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... Venturiales Y. Zhang ter, C.L. Schoch & K.D. Hyde Notes: Venturiales was established by Zhang et al. (2011), based on both morphology and phylogeny. Venturiales species includes saprobes and pathogens in plants, animals and humans in terrestrial, hot springs and aquatic environments Tibpromma et al. 2018;Zhang et al. 2019b). Venturiales species have small to medium sized ascomata, with or without setae, a mostly evanescent hamathecium, 8-spored, broadly or usually obclavate asci, usually lacking a pedicel, hyaline, light greenish olivaceous to brown, 1-septate, symmetrical, asymmetrical or apiosporous ascospores and hyphomycetous asexual states . ...
... Venturiales species have small to medium sized ascomata, with or without setae, a mostly evanescent hamathecium, 8-spored, broadly or usually obclavate asci, usually lacking a pedicel, hyaline, light greenish olivaceous to brown, 1-septate, symmetrical, asymmetrical or apiosporous ascospores and hyphomycetous asexual states . Two families accepted in Venturiales, namely Sympoventuriaceae and Venturiaceae Tibpromma et al. 2018;Zhang et al. 2019b). Sympoventuriaceae species have immersed, subglobose ascomata, that are black, papillate, ostiolate, septate pseudoparaphyses, that are constricted at the septa and anastomosing and extending above the asci, 8-spored, bitunicate, fissitunicate, subcylindrical, pedicellate asci and hyaline, fusoid-ellipsoidal ascospores, constricted at the median septum (Zhang et al. 2011;Hyde et al. 2020b). ...
... Sympoventuriaceae species have immersed, subglobose ascomata, that are black, papillate, ostiolate, septate pseudoparaphyses, that are constricted at the septa and anastomosing and extending above the asci, 8-spored, bitunicate, fissitunicate, subcylindrical, pedicellate asci and hyaline, fusoid-ellipsoidal ascospores, constricted at the median septum (Zhang et al. 2011;Hyde et al. 2020b). Members of this family play vital roles as both saprobes and pathogens of plants, and animals and have been reported from different environments, such as soil, hot springs, industrial effluents, terrestrial and aquatic habitats (Seyedmousavi et al. 2013;Samerpitak et al. 2014;Tibpromma et al. 2018;Zhang et al. 2019b). Most members are known by their asexual morphs (hyphomycetes). ...
This article provides descriptions and illustrations of microfungi associated with the leaf litter of Celtis formosana, Ficus ampelas, F. septica, Macaranga tanarius and Morus australis collected from Taiwan. These host species are native to the island and Celtis formosana is an endemic tree species. The study revealed 95 species, consisting of two new families (Cylindrohyalosporaceae and Oblongohyalosporaceae), three new genera (Cylindrohyalospora, Neodictyosporium and Oblongohyalospora), 41 new species and 54 new host records. The newly described species are Acrocalymma ampeli (Acrocalymmaceae), Arthrinium mori (Apiosporaceae), Arxiella celtidis (Muyocopronaceae), Bertiella fici (Melanommataceae), Cercophora fici (Lasiosphaeriaceae), Colletotrichum celtidis, C. fici, C. fici-septicae (Glomerellaceae), Conidiocarpus fici-septicae (Capnodiaceae), Coniella fici (Schizoparmaceae), Cylindrohyalospora fici (Cylindrohyalosporaceae), Diaporthe celtidis, D. fici-septicae (Diaporthaceae), Diaporthosporella macarangae (Diaporthosporellaceae), Diplodia fici-septicae (Botryosphaeriaceae), Discosia celtidis, D. fici (Sporocadaceae), Leptodiscella sexualis (Muyocopronaceae), Leptospora macarangae (Phaeosphaeriaceae), Memnoniella alishanensis, M. celtidis, M. mori (Stachybotryaceae), Micropeltis fici, M. ficina (Micropeltidaceae), Microthyrium fici-septicae (Microthyriaceae), Muyocopron celtidis, M. ficinum, Mycoleptodiscus alishanensis (Muyocopronaceae), Neoanthostomella fici (Xylariales genera incertae sedis), Neodictyosporium macarangae (Sordariales genera incertae sedis), Neofusicoccum moracearum (Botryosphaeriaceae), Neophyllachora fici (Phyllachoraceae), Nigrospora macarangae (Apiosporaceae), Oblongohyalospora macarangae (Oblongohyalosporaceae), Ophioceras ficinum (Ophioceraceae), Parawiesneriomyces chiayiensis (Wiesneriomycetaceae), Periconia alishanica, P. celtidis (Periconiaceae), Pseudocercospora fici-septicae (Mycosphaerellaceae), Pseudoneottiospora cannabacearum (Chaetosphaeriaceae) and Pseudopithomyces mori (Didymosphaeriaceae). The new host records are Alternaria burnsii, A. pseudoeichhorniae (Pleosporaceae), Arthrinium hydei, A. malaysianum, A. paraphaeospermum, A. rasikravindrae, A. sacchari (Apiosporaceae), Bartalinia