Lopadostoma fagi (Lopadostomataceae) on Fagus sylvatica from Italy

A new record of Lopadostoma fagi is described in Italy from Fagus sylvatica based on morphological and molecular data.It has effused-pulvinate stromata immersed in the host tissue,with a narrow,black,carbonized encasement.The ectostromatic disc is visible as a clypeus and surrounded by the reddish brown bark surface.In the combined phylogenetic analysis of ITS,LSU and RPB2 sequence data,the strain derived from the specimen clustered with other L.fagi strains with high bootstrap support.A morphological description with detailed photographs for L.fagi is provided in this study.

Bambusicolous fungi

Fourty-three species of microfungi from bamboo are treated,including one new family,Occultibambusaceae,three new genera,Neoanthostomella,Occultibambusa and Seriascoma,27 new species,one renamed species and 15 redescribed or re-illustrated species,and four designated reference specimens are treated in this paper,the majority of which are saprobic on dead culms.To determine species identification,separate phylogenetical analyses for each group are carried out,based on molecular data from this study and sequences downloaded from GenBank.Morphologically similar species and phylogenetically close taxa are compared and discussed.In addition a list of bambusicolous fungi published since Hyde and colleagues in 2002 is provided.

Families of Sordariomycetes

Sordariomycetes is one of the largest classes of Ascomycota that comprises a highly diverse range of fungi characterized mainly by perithecial ascomata and inoperculate unitunicate asci.The class includes many important plant pathogens,as well as endophytes,saprobes,epiphytes,coprophilous and fungicolous,lichenized or lichenicolous taxa.They occur in terrestrial,freshwater and marine habitats worldwide.This paper reviews the 107 families of the class Sordariomycetes and provides a modified backbone tree based on phylogenetic analysis of four combined loci,with a maximum five representative taxa from each family,where available.This paper brings together for the first time,since Barrs’1990 Prodromus,descriptions,notes on the history,and plates or illustrations of type or representative taxa of each family,a list of accepted genera,including asexual genera and a key to these taxa of Sordariomycetes.Delineation of taxa is supported where possible by molecular data.The outline is based on literature to the end of 2015 and the Sordariomycetes now comprises six subclasses,32 orders,105 families and 1331 genera.The family Obryzaceae and Pleurotremataceae are excluded from the class.

Taxonomy,phylogeny,molecular dating and ancestral state reconstruction of Xylariomycetidae(Sordariomycetes)

Xylariomycetidae(Ascomycota)is a highly diversified group with variable stromatic characters.Our research focused on inconspicuous stromatic xylarialean taxa from China,Italy,Russia,Thailand and the United Kingdom.Detailed morpho-logical descriptions,illustrations and combined ITS-LSU-rpb2-tub2-tef1 phylogenies revealed 39 taxa from our collections belonging to Amphisphaeriales and Xylariales.A new family(Appendicosporaceae),five new genera(Magnostiolata,Mela-nostictus,Neoamphisphaeria,Nigropunctata and Paravamsapriya),27 new species(Acrocordiella photiniicola,Allocryp-tovalsa sichuanensis,Amphisphaeria parvispora,Anthostomella lamiacearum,Apiospora guiyangensis,A.sichuanensis,Biscogniauxia magna,Eutypa camelliae,Helicogermslita clypeata,Hypocopra zeae,Magnostiolata mucida,Melanostictus longiostiolatus,M.thailandicus,Nemania longipedicellata,N.delonicis,N.paraphysata,N.thailandensis,Neoamphispha-eria hyalinospora,Neoanthostomella bambusicola,Nigropunctata bambusicola,N.nigrocircularis,N.thailandica,Occul-titheca rosae,Paravamsapriya ostiolata,Peroneutypa leucaenae,Seiridium italicum and Vamsapriya mucosa)and seven new host/geographical records are introduced and reported.Divergence time estimates indicate that Delonicicolales diverged from Amphisphaeriales+Xylariales at 161(123-197)MYA.Amphisphaeriales and Xylariales diverged 154(117-190)MYA with a crown age of 127(92-165)MYA and 147(111-184)MYA,respectively.Appendicosporaceae(Amphisphaeriales)has a stem age of 89(65-117)MYA.Ancestral character state reconstruction indicates that astromatic,clypeate ascomata with aseptate,hyaline ascospores that lack germ slits may probably be ancestral Xylariomycetidae having plant-fungal endo-phytic associations.The Amphisphaeriales remained mostly astromatic with common septate,hyaline ascospores.Stromatic variations may have developed mostly during the Cretaceous period.Brown ascospores are common in Xylariales,but they first appeared in Amphisphaeriaceae,Melogrammataceae and Sporocadaceae during the early Cretaceous.The ascospore germ slits appeared only in Xylariales during the Cretaceous after the divergence of Lopadostomataceae.Hyaline,filiform and apiospores may have appeared as separate lineages,providing the basis for Xylariaceae,which may have diverged inde-pendently.The future classification of polyphyletic xylarialean taxa will not be based on stromatic variations,but the type of ring,the colour of the ascospores,and the presence or absence or the type of germ slit.

