One stop shop:backbones trees for important phytopathogenic genera:Ⅰ(2014)

Many fungi are pathogenic on plants and cause significant damage in agriculture and forestry.They are also part of the natural ecosystem and may play a role in regulating plant numbers/density.Morphological identification and analysis of plant pathogenic fungi,while important,is often hampered by the scarcity of discriminatory taxonomic characters and the endophytic or inconspicuous nature of these fungi.Molecular(DNA sequence)data for plant pathogenic fungi have emerged as key information for diagnostic and classification studies,although hampered in part by non-standard laboratory practices and analytical methods.To facilitate current and future research,this study provides phylogenetic synopses for 25 groups of plant pathogenic fungi in the Ascomycota,Basidiomycota,Mucormycotina(Fungi),and Oomycota,using recent molecular data,up-to-date names,and the latest taxonomic insights.Lineagespecific laboratory protocols together with advice on their application,as well as general observations,are also provided.We hope to maintain updated backbone trees of these fungal lineages over time and to publish them jointly as new data emerge.Researchers of plant pathogenic fungi not covered by the present study are invited to join this future effort.Bipolaris,Botryosphaeriaceae,Botryosphaeria,Botrytis,Choanephora,Colletotrichum,Curvularia,Diaporthe,Diplodia,Dothiorella,Fusarium,Gilbertella,Lasiodiplodia,Mucor,Neofusicoccum,Pestalotiopsis,Phyllosticta,Phytophthora,Puccinia,Pyrenophora,Pythium,Rhizopus,Stagonosporopsis,Ustilago and Verticillium are dealt with in this paper.

The amazing potential of fungi:50 ways we can exploit fungi industrially

Fungi are an understudied,biotechnologically valuable group of organisms.Due to the immense range of habitats that fungi inhabit,and the consequent need to compete against a diverse array of other fungi,bacteria,and animals,fungi have developed numerous survival mechanisms.The unique attributes of fungi thus herald great promise for their application in biotechnology and industry.Moreover,fungi can be grown with relative ease,making production at scale viable.The search for fungal biodiversity,and the construction of a living fungi collection,both have incredible economic potential in locating organisms with novel industrial uses that will lead to novel products.This manuscript reviews fifty ways in which fungi can potentially be utilized as biotechnology.We provide notes and examples for each potential exploitation and give examples from our own work and the work of other notable researchers.We also provide a flow chart that can be used to convince funding bodies of the importance of fungi for biotechnological research and as potential products.Fungi have provided the world with penicillin,lovastatin,and other globally significant medicines,and they remain an untapped resource with enormous industrial potential.

Improving ITS sequence data for identification of plant pathogenic fungi

Plant pathogenic fungi are a large and diverse assemblage of eukaryotes with substantial impacts on natural ecosystems and human endeavours.These taxa often have complex and poorly understood life cycles,lack observable,discriminatory morphological characters,and may not be amenable to in vitro culturing.As a result,species identification is frequently difficult.Molecular(DNA sequence)data have emerged as crucial information for the taxonomic identification of plant pathogenic fungi,with the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer(ITS)region being the most popular marker.However,international nucleotide sequence databases are accumulating numerous sequences of compromised or low-resolution taxonomic annotations and substandard technical quality,making their use in the molecular identification of plant pathogenic fungi problematic.Here we report on a concerted effort to identify high-quality reference sequences for various plant pathogenic fungi and to re-annotate incorrectly or insufficiently annotated public ITS sequences from these fungal lineages.A third objective was to enrich the sequences with geographical and ecological metadata.The results-a total of 31,954 changes-are incorporated in and made available through the UNITE database for molecular identification of fungi(http://unite.ut.ee),including standalone FASTA files of sequence data for local BLAST searches,use in the next-generation sequencing analysis platforms QIIME and mothur,and related applications.The present initiative is just a beginning to cover the wide spectrum of plant pathogenic fungi,and we invite all researchers with pertinent expertise to join the annotation effort.