robillardoides (Sporocadaceae), Beltrania rhombica (Beltraniaceae), Cladosporium tenuissimum (Cladosporiaceae), Coniella quercicola (Schizoparmaceae), Dematiocladium celtidicola (Nectriaceae), Diaporthe limonicola, D. millettiae, D. pseudophoenicicola (Diaporthaceae), Dictyocheirospora garethjonesii (Dictyosporiaceae), Dimorphiseta acuta (Stachybotryaceae), Dinemasporium parastrigosum (Chaetosphaeriaceae), Discosia querci (Sporocadaceae), Fitzroyomyces cyperacearum (Stictidaceae), Gilmaniella bambusae (Ascomycota genera incertae sedis), Hermatomyces biconisporus (Hermatomycetaceae), Lasiodiplodia thailandica, L. theobromae (Botryosphaeriaceae), Memnoniella echinata (Stachybotryaceae), Muyocopron dipterocarpi, M. lithocarpi (Muyocopronaceae), Neopestalotiopsis asiatica, N. phangngaensis (Sporocadaceae), Ophioceras chiangdaoense (Ophioceraceae), Periconia byssoides (Periconiaceae), Pestalotiopsis dracaenea, P. formosana, P. neolitseae, P. papuana, P. parva, P. portugallica, P. trachycarpicola (Sporocadaceae), Phragmocapnias betle (Capnodiaceae), Phyllosticta capitalensis (Phyllostictaceae), Pseudopestalotiopsis camelliae-sinensis (Sporocadaceae), Pseudopithomyces chartarum, P. sacchari (Didymosphaeriaceae), Pseudorobillarda phragmitis (Pseudorobillardaceae), Robillarda roystoneae (Sporocadaceae), Sirastachys castanedae, S. pandanicola (Stachybotryaceae), Spegazzinia musae (Didymosphaeriaceae), Stachybotrys aloeticola, S. microspora (Stachybotryaceae), Strigula multiformis (Strigulaceae), Torula fici (Torulaceae), Wiesneriomyces laurinus (Wiesneriomycetaceae) and Yunnanomyces pandanicola (Sympoventuriaceae). The taxonomic placement of most taxa discussed in this study is based on morphological observation of specimens, coupled with multi-locus phylogenetic analyses of sequence data. In addition, this study provides a host-fungus database for future studies and increases knowledge of fungal diversity, as well as new fungal discoveries from the island.
This article is the second in the Asian Journal of Mycology Notes series, wherein we report 50 new fungal collections distributed in two phyla, six classes, 23 orders and 38 families. The present study provides descriptions and illustrations for three new species (Acolium yunnanensis, Muyocopron cinnamomi and Thyrostroma ulmeum), 44 new host records and new geographical distributions and three new reference collections. All these introductions are supported by morphological data as well as the multi-gene phylogenetic analyses. This article provides a venue to publish fungal collections with new sequence data, which is important for future studies. An accurate and timely report of new fungus-host or fungus-county records are essential for diagnostics, identification and management of economically significant fungal groups, especially the phytopathogens.
Palms represent the most morphological diverse monocotyledonous plants and support a vast array of fungi. Recent examinations of palmicolous fungi in Thailand led to the discovery of a group of morphologically similar and interesting taxa. A polyphasic approach based on morphology, multi-gene phylogenetic analyses and divergence time estimates supports the establishment of a novel pleosporalean family Striatiguttulaceae, which diversified approximately 39 (20–63) MYA (crown age) and 60 (35–91) MYA (stem age). Striatiguttulaceae is characterized by stromata or ascomata with a short to long neck, trabeculate pseudoparaphyses and fusiform to ellipsoidal, 1–3-septate ascospores, with longitudinal striations and paler end cells, surrounded by a mucilaginous sheath. Multi-gene phylogenetic analysis showed that taxa of Striatiguttulaceae form a well-supported and distinct monophyletic clade in Pleosporales, and related to Ligninsphaeriaceae and Pseudoastrosphaeriellaceae. However, these families can be morphologically demarcated by the slit-like ascomata and extremely large ascospores in Ligninsphaeriaceae and the rather narrow fusiform ascospores in Pseudoastrosphaeriellaceae. Eight strains of Striatiguttulaceae formed two monophyletic sub-clades, which can be recognized as Longicorpus gen. nov. and Striatiguttula gen. nov. Morphologically, the genus Longicorpus can be differentiated from Striatiguttula by its elongated immersed ascomata and fusiform ascospores with relatively larger middle cells and paler end cells. Two new species Striatiguttula nypae and S. phoenicis, and one new combination, Longicorpus striataspora are introduced with morphological details, and phylogenetic relationships are discussed based on DNA sequence data.
