Lulworthia atlantica: a new species supported by molecular phylogeny and morphological analysis

Abstract

This study presents morphological and molecular evidence for the establishment of a new species of Lulworthia based on the evaluation of 11 isolates of Lulworthiales collected in two marinas on the west coast of Portugal initially classified as Lulworthia sp. Maximum likelihood and Bayesian methods were applied to obtain phylogenetic trees for 18S-28S and internal transcribed spacer (ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 = internal transcribed spacer [ITS]) nuc rDNA. The isolates consistently grouped together in a distinct and highly supported clade; all other Lulworthiales analyzed, including the available sequences of Lulworthia spp., segregated separately. These results were supported by common and distinctive morphological characters and enabled recognition and description of the new species Lulworthia atlantica. Two Portuguese isolates were confirmed as Lulworthia cf. purpurea, and two were confirmed as asexual morphs of Zalerion maritima.

Fungal Diversity in the Neptune Forest: Comparison of the Mycobiota of Posidonia oceanica, Flabellia petiolata, and Padina pavonica

“…The previously suggested polyphyletic nature of Lulworthia spp. (Azevedo et al, 2017), that discriminate Lulworthia sensu latu from Lulworthia sensu strictu is here confirmed and justifies the introduction of the new genus Paralulworthia. Besides, members of the genus Lulworthia are morphologically characterized by filamentous hyaline ascospores (Kohlmeyer et al, 2000), well distinct from the ellipsoidal brown ascospores of the new genus.…”

“…(39.8%), Corollospora maritima (21.0%) Genbank sequences include newly generated nrITS, nrLSU and nrSSU amplicons relative to the novel species Paralulworthia gigaspora and P. posidoniae. The combined dataset, built on the basis of BLASTn results and of recent phylogenetic studies (Azevedo et al, 2017), consisted of 45 taxa (including MUT isolates) that represented 15 genera and 27 species. Twelve sequences (4 nrITS, 4 nrSSU, and 4 nrLSU) were newly generated, while 94 were retrieved from GenBank.…”

“…Genomic DNA was extracted as mentioned above and the partial sequences of the internal transcribed spacers including the 5.8S rDNA gene (nrITS), 28S large ribosomal subunit (nrLSU) and 18S small ribosomal subunit (nrSSU) were amplified by PCR using the primer pairs ITS1/ITS4 (White et al, 1990), LR0R/LR7 (Vilgalys and Hester, 1990), NS1/NS4 (White et al, 1990). A dataset consisting of nrSSU, nrITS, and nrLSU, was assembled on the basis of BLASTn results and of the most recent phylogenetic study focused on Lulworthiales (Azevedo et al, 2017). Reference sequences were retrieved from GenBank (Table 2).…”

Revealing the hidden diversity of marine fungi in Portugal with the description of two novel species, Neoascochyta fuci sp. nov. and Paraconiothyrium salinum sp. nov.

“…Among the isolates from driftwood substrates found in our survey, one isolate was identified as Lulworthia sp. belonging to the order Lulworthiales that comprises marine ascomycetes [63] which are commonly associated with wood substrates [64]. Previous studies in Portuguese waters have also shown the presence of Lulworthiales species in standing plants and baits of Spartina maritima [65] and wood of Pinus pinaster and Fagus sylvatica [64].…”

No evidence that lulworthioid fungi are dark septate endophytes in the roots of the dominant Mediterranean seagrassPosidonia oceanica

“…(2015) targeted this gene, despite that phylogeny of the Lulworthiales is based rather on the SSU and LSU rDNA (Campbell et al . 2005; Azevedo et al . 2017).…”