Glomus mongioiense, a New Species of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi from Italian Alps and the Phylogeny-Spoiling Issue of Ribosomal Variants in the Glomus Genus

Abstract

Glomus mongioiense, a new species of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in the family Glomeraceae, was isolated from rhizosphere soil collected from a meadow in the Italian Alps. The novelty of the species and its relationship with other species of the same genus were obtained by morphological and phylogenetic (45S nrDNA + RPB1 gene) analyses. Two glomoid spore-producing AMF isolates from a saltmarsh of the Scottish Highlands and maritime sand dunes of the Baltic Sea in Poland, were also included in this study and later found to be conspecific with G. rugosae. Phylogenetic placement analysis using environmental sequences indicated that G. mongioiense sp. nov. seems to be a rare species. Furthermore, the molecular and phylogenetic analysis provided important insights into the presence of highly divergent ribosomal variants in several Glomus species, with potential negative implication in phylogeny and species recognition.