This paper provides illustrated descriptions of micro-fungi newly found on Pandanaceae in China and Thailand. The fungi are accommodated in 31 families. New taxa described include a new family, seven new genera, 65 new species, 16 previously known species. A new family: Malaysiascaceae (Glomerellales). New genera are Acremoniisimulans (Plectosphaerellaceae), Pandanaceomyces, Pseudoachroiostachy (Nectriaceae), Pseudohyaloseta (Niessliaceae), Pseudoornatispora (Stachybotriaceae) and Yunnanomyces (Sympoventuriaceae). New species are Acremoniisimulans thailandensis, Beltrania krabiensis, Beltraniella pandanicola, B. thailandicus, Canalisporium krabiense, C. thailandensis, Clonostachys krabiensis, Curvularia chonburiensis, C. pandanicola, C. thailandicum, C. xishuangbannaensis, Cylindrocladiella xishuangbannaensis, Dictyochaeta pandanicola, Dictyocheirospora nabanheensis, D. pandanicola, D. xishuangbannaensis, Dictyosporium appendiculatum, Di. guttulatum, Di. hongkongensis, Di. krabiense, Di. pandanicola, Distoseptispora thailandica, D. xishuangbannaensis, Helicoma freycinetiae, Hermatomyces biconisporus, Lasiodiplodia chonburiensis, L. pandanicola, Lasionectria krabiense, Menisporopsis pandanicola, Montagnula krabiensis, Musicillium pandanicola, Neofusicoccum pandanicola, Neohelicomyces pandanicola, Neooccultibambusa thailandensis, Neopestalotiopsis chiangmaiensis, N. pandanicola, N. phangngaensis, Pandanaceomyces krabiensis, Paracylindrocarpon nabanheensis, P. pandanicola, P. xishuangbannaensis, Parasarcopodium hongkongensis, Pestalotiopsis krabiensis, P. pandanicola, Polyplosphaeria nabanheensis, P. pandanicola, P. xishuangbannaensis, Pseudoachroiostachys krabiense, Pseudoberkleasmium pandanicola, Pseudochaetosphaeronema pandanicola, Pseudohyaloseta pandanicola, Pseudoornatispora krabiense, Pseudopithomyces pandanicola, Rostriconidium pandanicola, Sirastachys phangngaensis, Stictis pandanicola, Terriera pandanicola, Thozetella pandanicola, Tubeufia freycinetiae, T. parvispora, T. pandanicola, Vermiculariopsiella hongkongensis, Volutella krabiense, V. thailandensis and Yunnanomyces pandanicola. Previous studies of micro-fungi on Pandanaceae have not included phylogenetic support. Inspiration for this study came from the book Fungi Associated with Pandanaceae by Whitton, McKenzie and Hyde in 2012. Both studies reveal that the micro-fungi on Pandanaceae is particularly rich in hyphomycetes. All data presented herein are based on morphological examination of specimens, coupled with phylogenetic sequence data to better integrate taxa into appropriate taxonomic ranks and infer their evolutionary relationships.
Fungi play a vital role as decomposers in mangrove ecosystems. A new ascomycete species, Acuminatispora palmarum, inhabiting decayed petioles and rachides of palms in mangrove habitats, is introduced in this paper based on morphological and phylogenetic evidence. Phylogenetic relationships of related taxa were inferred from combined LSU, SSU, TEF1α, and RPB2 sequence data, and the analyses indicate that A. palmarum could be recognized as a distinct group in Pleosporales, but its familial placement needs to be further resolved. The morphological characters of this new taxon are also different from other members in Pleosporales by its deeply immersed ascomata, long pedicellate asci, and biseriate to triseriate, 1-(rarely 3) septate, brown, fusiform ascospores with acute or narrowly pointed ending cells. Acuminatispora gen. nov. (Pleosporales, incertae sedis) is therefore established to accommodate the new taxon A. palmarum. Furthermore, phylogenetic relationships of Acrocordiopsis and Caryospora are discussed with a consideration of morphological observations.
Accurate identification and demarcation of taxa has far reaching implications in mycology, especially when plant pathogens are involved. Yet few publications have seriously proposed recommendations as to how to delineate species boundaries. Morphology, with all its taxonomic disparities, has been the main criterion upon which current fungal species concepts are based and morphologically defined species make up the largest number of named species. Although phylogenomic based studies arguably offer novel insights into classification at higher taxonomic levels, relationships at the species level and recognition of species remain largely controversial and subject to different interpretations. Our recommendations herein will provide a more rational framework based on scientific data on how to delineate species and establish a new taxon.
Palm fungi are highly diverse in the tropical regions of Asia. Recent investigations on these palmicolous fungi have led to the collection of astrosphaeriella-like taxa from Calamus, Caryota, and Licuala species in Thailand (Chiang Rai and Narathiwat provinces) and southwest China (Yunnan Province). This study characterizes fungal taxa, which are new to science, based on morphological examination and concatenated DNA sequence data, to infer their familial relationships. Morphological comparisons reveal six new species, viz. Astrosphaeriellopsis caryotae, Fissuroma calami, F. caryotae, Neoastrosphaeriella sribooniensis, Pithomyces caryotae, and P. licualae. Their similarities and differences to other extant species are discussed. The phylogenetic results indicate that all of these new taxa belong to Aigialaceae and Astrosphaeriellaceae (Pleosporales) and support their establishment. Astrosphaeriellopsis is assigned to Astrosphaeriellaceae and the family is amended in order to accommodate both coelomycetous and hyphomycetous asexual morphs. A generic key is presented for Astrosphaeriellaceae to delimit Astrosphaeriella, Astrosphaeriellopsis, Pteridiospora, and Pithomyces. Asexual morph connections of Pithomyces caryotae and P. licualae are established from axenic cultures derived from single ascospores. DNA-based sequence data supports the establishment of our new species; however, the affinities of Astrosphaeriella tornata to other Astrosphaeriella and Pithomyces species are unclear and warrant further investigations with increased taxon sampling.
In this paper we introduce the new species Leptosporella arengae and L. cocois, Linocarpon arengae and L. cocois, and Neolinocarpon arengae and N. rachidis from palms in Thailand, based on morphology and combined analyses of ITS and LSU sequence data. The phylogenetic positions all these new taxa are well-supported within the order Chaetosphaeriales (subclass Sordariomycetidae), but in distinct lineages. Therefore, a new family, Leptosporellaceae is introduced to accommodate species of Leptosporella, while Linocarpaceae, which constitutes a well-supported monophyletic clade is also introduced to accommodate Linocarpon and Neolinocarpon species. Both families are characterised by specific traits, such as the shape of ascomata and filiform, hyaline ascospores, which may be pale brown-yellowish in mass, that demarcate it from other families.
