Botryosphaeria species from Eucalyptus in Australia are pleoanamorphic, producing Dichomera synanamorphs in culture

Abstract

Species within the genus Botryosphaeria include some of the most widespread and important pathogens of woody plants, and have been the focus of numerous taxonomic studies in recent years. It is currently accepted that anamorphs of Botryosphaeria belong to two distinct genera, Fusicoccum and Diplodia. Species within the genus Fusicoccum commonly produce aseptate, hyaline conidia. In the present study, fungi were isolated from foliage and wood of Eucalyptus in native forests and plantations in Australia. Although these fungi produced Dichomera anamorphs in culture, they clustered within the Fusicoccum clade of Botryosphaeria based on their ITS sequence data. Four species, Botryosphaeria dothidea, B. parva, B. ribis and B. australis produced Dichomera conidia in culture. The Dichomera synanamorphs are described for these four species of Botryosphaeria. In addition, falling within the Fusicoccum clade of Botryosphaeria, two species were found to be distinct from previously described Botryosphaeria spp. based on their ITS sequences, but synonymous with D. versiformis and D. eucalypti. These observations are currently unique to isolates from host trees within the genus Eucalyptus in Australia, and the pleoanamorphic nature of these species is discussed.

Botryosphaeriaceae associated with the die-back of ornamental trees in the Western Balkans

“…Dichomera-like syn-asexual morphs from this study were morphologically different to those previously described (Barber et al 2005;Inderbitzin et al 2010;Slippers et al 2014). Isolate CMW 39304 produced hyaline fusiform conidia, dark fusiform conidia and dark Dichomera-like pyriform to limoniform conidia in the same pycnidia.…”

“…10.3 9 8.4, l/w 1.2) lm. Dark ellipsoid, Dichomera-like conidia observed in this study differed in size and shape from muriform subglobose to obpyriform conidia of the asexual morph described previously (Barber et al 2005;Crous et al 2006;Phillips et al 2013). …”

Isolation and characterization of endophytic taxol-producing fungi from Taxus chinensis

“…Among the 20 infrequent genera, Xylaria, Coniothyrium, and Botryosphaeria have not been reported from Taxus trees; however, they have been obtained from other host plants [1,14,17]. Fusarium and Alternaria were the dominant genera acquired from T. baccata [3].…”

Seven new species of the Botryosphaeriaceae from baobab and other native trees in Western Australia

“…Measurements and digital images were made with an HRc Axiocam digital camera and accompanying Axiovision 3.1 software (Carl Zeiss Ltd., Munich, Germany). Drawings were prepared with a drawing tube and finalized with the method described by Barber and Keane (2007). Colony morphology and color were determined from cultures grown on MEA at 25 C in the dark.…”