Novel species of fungi described in this study include those from various countries as follows: Australia, Chaetomella pseudocircinoseta and Coniella pseudodiospyri on Eucalyptus microcorys leaves, Cladophialophora eucalypti, Teratosphaeria dunnii and Vermiculariopsiella dunnii on Eucalyptus dunnii leaves, Cylindrium grande and Hypsotheca eucalyptorum on Eucalyptus grandis leaves, Elsinoe salignae on Eucalyptus saligna leaves, Marasmius lebeliae on litter of regenerating subtropical rainforest, Phialoseptomonium eucalypti (incl. Phialoseptomonium gen. nov.) on Eucalyptus grandis × camaldulensis leaves, Phlogicylindrium pawpawense on Eucalyptus tereticornis leaves, Phyllosticta longicauda as an endophyte from healthy Eustrephus latifolius leaves, Pseudosydowia eucalyptorum on Eucalyptus sp. leaves, Saitozyma wallum on Banksia aemula leaves, Teratosphaeria henryi on Corymbia henryi leaves. Brazil, Aspergillus bezerrae, Backusella azygospora, Mariannaea terricola and Talaromyces pernambucoensis from soil, Calonectria matogrossensis on Eucalyptus urophylla leaves, Calvatia brasiliensis on soil, Carcinomyces nordestinensis on Bromelia antiacantha leaves, Dendryphiella stromaticola on small branches of an unidentified plant, Nigrospora brasiliensis on Nopalea cochenillifera leaves, Penicillium alagoense as a leaf endophyte on a Miconia sp., Podosordaria nigrobrunnea on dung, Spegazzinia bromeliacearum as a leaf endophyte on Tilandsia catimbauensis, Xylobolus brasiliensis on decaying wood. Bulgaria, Kazachstania molopis from the gut of the beetle Molops piceus. Croatia, Mollisia endocrystallina from a fallen decorticated Picea abies tree trunk. Ecuador, Hygrocybe rodomaculata on soil. Hungary, Alfoldia vorosii (incl.Alfoldia gen. nov.) from Juniperus communis roots, Kiskunsagia ubrizsyi (incl. Kiskunsagia gen. nov.) from Fumana procumbens roots. India, Aureobasidium tremulum as laboratory contaminant, Leucosporidium himalayensis and Naganishia indica from windblown dust on glaciers. Italy, Neodevriesia cycadicola on Cycas sp. leaves, Pseudocercospora pseudomyrticola on Myrtus communis leaves, Ramularia pistaciae on Pistacia lentiscus leaves, Neognomoniopsis quercina (incl. Neognomoniopsis gen. nov.) on Quercus ilex leaves. Japan, Diaporthe fructicola on Passiflora edulis × P. edulis f. flavicarpa fruit, Entoloma nipponicum on leaf litter in a mixed Cryptomeria japonica and Acer spp. forest. Macedonia, Astraeus macedonicus on soil. Malaysia, Fusicladium eucalyptigenum on Eucalyptus sp. twigs, Neoacrodontiella eucalypti (incl. Neoacrodontiella gen. nov.) on Eucalyptus urophylla leaves. Mozambique, Meliola gorongosensis on dead Philenoptera violacea leaflets. Nepal, Coniochaeta dendrobiicola from Dendriobium lognicornu roots. New Zealand, Neodevriesia sexualis and Thozetella neonivea on Archontophoenix cunninghamiana leaves. Norway, Calophoma sandfjordenica from a piece of board on a rocky shoreline, Clavaria parvispora on soil, Didymella finnmarkica from a piece of Pinus sylvestris driftwood. Poland, Sugiyamaella trypani from soil. Portugal, Colletotrichum feijoicola from Acca sellowiana. Russia, Crepidotus tobolensis on Populus tremula debris, Entoloma ekaterinae, Entoloma erhardii and Suillus gastroflavus on soil, Nakazawaea ambrosiae from the galleries of Ips typographus under the bark of Picea abies. Slovenia, Pluteus ludwigii on twigs of broadleaved trees. South Africa, Anungitiomyces stellenboschiensis (incl. Anungitiomyces gen. nov.) and Niesslia stellenboschiana on Eucalyptus sp. leaves, Beltraniella pseudoportoricensis on Podocarpus falcatus leaf litter, Corynespora encephalarti on Encephalartos sp. leaves, Cytospora pavettae on Pavetta revoluta leaves, Helminthosporium erythrinicola on Erythrina humeana leaves, Helminthosporium syzygii on a Syzygium sp. barkcanker, Libertasomyces aloeticus on Aloe sp. leaves, Penicillium lunae from Musa sp. fruit, Phyllosticta lauridiae on Lauridia tetragona leaves, Pseudotruncatella bolusanthi (incl. Pseudotruncatellaceae fam. nov.) and Dactylella bolusanthi on Bolusanthus speciosus leaves. Spain, Apenidiella foetida on submerged plant debris, Inocybe grammatoides on Quercus ilex subsp. ilex forest humus, Ossicaulis salomii on soil, Phialemonium guarroi from soil. Thailand, Pantospora chromolaenae on Chromolaena odorata leaves. Ukraine, Cadophora helianthi from Helianthus annuus stems. USA, Boletus pseudopinophilus on soil under slash pine, Botryotrichum foricae, Penicillium americanum and Penicillium minnesotense from air. Vietnam, Lycoperdon vietnamense on soil. Morphological and culture characteristics are supported by DNA barcodes.