The current classification system for the recognition of taxonomic ranks among fungi, especially at high-ranking level, is subjective. With the development of molecular approaches and the availability of fossil calibration data, the use of divergence times as a universally standardized criterion for ranking taxa has now become possible. We can therefore date the origin of Ascomycota lineages by using molecular clock methods and establish the divergence times for the orders and families of Dothideomycetes. We chose Dothideomycetes, the largest class of the phylum Ascomycota, which contains 32 orders, to establish ages at which points orders have split; and Pleosporales, the largest order of Dothideomycetes with 55 families, to establish family divergence times. We have assembled a multi-gene data set (LSU, SSU, TEF1 and RPB2) from 391 taxa representing most family groups of Dothideomycetes and utilized fossil calibration points solely from within the ascomycetes and a Bayesian approach to establish divergence times of Dothideomycetes lineages. Two separated datasets were analysed: (i) 272 taxa representing 32 orders of Dothideomycetes were included for the order level analysis, and (ii) 191 taxa representing 55 families of Pleosporales were included for the family level analysis. Our results indicate that divergence times (crown age) for most orders (20 out of 32, or 63%) are between 100 and 220 Mya, while divergence times for most families (39 out of 55, or 71%) are between 20 and 100 Mya. We believe that divergence times can provide additional evidence to support establishment of higher level taxa, such as families, orders and classes. Taking advantage of this added approach, we can strive towards establishing a standardized taxonomic system both within and outside Fungi. In this study we found that molecular dating coupled with phylogenetic inferences provides no support for the taxonomic status of two currently recognized orders, namely Bezerromycetales and Wiesneriomycetales and these are treated as synonyms of Tubeufiales while Asterotexiales is treated as a synonym of Asterinales. In addition, we provide an updated phylogenetic assessment of Dothideomycetes previously published as the Families of Dothideomycetes in 2013 with a further ten orders and 35 families.
Oxydothis species are associated with monocotyledons including Arecaceae (palms), Pandanaceae, Poaceae (Bamboo) and Liliaceae and have been recorded as endophytes, pathogens and saprobes. Species of Oxydothis form singly or in clusters, as darkened, raised regions or dots on the surface of host. This paper clarifies the placement of Oxydothis and related species based on morphological characteristics and phylogenetic analyses using recent collections from Thailand. Oxydothis species are characterized by cylindrical asci, with a J+ (rarely J-) subapical ring and filiform to fusiform, hyaline, 1-septate ascospores, tapering from the center to spine-like, pointed or rounded ends. Phylogenetic analyses generated from maximum likelihood and Bayesian analysis of
combined ITS, LSU and SSU sequence data indicate that Oxydothis species form a distinct lineage related to Vialaeaceae and Iodosphaeriaceae. We introduce a new family Oxydothidaceae in Xylariales with six new species based on morphological characteristics and phylogenetic analyses. We provided notes on the lifestyle of this genus which may throw light on the nature of many saprobic microfungi.
Neocoleroa metrosideri is described as a new species and phylogenetically it is shown to belong in the Sympoventuriaceae, a recently established family, sister to the Venturiaceae. No other sequences are available for Neocoleroa but this new species is morphologically typical of the type species, with distinctive lobed to dichotomously branched, blunt-tipped setae on the superficial pseudothecia. The genus has previously been placed in the Pseudoperisporiaceae. This leaf spotting fungus is known from only a single specimen in an urban park but the same fungus has been detected also from two natural forest sites as an OTU in 454-based high throughput amplicon sequencing from DNA extracted from living leaves of Metrosideros excelsa.
The genus Mycosisymbrium was described in 1994 from dead leaves of Vaccinium macrocarpon and is monotypified by M. cirrhosum. There have been no further records of this species. During the study of litter degrading asexual fungi from the Western Ghats of Goa we collected M. cirrhosum from leaf litter of Gnetum ula and successfully obtained a culture of this fungus through single spore isolation. The multi-gene phylogenetic analysis shows that Mycosisymbrium is a well-supported sister genus to Ochroconis and Verruconis in the family Sympoventuriaceae of the order Venturiales.
A new method is presented for inferring evolutionary trees using nucleotide sequence data. The birth–death process is used as a model of speciation and extinction to specify the prior distribution of phylogenies and branching times. Nucleotide substitution is modeled by a continuous-time Markov process. Parameters of the branching model and the substitution model are estimated by maximum likelihood. The posterior probabilities of different phylogenies are calculated and the phy-logeny with the highest posterior probability is chosen as the best estimate of the evolutionary relationship among species. We refer to this as the maximum posterior probability (MAP) tree. The posterior probability provides a natural measure of the reliability of the estimated phy-logeny. Two example data sets are analyzed to infer the phylogenetic relationship of human, chimpanzee, gorilla, and orangutan. The best trees estimated by the new method are the same as those from the maximum likelihood analysis of separate topologies, but the posterior probabilities are quite different from the bootstrap proportions. The results of the method are found to be insensitive to changes in the rate parameter of the branching process.