Towards a natural classification and backbone tree for Sordariomycetes

Sordariomycetes is one of the largest classes of Ascomycota and is characterised by perithecial ascomata and inoperculate unitunicate asci.The class includes many important plant pathogens,as well as endophytes,saprobes,epiphytes,and fungicolous,lichenized or lichenicolous taxa.The class includes freshwater,marine and terrestrial taxa and has a worldwide distribution.This paper provides an updated outline of the Sordariomycetes and a backbone tree incorporating asexual and sexual genera in the class.Based on phylogeny and morphology we introduced three subclasses;Diaporthomycetidae,Lulworthiomycetidae and Meliolomycetidae and five orders;Amplistromatales,Annulatascales,Falcocladiales,Jobellisiales and Togniniales.The outline is based on literature to the end of 2014 and the backbone tree published in this paper.Notes for 397 taxa with information,such as new family and genera novelties,novel molecular data published since the Outline of Ascomycota 2009,and new links between sexual and asexual genera and thus synonymies,are provided.The Sordariomycetes now comprises six subclasses,28 orders,90 families and 1344 genera.In addition a list of 829 genera with uncertain placement in Sordariomycetesis also provided.

A new endophytic insect-associated Daldinia species, recognised from a comparison of secondary metabolite profiles and molecular phylogeny

Xylariaceous endophytes are commonly encountered in plants,and it has recently been found out that insect vectors play a major role in their life cycle,as well as in the apparent host-specificity of the fungal stromata.In this study,a new insect-associated,endophytic anamorph species of Daldinia is recognised from a comparison of (a)morphological and ecological data;(b)molecular phylogenetic data based on rDNA,alpha-actin and beta-tubulin genes;and (c)secondary metabolite profiles based on high performance liquid chromatography/diode array/mass spectrometry(HPLC-DAD/MS)and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry(GC-MS)in comparison with authentic strains of Daldinia and other Xylariaceae.The new species,Daldinia hawksworthii,is a symbiont of the willow woodwasp,Xiphydria prolongata,which is in turn preferentially associated with Salix.A comparison of HPLCDAD/MS profiles from standardised cultures revealed the presence of a specific compound,which was not encountered in any of the ca.250 Daldinia strains studied for comparison.This compound was isolated after fermentation of the fungus in 10 l scale by preparative chromatography.Structure elucidation by NMR spectroscopy revealed a novel pyrone,for which the name dalsymbiopyrone is proposed.The compound showed weak antimicrobial and cytotoxic effects and might be a signal molecule involved in the trilateral ecological interaction between the host plant,the insect,and its fungal symbiont.

Phylogenetic and chemotaxonomic resolution of the genus Annulohypoxylon(Xylariaceae)including four new species

This study deals with an extensive evaluation focusing on phylogenetic and chemotaxonomic infrageneric relationships of the genus Annulohypoxylon(Xylariaceae,Ascomycota),whose species are ubiquitously associated with seed plants as endophytes and saprotrophs in all forested areas of the world.Using evidence from phylogenetic,chemotaxonomic and morphological data,various varieties within the genus are raised to species level,leading to the new combinations for A.areolatum(:A.bovei var.microsporum),A.macrosporum(:A.leptascum var.macrosporum),and A.microdiscum(:A.moriforme var.microdiscum).Annulohypoxylon substygium nom.nov.is applied for A.stygium var.annulatumand the four new tropical and subtropical species A.massivum,A.violaceopigmentum,A.viridistratum and A.yungensis are introduced.Furthermore,A.leucadendri is excluded from the genus as its morphological characters disagree with the generic concept,the recently erected A.palmicola is synonymized with A.leptascum and A.austrobahiense has been reassigned to the genus Hypoxylon.In addition,the key taxa A.annulatum and A.truncatum have been reinvestigated and epitypes have been defined.For the first time,a dichotomous key to the genus is provided.A phylogenetic b-tubulin tree in conjunction with stromatal HPLC profiles clearly shows that Annulohypoxylon comprises two distinct lineages.The A.cohaerens/multiforme group might eventually warrant segregation into a new genus as further molecular data become available.