Orobanche cumana Wallr. (sunflower broomrape) is a holoparasitic weed that infects roots of sunflower in large areas of Europe and Asia. Two distant O. cumana gene pools have been identified in Spain, one in Cuenca province in the Center and another one in the Guadalquivir Valley in the South. Race F has been hypothesized to have arisen by separate mutational events in both gene pools. In the Guadalquivir Valley, race F spread in the middle 1990’s to become predominant and contained so far with race F hybrids. Recently, enhanced virulent populations of O. cumana have been observed in commercial fields parasitizing race F resistant hybrids. From them, we collected four independent populations and conducted virulence and SSR marker-based genetic diversity analysis. Virulence essays confirmed that the four populations studied can parasitize most of the race F resistant hybrids tested, but they cannot parasitize the differential inbred lines DEB-2, carrying resistance to race F and G, and P-96, resistant to F but susceptible to races G from other countries. Accordingly, the new populations have been classified as race GGV to distinguish them from other races G. Cluster analysis with a set of populations from the two Spanish gene pools and from other areas, mainly Eastern Europe, confirmed that race GGV populations maintain close genetic relatedness with the Guadalquivir Valley gene pool. This suggested that increased virulence was not caused by new introductions from other countries. Genetic diversity parameters revealed that the four populations had much greater genetic diversity than conventional populations of the same area, containing only alleles present in the Guadalquivir Valley and Cuenca gene pools. The results suggested that increased virulence may have resulted from admixture of populations from the Guadalquivir Valley and Cuenca followed by recombination of avirulence genes.

Therefore, a doubled haploid (DH) mapping population (n = 122) was created by crossing SusPtrit with Golden Promise to develop a 'Golden SusPtrit', i.e., a barley line combining SusPtrit's high susceptibility to non-adapted rust fungi with the high amenability of Golden Promise for transformation. We identified nine genomic regions occupied by resistance quantitative trait loci (QTls) against four non-adapted rust fungi and P. hordei isolate 1.2.1 (Ph.1.2.1). Four DHs were selected for an Agrobacterium-mediated transformation efficiency test. They were among the 12 DH lines most susceptible to the tested nonadapted rust fungi. The most efficiently transformed DH line was SG062n (11-17 transformants per 100 immature embryos). The level of non-adapted rust infection on SG062n is either similar to or higher than the level of infection on SusPtrit. Against Ph.1.2.1, the latency period conferred by SG062n is as short as that conferred by SusPtrit. SG062n, designated 'Golden SusPtrit', will be a valuable experimental line that could replace SusPtrit in nonhost and partial resistance studies, especially for stable transformation using candidate genes that may be involved in rustresistance mechanisms.