Abstract Taxonomic names are key links between various
databases that store information on different organisms. Several
global fungal nomenclural and taxonomic databases (notably
Index Fungorum, Species Fungorum and MycoBank)
can be sourced to find taxonomic details about fungi, while
DNA sequence data can be sourced from NCBI, EBI and UNITE databases. Although the sequence data may be linked
to a name, the quality of the metadata is variable and generally
there is no corresponding link to images, descriptions or herbarium
material. There is generally no way to establish the
accuracy of the names in these genomic databases, other than
whether the submission is from a reputable source. To tackle
this problem, a new database (FacesofFungi), accessible at
www.facesoffungi.org (FoF) has been established. This fungal
database allows deposition of taxonomic data, phenotypic details
and other useful data, which will enhance our current
taxonomic understanding and ultimately enable mycologists
to gain better and updated insights into the current fungal
classification system. In addition, the database will also allow
access to comprehensive metadata including descriptions of
voucher and type specimens. This database is user-friendly,
providing links and easy access between taxonomic
ranks, with the classification system based primarily
on molecular data (from the literature and via updated
web-based phylogenetic trees), and to a lesser extent on
morphological data when molecular data are unavailable.
In FoF species are not only linked to the closest
phylogenetic representatives, but also relevant data is
provided, wherever available, on various applied aspects,
such as ecological, industrial, quarantine and
chemical uses. The data include the three main fungal
groups (Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, Basal fungi) and
fungus-like organisms. The FoF webpage is an output
funded by the Mushroom Research Foundation which is
an NGO with seven directors with mycological expertise.
The webpage has 76 curators, and with the help of
these specialists, FoF will provide an updated natural
classification of the fungi, with illustrated accounts of
species linked to molecular data. The present paper introduces
the FoF database to the scientific community
and briefly reviews some of the problems associated
with classification and identification of the main fungal
groups. The structure and use of the database is then
explained. We would like to invite all mycologists to
contribute to these web pages.
Keywords Classification . Database . FacesofFungi . Fungi .
Phylogeny . Taxonomy
An unusual wood-inhabiting fungus was found in northern Thailand. The combination of characters of this taxon, viz. setose, ostiolate ascomata, bitunicate asci, dark brown, wedge-shaped to clavate, muriform ascospores, and a hyphomycetous asexual state producing ellipsoidal, septate, highly constricted, holoblastic conidia is not found in any hitherto described genus of Dothideomycetes. An LSU phylogeny showed this taxon to be clearly placed in the family Sympoventuriaceae, Venturiales. The name Clavatispora thailandica gen. and sp. nov., is introduced to accommodate this taxon, which is described and illustrated and compared with other genera in this family.
The Venturiaceae was traditionally assigned to Pleosporales although its diagnostic characters readily distinguish it from other pleosporalean families. These include a parasitic or saprobic lifestyle, occurring on leaves or stems of dicotyledons; small to medium-sized ascomata, often with setae; deliquescing pseudoparaphyses; 8-spored, broadly cylindrical to obclavate asci; 1-septate, yellowish, greenish or pale brown to brown ascospores; and hypho-mycetous anamorphs. Phylogenetically, core genera of Venturiaceae form a monophyletic clade within Dothideo-mycetes, and represent a separate sister lineage from current orders, thus a new order—Venturiales is introduced. A new family, Sympoventuriaceae, is introduced to accommodate taxa of a well-supported subclade within Venturiales, which contains Sympoventuria, Veronaeopsis simplex and Fusi-cladium-like species. Based on morphology and DNA sequence analysis, eight genera are included in Venturia-ceae, viz. Acantharia, Apiosporina (including Dibotryon), Caproventuria, Coleroa, Pseudoparodiella, Metacoleroa, Tyrannosorus and Venturia. Molecular phylogenetic infor-mation is lacking for seven genera previously included in Venturiales, namely Arkoola, Atopospora, Botryostroma, Lasiobotrys, Trichodothella, Trichodothis and Rhizogenee and these are discussed, but their inclusion in Venturiaceae is doubtful.
Ochroconis is a genus of ascomycete fungi that includes oligotrophic saprobes and some opportunistic species causing infections in vertebrates. The most important of these opportunists is the neurotropic species Ochroconis gallopava, which occurs in birds and occasionally in immunocompromised humans. Other Ochroconis species have been isolated from superficial infections of cats, dogs and fish. In their natural environment, these species are found in litter, soil, and on moist surfaces. Some thermophilic species have been isolated from hot springs, industrial effluents, and self-heated plant material. Although their ecology and epidemiology has been investigated, their classification within the ascomycetes is still unknown. Here, the phylogenetic placement of Ochroconis is investigated using a four-gene phylogeny (nuLSU, nuSSU, mtSSU and RPB2). The results show that Ochroconis and its recently described sister genus Verruconis belong to the order Venturiales (Dothideomycetes) and are nested within the Sympoventuriaceae, a family recently erected for a group of plant-saprobes or -pathogens sister to the Venturiaceae. They form a well-supported monophyletic group together with five species of the anamorphic genus Fusicladium isolated from leaf and needle litters.