Direct comparison of culture-dependent and culture-independent molecular approaches reveal the diversity of fungal endophytic communities in stems of grapevine(Vitis vinifera)

Grapevines(Vitis vinifera)are colonized by ubiquitous microorganisms known as endophytes,which may have advantageous or neutral effects without causing disease symptoms.Certain endophytes are uncultivable,so culture-independent approaches such as next generation sequencing(NGS)can help for a better understanding of their ecology and distribution.To date,there are no studies which directly link NGS results with taxa derived from a culturing approach,integrating morphological and multi-gene phylogenetic analysis of endophytes.In this study,a culture-dependent and high-resolution culture-independent approach(next generation sequencing)were used to identify endophytes in grapevine stems.In the culture-dependent approach,a total of 94 isolates were recovered from 84 of 144 healthy grapevine stem fragments(colonization rate=58.3%).The study is unique as we used subsets of combined multi-gene regions to identify the endophytes to species level.Based on each multi-gene phylogenetic analysis,28 species belong to 19 genera(Acremonium,Alternaria,Arthrinium,Ascorhizoctonia,Aspergillus,Aureobasidium,Bipolaris,Botryosphaeria,Botrytis,Chaetomium,Cladosporium,Curvularia,Hypoxylon,Lasiodiplodia,Mycosphaerella,Nigrospora,Penicillium,Phoma,Scopulariopsis)were identified.A higher number of culturable fungi were obtained from 13 year-old vines,followed by eight and three yearold vines.In the culture-independent approach,a fungal richness of 59 operational taxonomic units(OTU)was detected,being highest in 13 year-old grapevines,followed by eight and three years.Even though the cultivation approach detected lower fungal richness,the results related to stem are consistent for fungal community composition and richness.Comparison of the fungal taxa identified by the two approaches resulted in an overlap of 53%of the fungal genera.Due to interspecific variability of the sequences from NGS,in many cases the OTUs(even with the highly abundant ones)were only assignable to order,family or genus level.Incorporating multi-gene phylogenies we successfully identified many of the NGS derived OTUs with poor taxonomic information in reference databases to the genus or species levels.Hence,this study signifies the importance of applying both culture-dependent and culture-independent approaches to study the fungal endophytic community composition in Vitis vinifera.This principle could also be applied to other host species and ecosystem level studies.

Fungal diversity notes 491–602: taxonomic and phylogenetic contributions to fungal taxa

This is a continuity of a series of taxonomic and phylogenetic papers on the fungi where materials were collected from many countries,examined and described.In addition to extensive morphological descriptions and appropriate asexual and sexual connections,DNA sequence data are also analysed from concatenated datasets to infer phylogenetic relationships and substantiate systematic positions of taxa within appropriate ranks.Wherever new species or combinations are proposed,we apply an integrative approach using morphological and molecular data as well as ecological features wherever applicable.Notes on 112 fungal taxa are compiled in this paper including Biatriosporaceae and Roussoellaceae,Didysimulans gen.nov.,81 new species,18 new host records and new country records,five reference specimens,two new combinations,and three sexual and asexual morph reports.The new species are Amanita cornelii,A.emodotrygon,Angustimassarina alni,A.arezzoensis,A.italica,A.lonicerae,A.premilcurensis,Ascochyta italica,A.rosae,Austroboletus appendiculatus,Barriopsis thailandica,Berkleasmium ariense,Calophoma petasitis,Camarosporium laburnicola,C.moricola,C.grisea,C.ossea,C.paraincrustata,Colletotrichum sambucicola,Coprinopsis cerkezii,Cytospora gelida,Dacrymyces chiangraiensis,Didysimulans italica,D.mezzanensis,Entodesmium italica,Entoloma magnum,Evlachovaea indica,Exophiala italica,Favolus gracilisporus,Femsjonia monospora,Fomitopsis flabellata,F.roseoalba,Gongronella brasiliensis,Helvella crispoides,Hermatomyces chiangmaiensis,H.chromolaenae,Hysterium centramurum,Inflatispora caryotae,Inocybe brunneosquamulosa,I.luteobrunnea,I.rubrobrunnea,Keissleriella cirsii,Lepiota cylindrocystidia,L.flavocarpa,L.maerimensis,Lophiotrema guttulata,Marasmius luculentus,Morenoina calamicola,Moelleriella thanathonensis,Mucor stercorarius,Myrmecridium fluviae,Myrothecium septentrionale,Neosetophoma garethjonesii,Nigrograna cangshanensis,Nodulosphaeria guttulatum,N.multiseptata,N.sambuci,Panus subfasciatus,Paraleptosphaeria padi,Paraphaeosphaeria viciae,Parathyridaria robiniae,Penicillium punicae,Phaeosphaeria calamicola,Phaeosphaeriopsis yuccae,Pleurophoma italica,Polyporus brevibasidiosus,P.koreanus,P.orientivarius,P.parvovarius,P.subdictyopus,P.ulleungus,Pseudoasteromassaria spadicea,Rosellinia mearnsii,Rubroboletus demonensis,Russula yanheensis,Sigarispora muriformis,Sillia italica,Stagonosporopsis ailanthicola,Strobilomyces longistipitatus,Subplenodomus galicola and Wolfiporia pseudococos.The new combinations are Melanomma populina and Rubroboletus eastwoodiae.The reference specimens are Cookeina tricholoma,Gnomoniopsis sanguisorbae,Helvella costifera,Polythrincium trifolii and Russula virescens.The new host records and country records are Ascochyta medicaginicola,Boletellus emodensis,Cyptotrama asprata,Cytospora ceratosperma,Favolaschia auriscalpium,F.manipularis,Hysterobrevium mori,Lentinus sajor-caju,L.squarrosulus,L.velutinus,Leucocoprinus cretaceus,Lophiotrema vagabundum,Nothophoma quercina,Platystomum rosae,Pseudodidymosphaeria phlei,Tremella fuciformis,Truncatella spartii and Vaginatispora appendiculata and three sexual and asexual morphs are Aposphaeria corallinolutea, Dothiorabuxi and Hypocrella calendulina.

