Meristematic and meristematic-like fungi in Dothideomycetes

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Authors

Barreto, G.G.
Souza-Motta, C.M.
Silva, G.A.
Groenewald, Johannes Zacharias
Crous, Pedro W.
Bezerra, J.D.P.

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute

Abstract

Meristematic fungi are mainly defined as having aggregates of thick-walled, melanised cells enlarging and reproducing by isodiametric division. Dothideomycetes black meristematic and meristematic-like fungi have been allied to Myriangiales, which currently has two accepted families, Myriangiaceae and Elsinoaceae, with fungi mainly regarded as pathogens, parasites, saprobes and epiphytes of different plant species. This study aimed to verify the phylogenetic position using four nuclear markers (SSU, LSU, ITS and RPB2) of the incertae sedis genera associated with Myriangiales, namely Endosporium, Gobabebomyces, Lembosiniella and Phaeosclera, and the new genus, Endophytium gen. nov. (including E. albocacti sp. nov. and E. cacti sp. nov.), established for endophytic fungi occurring in cacti in Brazil. Based on morphology, lifestyle and phylogenetic inferences, these black meristematic and meristematic-like fungi cannot be accommodated in Myriangiales. Combining these results, three new orders and two new families are introduced: Endophytiales ord. nov. (including Endophytiaceae fam. nov. for Endophytium gen. nov.), Endosporiales ord. nov. (including Endosporiaceae for Endosporium) and Phaeosclerales ord. nov. (including Phaeoscleraceae fam. nov. for Phaeosclera). Gobabebomyces and Lembosiniella remained incertae sedis due to their disposition in the phylogenetic tree, that moved among clades accordingly with the gene analysed. Our results show that the inclusion of endophytic fungi obtained from plants in dry forests can contribute to the discovery of new taxa, clarify the phylogenetic position of allied taxa and confer information to the estimation of national and global fungal diversity.

Description

SUPPLEMENTARY MMATERIAL : FIG. S1. Maximum Likelihood (ML) phylogenetic tree of the ITS sequence alignment of the new genus Endophytium and related meristematic and meristematic-like fungi in Dothideomycetes. New taxa are in bold face. Thickened branches indicate full statistical support in all analyses. Confidence values for ML-BS ≥ 70 % (UFboot2/RAxML) are included near the nodes and the “-” indicates statistical support below the threshold values. The scale bar represents the expected number of changes per site. The tree was rooted to Xylaria (Xylariales, Sordariomycetes) and Sordaria (Sordariales, Sordariomycetes). Families and orders are shown in coloured blocks and indicated to the right of the tree. FIG. S2. Maximum Likelihood (ML) phylogenetic tree of the LSU sequence alignment of the new genus Endophytium and related meristematic and meristematic-like fungi in Dothideomycetes. New taxa are in bold face. Thickened branches indicate full statistical support in all analyses. Confidence values for ML-BS ≥ 70 % (UFboot2/RAxML) are included near the nodes and the “-” indicates statistical support below the threshold values. The scale bar represents the expected number of changes per site. The tree was rooted to Xylaria (Xylariales, Sordariomycetes) and Sordaria (Sordariales, Sordariomycetes). Families and orders are shown in coloured blocks and indicated to the right of the tree. FIG. S3. Maximum Likelihood (ML) phylogenetic tree of the SSU sequence alignment of the new genus Endophytium and related meristematic and meristematic-like fungi in Dothideomycetes. New taxa are in bold face. Thickened branches indicate full statistical support in all analyses. Confidence values for ML-BS ≥ 70 % (UFboot2/RAxML) are included near the nodes and the “-” indicates statistical support below the threshold values. The scale bar represents the expected number of changes per site. The tree was rooted to Xylaria (Xylariales, Sordariomycetes) and Sordaria (Sordariales, Sordariomycetes). Families and orders are shown in coloured blocks and indicated to the right of the tree. FIG. S4. Maximum Likelihood (ML) phylogenetic tree of the RPB2 sequence alignment of the new genus Endophytium and related meristematic and meristematic-like fungi in Dothideomycetes. New taxa are in bold face. Thickened branches indicate full statistical support in all analyses. Confidence values for ML-BS ≥ 70 % (UFboot2/RAxML) are included near the nodes and the “-” indicates statistical support below the threshold values. The scale bar represents the expected number of changes per site. The tree was rooted to Xylaria (Xylariales, Sordariomycetes) and Sordaria (Sordariales, Sordariomycetes). Families and orders are shown in coloured blocks and indicated to the right of the tree. TABLE S1. Summary of phylogenetic information for the different analyses in this study. TABLE S2. Species, strains/vouchers and GenBank accession numbers of sequences used in phylogenetic analyses. Newly generated sequences are in bold.

Keywords

Black fungi, Endophytes, Myriangiales, Novel taxon, Phylogeny, Taxonomy, SDG-15: Life on land

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG-15:Life on land

Citation

Barreto, G.G., Souza-Motta, C.M., Silva, G.A., Groenewald, J.Z., Crous, P.W. & Bezerra, J.D.P. (2024). Meristematic and meristematic-like fungi in Dothideomycetes. Fungal Systematics and Evolution 14: 77–88. doi: 10.3114/fuse.2024.14.05.