Palm fungi are a taxonomically diverse group. Recent collections of fungi from palms in northern Thailand resulted in the discovery of a new species of Neodeightonia, herein described as N. palmicola. This new species is distinct in having hyaline, aseptate ascospores surrounded by a remarkable sheath. This study compares this new species with related taxa of Botryosphaeria and Neodeightonia using morphological and molecular characteristics. Sequence data show our species is more closely related to Neodeightonia subglobosa (the type species of the genus) than to Botryosphaeria species. Morphological and molecular features of the new species are described.
Bootstrapping is a common method for assessing confidence in phylogenetic analyses. Although bootstrapping was first applied in phylogenetics to assess the repeatability of a given result, bootstrap results are commonly interpreted as a measure of the probability that a phylogenetic estimate represents the true phylogeny. Here we use computer simulations and a laboratory-generated phylogeny to test bootstrapping results of parsimony analyses, both as measures of repeatability (i.e., the probability of repeating a result given a new sample of characters) and accuracy (i.e., the probability that a result represents the true phylogeny). Our results indicate that any given bootstrap proportion provides an unbiased but highly imprecise measure of repeatability, unless the actual probability of replicating the relevant result is nearly one. The imprecision of the estimate is great enough to render the estimate virtually useless as a measure of repeatability. Under conditions thought to be typical of most phylogenetic analyses, however, bootstrap proportions in majority-rule consensus trees provide biased but highly conservative estimates of the probability of correctly inferring the corresponding clades. Specifically, under conditions of equal rates of change, symmetric phylogenies, and internodal change of less-than-or-equal-to 20% of the characters, bootstrap proportions of greater-than-or-equal-to 70% usually correspond to a probability of greater-than-or-equal-to 95% that the corresponding clade is real. However, under conditions of very high rates of internodal change (approaching randomization of the characters among taxa) or highly unequal rates of change among taxa, bootstrap proportions >50% are overestimates of accuracy.
We report a major update of the MAFFT multiple sequence alignment program. This version has several new features, including
options for adding unaligned sequences into an existing alignment, adjustment of direction in nucleotide alignment, constrained
alignment and parallel processing, which were implemented after the previous major update. This report shows actual examples
to explain how these features work, alone and in combination. Some examples incorrectly aligned by MAFFT are also shown to
clarify its limitations. We discuss how to avoid misalignments, and our ongoing efforts to overcome such limitations.
Understanding the evolutionary history of living organisms is a central problem in biology. Until recently the ability to infer evolutionary relationships was limited by the amount of DNA sequence data available, but new DNA sequencing technologies have largely removed this limitation. As a result, DNA sequence data are readily available or obtainable for a wide spectrum of organisms, thus creating an unprecedented opportunity to explore evolutionary relationships broadly and deeply across the Tree of Life. Unfortunately, the algorithms used to infer evolutionary relationships are NP-hard, so the dramatic increase in available DNA sequence data has created a commensurate increase in the need for access to powerful computational resources. Local laptop or desktop machines are no longer viable for analysis of the larger data sets available today, and progress in the field relies upon access to large, scalable high-performance computing resources. This paper describes development of the CIPRES Science Gateway, a web portal designed to provide researchers with transparent access to the fastest available community codes for inference of phylogenetic relationships, and implementation of these codes on scalable computational resources. Meeting the needs of the community has included developing infrastructure to provide access, working with the community to improve existing community codes, developing infrastructure to insure the portal is scalable to the entire systematics community, and adopting strategies that make the project sustainable by the community. The CIPRES Science Gateway has allowed more than 1800 unique users to run jobs that required 2.5 million Service Units since its release in December 2009. (A Service Unit is a CPU-hour at unit priority).
Members of the genus Eucalyptus represent a substrate richly colonized by numerous undescribed fungal species. Several species and genera of ascomycetes were collected from leaves or from leaf litter of this host genus in Australia and South Africa in the present study. New genera include Eucasphaeria capensis and Sympoventuria capensis (ascomycetes), genera et spp. nov. New species include Furcaspora eucalypti, Harknessia ipereniae, H. gibbosa, Heteroconium Meinziensis and Phacidiella eucalypti.
In an effort to establish a suitable alternative to the widely used 18S rRNA system for molecular systematics of fungi, we examined the nuclear gene RPB2, encoding the second largest subunit of RNA polymerase II. Because RPB2 is a single-copy gene of large size with a modest rate of evolutionary change, it provides good phylogenetic resolution of Ascomycota. While the RPB2 and 18S rDNA phylogenies were highly congruent, the RPB2 phylogeny did result in much higher bootstrap support for all the deeper branches within the orders and for several branches between orders of the Ascomycota. There are several strongly supported phylogenetic conclusions. The Ascomycota is composed of three major lineages: Archiascomycetes, Saccharomycetales, and Euascomycetes. Within the Euascomycetes, plectomycetes, and pyrenomycetes are monophyletic groups, and the Pleosporales and Dothideales are distinct sister groups within the Loculoascomycetes. We confirm the placement of Neolecta within the Archiascomycetes, suggesting that fruiting body formation and forcible discharge of ascospores were characters gained early in the evolution of the Ascomycota. These findings show that a slowly evolving protein-coding gene such as RPB2 is useful for diagnosing phylogenetic relationships among fungi.
MrBayes 3 performs Bayesian phylogenetic analysis combining information from different data partitions or subsets evolving under different stochastic evolutionary models. This allows the user to analyze heterogeneous data sets consisting of different data types—e.g. morphological, nucleotide, and protein—and to explore a wide variety of structured models mixing partition-unique and shared parameters. The program employs MPI to parallelize Metropolis coupling on Macintosh or UNIX clusters.
