title: Phylogenetic placement of the lichenicolous, anamorphic genus Lichenodiplis and its connection to Muellerella-like teleomorphs.
abstract: Lichenicolous fungi are a specialized group of taxa which inhabit lichens and develop diverse degrees of specificity and parasitic behaviour towards their hosts. They are recognized only by their phenotypic symptoms and sexual or asexual spore-producing structures on the lichen thalli. Only recently, molecular data and culture dependent approaches have helped in uncovering the species diversity and in verifying the phylogenetic position and anamorph-teleomorph relationships of some taxa. Here, we studied the phylogenetic placement of representative taxa of two lichenicolous genera, the coelomycete Lichenodiplis and the ascomycete Muellerella. We obtained molecular data for three nuclear and mitochondrial loci (28S, 18S, and 16S), both from fresh collected specimens and culture isolates. Our multilocus phylogeny places Lichenodiplis and Muellerella samples in one monophyletic, fully supported clade, sister to Epibryon (Epibryaceae) in Chaetothyriales (Eurotiomycetes). Morphological analyses of axenically cultured fungi show the formation of conidiomata and conidiospores in both Lichenodiplis and Muellerella isolates. We suggest that the species Lichenodiplis lecanorae and Muellerella atricola represent, respectively, the anamorphic and teleomorphic stages of the same fungus and discuss their relationships with the other fungal families in Chaetothyriomycetidae.
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Science, University of Trieste, Via Giorgieri 10, 34127 Trieste, Italy; Institute of Plant Sciences, Karl-Franzens-University Graz, Holteigasse 6, 8010 Graz, Austria. Electronic address: lmuggia@units.it.
authors.forename: Lucia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Muggia
authors.affiliation: Institute of Plant Sciences, Karl-Franzens-University Graz, Holteigasse 6, 8010 Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Theodora
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kopun
authors.affiliation: Botanic Garden Meise, Department Bryophytes-Thallophytes (BT), Nieuwelaan 38, B-1860 Meise, Belgium.
authors.forename: Damien
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ertz
mesh_terms: D001203:Ascomycota / Q000145:classification* / Q000166:cytology / Q000235:genetics*; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D004271:DNA, Fungal / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D008853:Microscopy; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D012337:RNA, Ribosomal, 18S / Q000235:genetics; D012339:RNA, Ribosomal, 28S / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D004271:DNA, Fungal; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D012337:RNA, Ribosomal, 18S; D012339:RNA, Ribosomal, 28S
keywords: Chaetothyriales; Conidiogenesis; Culture isolation; Epibryaceae; Ribosomal DNA