Two new species of Undifilum, fungal endophytes of Astragalus (locoweeds) in the United States.
New species ofUndifilum, from locoweedsAstragalus lentiginosusVitman andAstragalus mollissimusTorr., are described using morphological characteristics and molecular phylogenetic analyses asUndifilum fulvumBaucom & Creamer sp. nov. andUndifilum cinereumBaucom & Creamer sp. nov. Fungi were isolated from dried plants of A. lentiginosus var. araneosus, diphysus, lentiginosus, andwahweapensiscollected from Arizona, Oregon, and Utah, USA, andA. mollissimusvar.biglovii, earleii, andmollissimuscollected from New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas, USA. Endophytic fungi fromAstragaluslocoweeds were compared toUndifilum oxytropisisolates obtained from dried plant material ofOxytropis lamberteiifrom New Mexico andOxytropis sericeafrom Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. Extremely slow growth in vitro was observed for all, and conidia, if present, were ellipsoid with transverse septa. However, in vitro color, growth on four different media, and conidium size differed between fungi fromAstragalusspp. andU. oxytropis. Neighbor-joining analyses of internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region andglyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GPD)gene sequences revealed thatU. fulvum and U. cinereumformed a clade distinct from U. oxytropis. This was supported by neighbor-joining analyses of results generated from random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) fragments using two different primers.
Department of Entomology, Plant Pathology, and Weed Science, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM 88011, USA.
Deana L
DL
Baucom
Marie
M
Romero
Robert
R
Belfon
Rebecca
R
Creamer
Astragalus lentiginosus; Astragalus mollissimus; Undifilum cinereum; Undifilum fulvum; fungal endophyte