Availability: http://morphbank.ebc.uu.se/mrbayes
Contact: fredrik.ronquist@ebc.uu.se
*
To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Beauveria is a globally distributed genus of soil-borne entomopathogenic hyphomycetes of interest as a model system for the study of entomopathogenesis and the biological control of pest insects. Species recognition in Beauveria is difficult due to a lack of taxonomically informative morphology. This has impeded assessment of species diversity in this genus and investigation of their natural history. A gene-genealogical approach was used to investigate molecular phylogenetic diversity of Beauveria and several presumptively related Cordyceps species. Analyses were based on nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and elongation factor 1-alpha (EF1-alpha) sequences for 86 exemplar isolates from diverse geographic origins, habitats and insect hosts. Phylogenetic trees were inferred using maximum parsimony and Bayesian likelihood methods. Six well supported clades within Beauveria, provisionally designated A-F, were resolved in the EF1-alpha and combined gene phylogenies. Beauveria bassiana, a ubiquitous species that is characterized morphologically by globose to subglobose conidia, was determined to be non-monophyletic and consists of two unrelated lineages, clades A and C. Clade A is globally distributed and includes the Asian teleomorph Cordyceps staphylinidaecola and its probable synonym C. bassiana. All isolates contained in Clade C are anamorphic and originate from Europe and North America. Clade B includes isolates of B. brongniartii, a Eurasian species complex characterized by ellipsoidal conidia. Clade D includes B. caledonica and B. vermiconia, which produce cylindrical and comma-shaped conidia, respectively. Clade E, from Asia, includes Beauveria anamorphs and a Cordyceps teleomorph that both produce ellipsoidal conidia. Clade F, the basal branch in the Beauveria phylogeny includes the South American species B. amorpha, which produces cylindrical conidia. Lineage diversity detected within clades A, B and C suggests that prevailing morphological species concepts underestimate species diversity within these groups. Continental endemism of lineages in B. bassiana s.l. (clades A and C) indicates that isolation by distance has been an important factor in the evolutionary diversification of these clades. Permutation tests indicate that host association is essentially random in both B. bassiana s.l. clades A and C, supporting past assumptions that this species is not host specific. In contrast, isolates in clades B and D occurred primarily on coleopteran hosts, although sampling in these clades was insufficient to assess host affliation at lower taxonomic ranks. The phylogenetic placement of Cordyceps staphylinidaecola/bassiana, and C. scarabaeicola within Beauveria corroborates prior reports of these anamorph-teleomorph connections. These results establish a phylogenetic framework for further taxonomic, phylogenetic and comparative biological investigations of Beauveria and their corresponding Cordyceps teleomorphs.
Unlabelled:
RAxML-VI-HPC (randomized axelerated maximum likelihood for high performance computing) is a sequential and parallel program for inference of large phylogenies with maximum likelihood (ML). Low-level technical optimizations, a modification of the search algorithm, and the use of the GTR+CAT approximation as replacement for GTR+Gamma yield a program that is between 2.7 and 52 times faster than the previous version of RAxML. A large-scale performance comparison with GARLI, PHYML, IQPNNI and MrBayes on real data containing 1000 up to 6722 taxa shows that RAxML requires at least 5.6 times less main memory and yields better trees in similar times than the best competing program (GARLI) on datasets up to 2500 taxa. On datasets > or =4000 taxa it also runs 2-3 times faster than GARLI. RAxML has been parallelized with MPI to conduct parallel multiple bootstraps and inferences on distinct starting trees. The program has been used to compute ML trees on two of the largest alignments to date containing 25,057 (1463 bp) and 2182 (51,089 bp) taxa, respectively.
Availability:
icwww.epfl.ch/~stamatak
The phylogeny of the genera Periconiella, Ramichloridium, Rhinocladiella and Veronaea was explored by means of partial sequences of the 28S (LSU) rRNA gene and the ITS region (ITS1, 5.8S rDNA and ITS2). Based on the LSU sequence data, ramichloridium-like species segregate into eight distinct clusters. These include the Capnodiales (Mycosphaerellaceae and Teratosphaeriaceae), the Chaetothyriales (Herpotrichiellaceae), the Pleosporales, and five ascomycete clades with uncertain affinities. The type species of Ramichloridium, R. apiculatum, together with R. musae, R. biverticillatum, R. cerophilum, R. verrucosum, R. pini, and three new species isolated from Strelitzia, Musa and forest soil, respectively, reside in the Capnodiales clade. The human-pathogenic species R. mackenziei and R. basitonum, together with R. fasciculatum and R. anceps, cluster with Rhinocladiella (type species: Rh. atrovirens, Herpotrichiellaceae, Chaetothyriales), and are allocated to this genus. Veronaea botryosa, the type species of the genus Veronaea, also resides in the Chaetothyriales clade, whereas Veronaea simplex clusters as a sister taxon to the Venturiaceae (Pleosporales), and is placed in a new genus, Veronaeopsis. Ramichloridium obovoideum clusters with Carpoligna pleurothecii (anamorph: Pleurothecium sp., Chaetosphaeriales), and a new combination is proposed in Pleurothecium. Other ramichloridium-like clades include R. subulatum and R. epichloës (incertae sedis, Sordariomycetes), for which a new genus, Radulidium is erected. Ramichloridium schulzeri and its varieties are placed in a new genus, Myrmecridium (incertae sedis, Sordariomycetes). The genus Pseudovirgaria (incertae sedis) is introduced to accommodate ramichloridium-like isolates occurring on various species of rust fungi. A veronaea-like isolate from Bertia moriformis with phylogenetic affinity to the Annulatascaceae (Sordariomycetidae) is placed in a new genus, Rhodoveronaea. Besides Ramichloridium, Periconiella is also polyphyletic. Thysanorea is introduced to accommodate Periconiella papuana (Herpotrichiellaceae), which is unrelated to the type species, P. velutina (Mycosphaerellaceae).
