reliable identification at species level. BLAST analyses identified eleven
Colletotrichum
species assigned to five different complexes –
C. coccodes
,
C. acutatum
,
C. gloeosporioides
,
C. dematium
and
C. spaethianum
. The resolution power of ITS region was not sufficient to discriminate interspecies variations within
C. coccodes
,
C. dematium
and
C. spaethianum
complexes confirming the requirement for secondary barcodes in order to resolve the genetic variability of the
Colletotrichum
isolates. DNA barcoding analyses revealed that the highest species variation was observed among the isolates from pepper (
Capsicum annuum
). Interestingly, an isolate from the same host identified as
C. truncatum
on the basis of morphological characters appeared to be
C. circinans
when applying DNA barcode markers. According to our knowledge, this species has not been reported as a causal agent of pepper anthracnose. Data obtained in this study improve our understanding of the genetic diversity within the
Colletotrichum
population pathogenic on cultivated plants in Bulgaria.
The genus
Stachys
is one of the largest in the Lamiaceae family. Representatives of the genus are among the most ancient medicinal plants used in the ethnomedicine. The Balkan endemic species
S. ...thracica
,
S. bulgarica
and
S. scardica
are included in The Red Data Book of Bulgaria and due to their endangered status are scarcely studied. The aim of the present work was to examine the genetic status of these three endemic
Stachys
species during the process of their
ex situ
conservation. To gain information about their taxonomic position in the genus
Stachys
, we applied the DNA barcoding approach. Nuclear (ITS) and plastid (
rbcL
,
matK
and
trnH‑psbA
) DNA barcodes were generated and aligned with accessions available in the data base. In the constructed phylogenetic trees
S. thracica
was placed in a cluster together with
S. alpina
,
S. germanica
and
S. cretica
, while
S. bulgarica
and
S. scardica
were clustered with
S. officinalis
. The
ex situ
conservation was achieved by the initiation of
in vitro
shoot cultures and their subsequent adaptation in
ex vitro
conditions. To check the genomic stability of the plants during the acclimatisation from
in vitro
conditions to
ex vitro
, analysis by sequence-related amplified polymorphism (SRAP) markers was performed. No difference was detected between the SRAP profiles of
in vitro
cultivated and
ex vitro
adapted
S. thracica
and
S. scardica
plants. In
S. bulgarica
, only 0.4% fragment difference was detected. The obtained results indicated that the three
Stachys
species preserved their genetic stability during the process of
in vitro
multiplication, which is a prerequisite for conserved bioactive capacity.
 The genus Lygosoma Hardwicke & Gray, 1827 is a group of semi-fossorial supple skink from Southeast Asia, the members of which are still understudied in Indochina. Lysosoma quadrupes (Linnaeus, ...1766) was once recorded from China based on historical literature; until recent its Indochina specimens were revised and placed into a newly described species, i.e., L. siamense Siler, Heitz, Davis, Freitas, Aowphol, Termprayoon & Grismer, 2018. However, Lygosoma quadrupes had long been unknown from China but the historical record had not been confirmed. Here we report a vouchered record for L. siamense from China for the first time based on four specimens collected in Sanya, Hainan, China. Furthermore, the taxonomic history of Lygosoma from China is also reviewed. Keywords: distribution, supple skink, taxonomic revision, taxonomy, writhing skink
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