Cultural studies coupled with DNA based sequence analyses and its implication on pigmentation as a phylogenetic marker in Pestalotiopsis taxonomy.
Previous phylogenetic studies based on DNA sequence data have partially resolved taxonomic relationships among Pestalotiopsis species. There are still some morphological characters whose phylogenetic significance have not been assessed properly due to limited taxon sampling, in particular the degree of pigmentation of median cells. In this study, the stability of pigmentation of median cells of conidia in Pestalotiopsis species was evaluated in subculture, and a molecular phylogenetic analysis was conducted on 45 strains belonging to 26 species in order to reappraise the pigmentation of median cells for its significance in the taxonomy of Pestalotiopsis. Phylogenetic relationships were inferred from nucleotide sequences in ITS regions (ITS1, 5.8S and ITS2) and β-tubulin 2 gene (tub2). The results showed that pigmentation of median cells was stable and it could be a key character in the taxonomy of Pestalotiopsis species. Instead of "concolorous" and "versicolor" proposed by Steyeart (1949), "brown to olivaceous" and "umber to fuliginous" are described and proposed in this paper.
Liu
Ai-Rong
AR
College of Forestry, Henan University of Science and Technology, Luoyang 471003, PR China.
Chen
Shuang-Chen
SC
Wu
Shang-Ying
SY
Xu
Tong
T
Guo
Liang-Dong
LD
Jeewon
Rajesh
R
Wei
Ji-Guang
JG
D001483:Base Sequence; D004271:DNA, Fungal / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D010858:Pigmentation / Q000235:genetics*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013098:Xylariales / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*
D004271:DNA, Fungal