We further develop the Bayesian framework for analyzing aligned nucleotide sequence data to reconstruct phylogenies, assess uncertainty in the reconstructions, and perform other statistical inferences. We employ a Markov chain Monte Carlo sampler to sample trees and model parameter values from their joint posterior distribution. All statistical inferences are naturally based on this sample. The sample provides a most-probable tree with posterior probabilities for each clade, information that is qualitatively similar to that for the maximum-likelihood tree with bootstrap proportions and permits further inferences on tree topology, branch lengths, and model parameter values. On moderately large trees, the computational advantage of our method over bootstrapping a maximum-likelihood analysis can be considerable. In an example with 31 taxa, the time expended by our software is orders of magnitude less than that a widely used phylogeny package for bootstrapping maximum likelihood estimation would require to achieve comparable statistical accuracy. While there has been substantial debate over the proper interpretation of bootstrap proportions, Bayesian posterior probabilities clearly and directly quantify uncertainty in questions of biological interest, at least from a Bayesian perspective. Because our tree proposal algorithms are independent of the choice of likelihood function, they could also be used in conjunction with likelihood models more complex than those we have currently implemented.
Detailed restriction analyses of many samples often require substantial amounts of time and effort for DNA extraction, restriction digests, Southern blotting, and hybridization. We describe a novel approach that uses the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for rapid simplified restriction typing and mapping of DNA from many different isolates. DNA fragments up to 2 kilobase pairs in length were efficiently amplified from crude DNA samples of several pathogenic Cryptococcus species, including C. neoformans, C. albidus, C. laurentii, and C. uniguttulatus. Digestion and electrophoresis of the PCR products by using frequent-cutting restriction enzymes produced complex restriction phenotypes (fingerprints) that were often unique for each strain or species. We used the PCR to amplify and analyze restriction pattern variation within three major portions of the ribosomal DNA (rDNA) repeats from these fungi. Detailed mapping of many restriction sites within the rDNA locus was determined by fingerprint analysis of progressively larger PCR fragments sharing a common primer site at one end. As judged by PCR fingerprints, the rDNA of 19 C. neoformans isolates showed no variation for four restriction enzymes that we surveyed. Other Cryptococcus spp. showed varying levels of restriction pattern variation within their rDNAs and were shown to be genetically distinct from C. neoformans. The PCR primers used in this study have also been successfully applied for amplification of rDNAs from other pathogenic and nonpathogenic fungi, including Candida spp., and ought to have wide applicability for clinical detection and other studies.
2013 -Families of Dothideomycetes
- K D Hyde
- Ebg Jones
- J K Liu
- H Ariyawansa
Hyde KD, Jones EBG, Liu JK, Ariyawansa H et al. 2013 -Families of Dothideomycetes. Fungal
Diversity 63, 1-313.
- S Konta
- S Hongsanan
- Ajl Phillips
- Ebg Jones
Konta S, Hongsanan S, Phillips AJL, Jones EBG et al. 2016a -Botryosphaeriaceae from palms in
Thailand II -two new species of Neodeightonia, N. rattanica and N. rattanicola from
Calamus (rattan palm). Mycosphere 7, 950-961.
- S Konta
- Ajl Phillips
- A H Bahkali
- Ebg Jones
Konta S, Phillips AJL, Bahkali AH, Jones EBG et al. 2016c -Botryosphaeriaceae from palms in
Thailand -Barriopsis archontophoenicis sp. nov., from Archontophoenix alexandrae.
Mycosphere (special issue), 921-932.
2013 -Tracer version 1.6
- M Suchard
- D Xie
- A Drummond
Rambaut A. 2014 -FigTree 1.4.2. Available online: http://tree.bio.ed.ac.uk/software/figtree/
Rambaut A, Suchard M, Xie D, Drummond A. 2013 -Tracer version 1.6. Available online:
http://tree.bio.ed.ac.uk/software/tracer/
- K Samerpitak
- E Van Der Linde
- H J Choi
- Gerrits Van Den Ende
Samerpitak K, Van der Linde E, Choi HJ, Gerrits van den Ende AHG et al. 2014 -Taxonomy of
Ochroconis, genus including opportunistic pathogens on humans and animals. Fungal
Diversity 65, 89-126.
Additions to the genus Savoryella (Savoryellaceae), with the asexual morphs Savoryella nypae comb. nov. and S. sarushimana sp
- S N Zhang
- M A Jones
- Ebg Hyde
- K D Liu
Zhang SN, Abdel-Wahab MA, Jones EBG, Hyde KD, Liu JK. 2019a -Additions to the genus
Savoryella (Savoryellaceae), with the asexual morphs Savoryella nypae comb. nov. and S.
sarushimana sp. nov. Phytotaxa (in press)