Fungal diversity notes 1512–1610: taxonomic and phylogenetic contributions on genera and species of fungal taxa

This article is the 14th in the Fungal Diversity Notes series,wherein we report 98 taxa distributed in two phyla,seven classes,26 orders and 50 families which are described and illustrated.Taxa in this study were collected from Australia,Brazil,Burkina Faso,Chile,China,Cyprus,Egypt,France,French Guiana,India,Indonesia,Italy,Laos,Mexico,Russia,Sri Lanka,Thailand,and Vietnam.There are 59 new taxa,39 new hosts and new geographical distributions with one new combination.The 59 new species comprise Angustimassarina kunmingense,Asterina lopi,Asterina brigadeirensis,Bartalinia bidenticola,Bartalinia caryotae,Buellia pruinocalcarea,Coltricia insularis,Colletotrichum fexuosum,Colletotrichum thasutense,Coniochaeta caraganae,Coniothyrium yuccicola,Dematipyriforma aquatic,Dematipyriforma globispora,Dematipyriforma nilotica,Distoseptispora bambusicola,Fulvifomes jawadhuvensis,Fulvifomes malaiyanurensis,Fulvifomes thiruvannamalaiensis,Fusarium purpurea,Gerronema atrovirens,Gerronema favum,Gerronema keralense,Gerronema kuruvense,Grammothele taiwanensis,Hongkongmyces changchunensis,Hypoxylon inaequale,Kirschsteiniothelia acutisporum,Kirschsteiniothelia crustaceum,Kirschsteiniothelia extensum,Kirschsteiniothelia septemseptatum,Kirschsteiniothelia spatiosum,Lecanora immersocalcarea,Lepiota subthailandica,Lindgomyces guizhouensis,Marthe asmius pallidoaurantiacus,Marasmius tangerinus,Neovaginatispora mangiferae,Pararamichloridium aquisubtropicum,Pestalotiopsis piraubensis,Phacidium chinaum,Phaeoisaria goiasensis,Phaeoseptum thailandicum,Pleurothecium aquisubtropicum,Pseudocercospora vernoniae,Pyrenophora verruculosa,Rhachomyces cruralis,Rhachomyces hyperommae,Rhachomyces magrinii,Rhachomyces platyprosophi,Rhizomarasmius cunninghamietorum,Skeletocutis cangshanensis,Skeletocutis subchrysella,Sporisorium anadelphiae-leptocomae,Tetraploa dashaoensis,Tomentella exiguelata,Tomentella fuscoaraneosa,Tricholomopsis lechatii,Vaginatispora favispora and Wetmoreana blastidiocalcarea.The new combination is Torula sundara.The 39 new records on hosts and geographical distribution comprise Apiospora guiyangensis,Aplosporella artocarpi,Ascochyta medicaginicola,Astrocystis bambusicola,Athelia rolfsii,Bambusicola bambusae,Bipolaris luttrellii,Botryosphaeria dothidea,Chlorophyllum squamulosum,Colletotrichum aeschynomenes,Colletotrichum pandanicola,Coprinopsis cinerea,Corylicola italica,Curvularia alcornii,Curvularia senegalensis,Diaporthe foeniculina,Diaporthe longicolla,Diaporthe phaseolorum,Diatrypella quercina,Fusarium brachygibbosum,Helicoma aquaticum,Lepiota metulispora,Lepiota pongduadensis,Lepiota subvenenata,Melanconiella meridionalis,Monotosporella erecta,Nodulosphaeria digitalis,Palmiascoma gregariascomum,Periconia byssoides,Periconia cortaderiae,Pleopunctum ellipsoideum,Psilocybe keralensis,Scedosporium apiospermum,Scedosporium dehoogii,Scedosporium marina,Spegazzinia deightonii,Torula fci,Wiesneriomyces laurinus and Xylaria venosula.All these taxa are supported by morphological and multigene phylogenetic analyses.This article allows the researchers to publish fungal collections which areimportant for future studies.An updated,accurate and timely report of fungus-host and fungus-geography is important.We also provide an updated list of fungal taxa published in the previous fungal diversity notes.In this list,erroneous taxa and synonyms are marked and corrected accordingly.