A total of 298 bacterial isolates were collected from pea cultivars, landraces and breeding lines in North-Central Spain over several years. On the basis of biochemical-physiological characteristics and molecular markers, 225 of the isolates were identified as Pseudomonas syringae, either pv. pisi (110 isolates) or pv. syringae (112), indicating that pv. syringae is as frequent as pv. pisi as causal agent of bacterial diseases in pea. Most strains (222) were pathogenic on pea. Further race analyses of P. syringae pv. pisi strains identified race 4 (59.1% of the isolates of this pathovar), race 2 (20.0%), race 6 (11.8%), race 5 (3.6%) and race 3 (0.9%). Five isolates (4.6%) showed a not-previously described response pattern on tester pea genotypes, which suggests that an additional race 8 could be present in P. syringae pv. pisi. All the isolates of P. syringae pv. syringae were highly pathogenic when inoculated in the tester pea genotypes, and no significant pathogenic differences were observed. Simultaneous infections with P. syringae pv. pisi and pv. syringae in the same fields were observed, suggesting the importance of resistance to both pathovars in future commercial cultivars. The search for resistance among pea genotypes suitable for production in this part of Spain or as breeding material identified the presence of resistance genes for all P. syringae pv. pisi races except for race 6. The pea cultivars Kelvendon Wonder, Cherokee, Isard, Iceberg, Messire and Attika were found suitable sources of resistance to P. syringae pv. syringae.

A total of 122 accessions of different wild and cultivated Pisum sp. were analysed using retrotransposon-based insertion polymorphisms (RBIP) markers. The Pisum materials included wild and cultivated (landraces and cultivars) materials from the World core collection of the John Innes Centre (JI) representing all generally recognized Pisum taxa, landraces materials from the Spanish core collection, and commercial pea cultivars largely sown in Spain. The overall polymorphism detected by RBIP marker was high and all accessions, except two pairs, could be distinguished by their marker pattern. Principal component and phylogenetic analyses clearly discriminated P. fulvum and P. abyssinicum samples from both each other and P. sativum, while P. elatius and P. humile samples were scattered among the other taxa clusters, supporting the existence of three well defined taxa in the genus Pisum (P. abyssinicum, P. fulvum and P. sativum). These results also suggest that the Spanish pea core collection of landraces maintains a relatively high variability which is only partially represented in cultivars generally sown in Spain. Thus, Spanish landraces are still a source of genetic variability for breeding new pea cultivars.Additional key words: genetic resources, Pisum abyssinicum, Pisum fulvum, Pisum sativum, RBIP markers. ResumenDiversidad genética en variedades locales y cultivares españoles de guisante (Pisum sativum L.) y en la colección nuclear mundial de Pisum estimada mediante polimorfismo de inserción de retrotransposones (RBIP)Se ha estudiado un total de 122 accesiones silvestres y cultivadas de Pisum sp. usando marcadores basados en polimorfismos de inserción de retrotransposones (RBIP). Las accesiones de Pisum incluyen materiales silvestres y cultivados (cultivares y variedades locales) de la colección nuclear mundial del John Innes Centre (JI) representando a todos los taxones generalmente reconocidos de Pisum, variedades locales de la colección nuclear española, y por úl-timo algunas variedades comerciales de guisante ampliamente cultivadas en España. Para el análisis genético se usaron 18 loci RBIP. El polimorfismo general detectado con los marcadores RBIP fue alto y todas las muestras, excepto dos pares, pudieron ser identificadas por un patrón particular de marcadores. Análisis de componentes principales y filogenéticos discriminaron claramente P. fulvum y P. abyssinicum entre ellas y de P. sativum, mientras que las muestras de P. humile y P. elatius se mezclaban con las de otros taxones en distintos grupos. Esto apoya la existencia de tres especies en el género Pisum (P. abyssinicum, P. fulvum y P. sativum). Los resultados indican que la colección nuclear española de guisante mantiene una variabilidad relativamente elevada que está sólo parcialmente representada en los cultivares generalmente sembrados en España. Por tanto, las variedades locales españolas representan aún una fuente de variabilidad genética para la mejora de nuevos cultivares.

