title: Three new Lasiodiplodia spp. from the tropics, recognized based on DNA sequence comparisons and morphology.
abstract: Botryosphaeria rhodina (anamorph Lasiodiplodia theobromae) is a common endophyte and opportunistic pathogen on more than 500 tree species in the tropics and subtropics. During routine disease surveys of plantations in Australia and Venezuela several isolates differing from L. theobromae were identified and subsequently characterized based upon morphology and ITS and EF1-alpha nucleotide sequences. These isolates grouped into three strongly supported clades related to but different from the known taxa, B. rhodina and L. gonubiensis, These have been described here as three new species L. venezuelensis sp. nov., L. crassispora sp. nov. and L. rubropurpurea sp. nov. The three could be distinguished easily from each other and the two described species of Lasiodiplodia, thus confirming phylogenetic separations. Furthermore all five Lasiodiplodia spp. now recognized separated from Diplodia spp. and Dothiorella spp. with 100% bootstrap support.
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Murdoch University, Australia. tburgess@murdoch.edu.au
authors.forename: Treena I
authors.initials: TI
authors.lastname: Burgess
authors.forename: Paul A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Barber
authors.forename: Sari
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mohali
authors.forename: Geoff
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pegg
authors.forename: Wilhelm
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: de Beer
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Wingfield
mesh_terms: D001203:Ascomycota / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D001315:Australia; D001483:Base Sequence; D004271:DNA, Fungal / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics; D019684:Magnoliopsida / Q000145:classification / Q000382:microbiology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016533:Mycological Typing Techniques; D020648:Peptide Elongation Factor 1 / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D014329:Tropical Climate; D014687:Venezuela
chemical_list: D004271:DNA, Fungal; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer; D020648:Peptide Elongation Factor 1