Fungal diversity notes 1036-1150:taxonomic and phylogenetic contributions on genera and species of fungal taxa

This article is the tenth series of the Fungal Diversity Notes,where 114 taxa distributed in three phyla,ten classes,30 orders and 53 families are described and illustrated.Taxa described in the present study include one new family(viz.Pseudoberkleasmiaceae in Dothideomycetes),five new genera(Caatingomyces,Cryptoschizotrema,Neoacladium,Paramassaria and Trochilispora)and 71 new species,(viz.Acrogenospora thailandica,Amniculicola aquatica,A.guttulata,Angustimassarina sylvatica,Blackwellomyces lateris,Boubovia gelatinosa,Buellia viridula,Caatingomyces brasiliensis,Calophoma humuli,Camarosporidiella mori,Canalisporium dehongense,Cantharellus brunneopallidus,C.griseotinctus,Castanediella meliponae,Coprinopsis psammophila,Cordyceps succavus,Cortinarius minusculus,C.subscotoides,Diaporthe italiana,D.rumicicola,Diatrypella delonicis,Dictyocheirospora aquadulcis,D.taiwanense,Digitodesmium chiangmaiense,Distoseptispora dehongensis,D.palmarum,Dothiorella styphnolobii,Ellisembia aurea,Falciformispora aquatic,Fomitiporia carpinea,F.lagerstroemiae,Grammothele aurantiaca,G.micropora,Hermatomyces bauhiniae,Jahnula queenslandica,Kamalomyces mangrovei,Lecidella yunnanensis,Micarea squamulosa,Muriphaeosphaeria angustifoliae,Neoacladium indicum,Neodidymelliopsis sambuci,Neosetophoma miscanthi,N.salicis,Nodulosphaeria aquilegiae,N.thalictri,Paramassaria samaneae,Penicillium circulare,P.geumsanense,P.mali-pumilae,P.psychrotrophicum,P.wandoense,Phaeoisaria siamensis,Phaeopoacea asparagicola,Phaeosphaeria penniseti,Plectocarpon galapagoense,Porina sorediata,Pseudoberkleasmium chiangmaiense,Pyrenochaetopsis sinensis,Rhizophydium koreanum,Russula prasina,Sporoschisma chiangraiense,Stigmatomyces chamaemyiae,S.cocksii,S.papei,S.tschirnhausii,S.vikhrevii,Thysanorea uniseptata,Torula breviconidiophora,T.polyseptata,Trochilispora schefflerae and Vaginatispora palmae).Further,twelve new combinations(viz.Cryptoschizotrema cryptotrema,Prolixandromyces australi,P.elongatus,P.falcatus,P.longispinae,P.microveliae,P.neoalardi,P.polhemorum,P.protuberans,P.pseudoveliae,P.tenuistipitis and P.umbonatus),an epitype is chosen for Cantharellus goossensiae,a reference specimen for Acrogenospora sphaerocephala and new synonym Prolixandromyces are designated.Twenty-four new records on new hosts and new geographical distributions are also reported(i.e.Acrostalagmus annulatus,Cantharellus goossensiae,Coprinopsis villosa,Dothiorella plurivora,Dothiorella rhamni,Dothiorella symphoricarposicola,Dictyocheirospora rotunda,Fasciatispora arengae,Grammothele brasiliensis,Lasiodiplodia iraniensis,Lembosia xyliae,Morenoina palmicola,Murispora cicognanii,Neodidymelliopsis farokhinejadii,Neolinocarpon rachidis,Nothophoma quercina,Peroneutypa scoparia,Pestalotiopsis aggestorum,Pilidium concavum,Plagiostoma salicellum,Protofenestella ulmi,Sarocladium kiliense,Tetraploa nagasakiensis and Vaginatispora armatispora).

