Investigations on Heterobasidion annosum s.lat. in central and eastern Asia with the aid of mating tests and DNA fingerprinting

Abstract

Summary To investigate the taxonomy of Heterobasidion in Eurasia, 49 specimens belonging to H. annosum sensu lato from Asia were identified with the aid of mating tests. Most of the specimens originated from north‐eastern and south‐western China and from the Altai region in southern Siberia, but a few isolates from Kirghizia, Japan and India were also tested. In addition to mating tests, the material from China was investigated with DNA fingerprinting. Heterobasidion annosum sensu stricto was identified only from the Altai region. Homokaryotic isolates from other specimens, except the Indian ones, were sexually compatible with H. parviporum, but they also showed a high degree of compatibility with H. abietinum and with the North American S group. The isolates from SW China (eastern Himalayas) mated with about equal frequency with the European strains of H. parviporum and H. abietinum. However, the DNA fingerprinting showed that these isolates were more closely related to H. parviporum, and hence they were tentatively included in this species. The North American S group was more distant from these Eurasian taxa. Four old isolates from India mated only weakly with the members of the H. annosum s.lat. According to the species concept presented, the distribution of H. parviporum extends from western Europe through southern Siberia to northern China, Japan and the eastern Himalayas. H. annosum s.str. is so far identified only from the Altai region outside Europe, and H. abietinum only from Europe.

Viruses accumulate in aging infection centers of a fungal forest pathogen

“…Heterobasidion parviporum Niemelä and Korhonen causes white-rot wood decay in Norway spruce (Picea abies) and related species (Niemelä and Korhonen, 1998;Dai et al, 2003). This pathogen spreads efficiently via basidiospores that infect fresh stump surfaces or butt wounds of living trees and may travel hundreds of kilometers in favorable conditions (Stenlid and Redfern, 1998).…”

Three species of Heterobasidion (Basidiomycota, Hericiales), H. parviporum, H. orientale sp. nov. and H. ecrustosum sp. nov. from East Asia

“…It frequently occurs on various species of Abies and Picea in Japan and China, but also on Tsuga, Larix and Pinus (Dai et al 2003(Dai et al , 2006Tokuda et al 2007). Moreover, the high pathogenicity shown by European H. parviporum on Picea abies and A. sibrica in Europe and western Siberia appears to decline in eastern Asia (Dai et al 2003). Dai et al (2006) suggested that H. parviporum in China is not an aggressive pathogen on native tree species.…”

Wood production, wood technology, and biotechnological impacts

“…The North American S group is found in the western part of the continent on species of Picea, Abies, Pseudotsuga, and Tsuga . Taxonomically, the North American species differ from the European P and the Eurasian S groups (Dai et al 2003, Johannesson & Stenlid 2003. Fig.…”

“…Isolates from northern and eastern Asian countries (Asian part of Russia, China, Japan) have mostly been identified as H. parviporum. The most eastern record of H. annosum (sensu stricto) is from southern Siberia (Dai et al 2003). Furthermore in eastern and southern Asia, the non-pathogenic Heterobasidion araucariae and Heterobasidion insulare (sensu lato with three different intersterility groups) occur (Dai et al 2002, Fig.…”