High quality genome sequences of thirteen Hypoxylaceae(Ascomycota)strengthen the phylogenetic family backbone and enable the discovery of new taxa

The Hypoxylaceae(Xylariales,Ascomycota)is a diverse family of mainly saprotrophic fungi,which commonly occur in angiosperm-dominated forests around the world.Despite their importance in forest and plant ecology as well as a prolific source of secondary metabolites and enzymes,genome sequences of related taxa are scarce and usually derived from envi-ronmental isolates.To address this lack of knowledge thirteen taxonomically well-defined representatives of the family and one member of the closely related Xylariaceae were genome sequenced using combinations of Illumina and Oxford nanopore technologies or PacBio sequencing.The workflow leads to high quality draft genome sequences with an average N50 of 3.0 Mbp.A backbone phylogenomic tree was calculated based on the amino acid sequences of 4912 core genes reflecting the current accepted taxonomic concept of the Hypoxylaceae.A Percentage of Conserved Proteins(POCP)analysis revealed that 70%of the proteins are conserved within the family,a value with potential application for the definition of family boundaries within the order Xylariales.Also,Hypomontagnella spongiphila is proposed as a new marine derived lineage of Hypom.monticulosa based on in-depth genomic comparison and morphological differences of the cultures.The results showed that both species share 95%of their genes corresponding to more than 700 strain-specific proteins.This difference is not reflected by standard taxonomic assessments(morphology of sexual and asexual morph,chemotaxonomy,phylogeny),preventing species delimitation based on traditional concepts.Genetic changes are likely to be the result of environmental adaptations and selective pressure,the driving force of speciation.These data provide an important starting point for the establishment of a stable phylogeny of the Xylariales;they enable studies on evolution,ecological behavior and biosynthesis of natural products;and they significantly advance the taxonomy of fungi.

Anthostomella is polyphyletic comprising several genera in Xylariaceae

Anthostomella has long been regarded as a large,but polyphyletic genus in the family Xylariaceae,but species in this group generally lack phylogenetic data.In this study,14 anthostomella-like taxa collected from Italy,were studied using both morphology and molecular data.Single ascospore isolates were obtained and the asexual morphs of five taxa established.The phylogenetic relationships of the xylariaceous taxa were inferred using combined ITS,RPB2,βtubulin and LSU gene regions.We introduce new sequence data for 24 with included the 14 new anthostomella-like taxa.The subfamilies Hypoxyloideae and Xylarioideae within Xylariaceae were recognized as the two major clades with high bootstrap support.Within the two clades 21 subclades were resolved and the anthostomella-like taxa clustered in five of these subclades indicating that the genus is polyphyletic.Anthostomella sensu stricto comprised A.forlicesenica,A.formosa,A.helicofissa,A.rubicola and A.obesa.The A.formosa and A.rubicola collections morphologically closely resemble the type specimens and therefore we designate reference specimens.Three new species Anthostomella helicofissa,A.forlicesenica and A.obesa are also introduced.Four distinct lineages of anthostomella-like taxa correspondent to four new genera,Anthocanalis,Brunneiperidium,Lunatiannulus and Pyriformiascoma,which are also introduced,while one clustered in Astrocystis and is introduced as a new species.Keys to the new anthostomella-like genera and species examined in this study are provided.

Identification of fungal fossils and novel azaphilone pigments in ancient carbonised specimens of Hypoxylon fragiforme from forest soils of Chatillon-sur-Seine(Burgundy)

Fungal stromata were recently discovered in association with charcoal and burnt soil aggregates during an archaeological survey in the Chaˆtillon-sur-Seine forest massif.The wood and soil in the samples were dated to the medieval period(between 738 and 1411 AD).Light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy revealed that a few of the stromatal fragments still contained ascospores.Their macromorphological characters were described and secondary metabolite profiles were generated using high performance liquid chromatography with diode array and mass spectrometric detection(HPLC–DAD/MS).The combination of these two data lines then allowed species identification.Most of the fragments were assigned to Hypoxylon fragiforme,the type species of the Hypoxylaceae(Xylariales).Two further species whose stromata grew on the fossil charcoal could be tentatively identified as Jackrogersella cohaerens and(more tentatively)as Hypoxylon vogesiacum.These three species are still commonly encountered in the forests of Central Europe today.Furthermore,the HPLC-HRMS data of H.fragiforme suggested the presence of unknown azaphilone dimers and of further new pigments.These archaeological compounds were compared to fresh stromata of H.fragiforme collected in Germany and subjected to the same analytical protocol.While the major components in both samples were identified as the known mitorubrin type azaphilones and orsellinic acid,the chemical structures of seven novel complex azaphilone pigments,for which we propose the trivial names rutilins C-D and fragirubrins A-E,were elucidated using spectral methods(NMR and CD spectroscopy,high resolution mass spectrometry).It appears that these pigments had indeed persisted for millennia in the fossil stromata.

Some stromatic pyrenomycetous fungi from northern Thailand-1.Biscogniuxia,Camillea and Hypoxylon(Xylariaceae)

Fourteen species of stromatic pyrenomycetous fungi(family Xylariaceae)collected in northern Thailand are discussed.Six of these(Biscogniauxia lithocarpi,Camillea malaysiensis var.macrospora,Hypoxylon juventuterubrum,H.pseudoretpela,H.rubroargillaceum,and H.sepipigmentum)are described as taxa new to science.Illustrations of these taxa are provided,and they are compared with similar taxa known from the Western Hemisphere.