The development of durable resistance to broomrape (Orobanche cumana Wallr.) in sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) requires detailed characterization of the genetic and physiological bases of resistance. The objective of the present study was to map the resistance gene accurately, and to characterize the mechanism of resistance to broomrape observed in a sunflower inbred line (PHSC1102). PHSC1102, which was consistently resistant against race F and race G populations of broomrape, was crossed with PHSC1201, which was susceptible to races F and G. A mapping population of 150 F 2 genotypes was phenotyped by evaluating F 2:3 families for resistance to broomrape races F GV and G TK . The use of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers mapped the Or SII gene to Linkage Group 4 (LG4) of the sunflower genome. Minirhizotron and histological studies of the resistant line revealed that the attachment of broomrape to host roots was similar in both the resistant and susceptible lines and that the resistance was observed at a late stage (i.e., after tubercle development). Interestingly, the resistance of the PHSC1102 line was associated with the production of phenolic compounds, which were hypothesized to restrict the parasite's growth. This research provides novel and valuable information about the host-parasite interactions between sunflower and broomrape.Abbreviations: DAB, 3,3-diaminobenzidine; LG, linkage group; LOD, logarithm of odds; PBS, phosphate-buffered saline; PCR, polymerase chain reaction; QTL, quantitative trait loci; SNP, single nucleotide polymorphism; TBO, toluidine blue O.

Verticillium wilt and leaf mottle of sunflower, caused by the fungus Verticillium dahliae (Vd) has become a major constraint to sunflower oil production in temperate European countries. Information about Vd from sunflower is very scarce despite genetics, molecular traits and pathogenic abilities of fungal strains affecting many other crops being widely known. Understanding and characterizing the diversity of Vd populations in those countries where sunflowers are frequent and severely affected by the fungus are essential for efficient breeding for resistance. In this study, we have analyzed genetic, molecular and pathogenic traits of Vd isolates affecting sunflower in European countries. When their genetics was investigated, almost all the isolates from France, Italy, Spain, Argentina, and Ukraine were assigned to vegetative compatibility group (VCG) 2B. In Bulgaria, Turkey, Romania, and Ukraine, some isolates were assigned to VCG6, but some others could not be assigned to any VCG. Genotyping markers used for Vd affecting crops other than sunflower showed that all the isolates were molecularly identified as race 2 and that markers of defoliating (D) and non-defoliating (ND) pathotypes distinguished two well-differentiated clusters, one (E) grouping those isolates from Eastern Europe and the other (W) all those from the Western Europe and Argentina. All the isolates in cluster W were VCG2B, while the isolates in cluster E belonged to an unknown VCG or to VCG6. When the host range was investigated in the greenhouse, the fungus was highly pathogenic to artichoke, showing the importance of farming alternatives in the management of Verticillium attacks. Sunflower genotypes were inoculated with a selection of isolates in two experiments. Two groups were identified, one including the isolates from Western Europe, Argentina, and Ukraine, and the other including isolates from Bulgaria, Romania, and Turkey. Three pathogenic races were differentiated: V1, V2-EE (Eastern Europe) and V2-WE (Western Europe). Similarly, three differentials are proposed for race identification: HA 458 (universal susceptible), HA 89 (resistant to V2-EE, susceptible to V2-WE) and INRA2603 (susceptible to V2-EE, resistant to V2-WE). The diversity found in Vd affecting sunflower must be taken into account in the search for resistance to the pathogen for European environments of sunflower production.

Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae causes extensive yield losses in the pea crop worldwide, although there is little information on its host specialization and its interactions with pea. A collection of 88 putative P. syringae pv. syringae strains (including 39 strains isolated from pea) was characterized by repetitive polymerase chain reaction (rep-PCR), multilocus sequence typing (MLST), and syrB amplification and evaluated for pathogenicity and virulence. rep-PCR data grouped the strains from pea into two groups (1B and 1C) together with strains from other hosts; a third group (1A) was formed exclusively with strains isolated from non-legume species. MLST data included all strains from pea in the genomospecies 1 of P. syringae pathovars defined in previous studies; they were distributed in the same three groups defined by rep-PCR. The inoculations performed in two pea cultivars showed that P. syringae pv. syringae strains from groups 1A and 1C were less virulent than strains from group 1B, suggesting a possible pathogenic specialization in this group. This study shows the existence of genetically and pathogenically distinct P. syringae pv. syringae strain groups from pea, which will be useful for the diagnostic and epidemiology of this pathogen and for disease resistance breeding.