Defining a species in fungal plant pathology:beyond the species level

In plant pathology,the correct naming of a species is essential for determining the causal agents of disease.Species names not only serve the general purpose of concise communication,but also are critical for effective plant quarantine,prevent-ing the introduction of new pathogens into a territory.Many phytopathogenic genera have multiple species and,in several genera,disagreements between the multiple prevailing species concept definitions result in numerous cryptic species.Some of these species were previously called by various names;forma speciales(specialised forms),subspecies,or pathotypes.However,based on new molecular evidence they are being assigned into new species.The frequent name changes and lack of consistent criteria to delineate cryptic species,species,subspecies,forms,and races create increasing confusion,often making communication among biologists arduous.Furthermore,such ambiguous information can convey misleading evo-lutionary concepts and species boundaries.The aim of this paper is to review these concepts,clarify their use,and evaluate them by referring to existing examples.We specifically address the question,“Do plant pathogens require a different ranking system?”We conclude that it is necessary to identify phytopathogens to species level based on data from multiple approaches.Furthermore,this identification must go beyond species level to clearly classify hitherto known subspecies,forms and races.In addition,when naming phytopathogenic genera,plant pathologists should provide more information about geographic locations and host ranges as well as host specificities for individual species,cryptic species,forms or races.When describing a new phytopathogen,we suggest that authors provide at least three representative strains together with pathogenicity test results.If Koch’s postulates cannot be fulfilled,it is necessary to provide complementary data such as associated disease severity on the host plant.Moreover,more sequenced collections of species causing diseases should be published in order to stabilise the boundaries of cryptic species,species,subspecies,forms,and races.

Biodiversity of fungi on Vitis vinifera L. revealed by traditional and high-resolution culture-independent approaches

This study is unique as it compares traditional and high-resolution culture-independent approaches using the same set of samples to study the saprotrophic fungi on Vitis vinifera.We identified the saprotrophic communities of table grape(Red Globe)and wine grape(Carbanate Gernischet)in China using both traditional and culture-independent techniques.The traditional approach used direct observations based on morphology,single spore isolation and phylogenetic analysis yielding 45 taxa which 19 were commonly detected in both cultivars.The same set of samples were then used for Illumina sequencing which analyzed ITS1 sequence data and detected 226 fungal OTUs,of which 176 and 189 belong to the cultivars Carbanate Gernischet and Red Globe,respectively.There were 139 OTUs shared between the two V.vinifera cultivars and 37 and 50 OTUs were specific to Carbanate Gernischet and Red Globe cultivars respectively.In the Carbanate Gernischet cultivar,Ascomycota accounted for 77%of the OTUs and in Red Globe,almost all sequenced were Ascomycota.The fungal taxa overlap at the genus and species level between the traditional and culture-independent approach was relatively low.In the traditional approach we were able to identify the taxa to species level,while in the culture-independent method we were frequently able to identify the taxa to family or genus level.This is remarkable as we used the same set of samples collected in China for both approaches.We recommend the use of traditional techniques to accurately identify taxa.Culture-independent method can be used to get a better understanding about the organisms that are present in a host in its natural environment.We identified primary and secondary plant pathogens and endophytes in the saprotrophic fungal communities,which support previous observations,that dead plant material in grape vineyards can be the primary sources of disease.Finally,based on present and previous findings,we provide a worldwide checklist of 905 fungal taxa on Vitis species,which includes their mode of life and distribution.