Unravelling evolutionary relationships between epifoliar Meliolaceae and angiosperms

Epifoliar fungi are a group of poorly studied fungal symbionts that coinhabit the surface of living plants. Meliolaceae is the largest group of epifoliar fungi and has been considered as obligate parasites. We investigated the taxonomy of Meliolaceae and the coevolutionary events with their host plants using time-calibrated cophylogeny based on large subunit, small subunit, and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequence data obtained from 17 different fungal taxa and rbcL, ITS, and trnH-psbA sequence data from their corresponding hosts. Nine new fungal species are introduced in this paper and Appendiculella is synonymized under Asteridiella. The dominant coevolutionary events during the Cretaceous and Cenozoic are cospeciation and host shift, respectively. We hypothesize that the evolutionary history of epifoliar fungi can be divided into three major periods: origins of families, formations of genera, and diversification of species. The rise of angiosperms prompted the evolution of modern epifoliar fungi and the diversification of orders of Angiospermae fostered the formation of epifoliar fungal genera. Phylogenetically, epifoliar fungal genera can be delimited according to their coevolutionary patterns and divergent periods.     

海南炭角新种

在海南省炭角菌的调查研究中,发现一个生长于枯死落叶上的炭角菌属新种。它子座单个,顶端不孕,针刺状,柄细长,多毛,表面呈灰色,有圆锥状孔口。子囊壳埋生。通过与其他9种叶生炭角菌进行比较,确定为海南炭角菌 Xylaria hainanensis新种。     

Freshwater ascomycetes: Coniochaeta gigantospora sp. nov. based on morphological and molecular data

Coniochaeta gigantospora collected from submerged wood in a freshwater habitat in France is described and illustrated as a new species in the family Coniochaetaceae (Coniochaetales, Ascomycota). This placement is based on morphology and phylogenetic analyses of partial nuclear ribosomal 28S large subunit and complete internal transcribed spacer DNA sequence data. Coniochaeta gigantospora is distinguished from other Coniochaeta species in possessing unusually large, ellipsoid, nearly equilateral, olivaceous to olivaceous-brown ascospores.     

Phylogenetic utility of protein (RPB2, β-tubulin) and ribosomal (LSU,SSU) gene sequences in the systematics of Sordariomycetes (Ascomycota,Fungi)

The Sordariomycetes is an important group of fungi whose taxonomic relationships and classification is obscure. There is presently no multi-gene molecular phylogeny that addresses evolutionary relationships among different classes and orders. In this study, phylogenetic analyses with a broad taxon sampling of the Sordariomycetes were conducted to evaluate the utility of four gene regions (LSU rDNA, SSU rDNA, beta-tubulin and RPB2) for inferring evolutionary relationships at different taxonomic ranks. Single and multi-gene genealogies inferred from Bayesian and Maximum Parsimony analyses were compared in individual and combined datasets. At the subclass level, SSU rDNA phylogenies demonstrate their utility as a marker to infer phylogenetic relationships at higher levels. All analyses with SSU rDNA alone, combined LSU rDNA and SSU rDNA, and the combined 28 S rDNA, SSU rDNA and RPB2 datasets resulted in three subclasses: Hypocreomycetidae, Sordariomycetidae and Xylariomycetidae, which correspond well to established morphological classification schemes. At the ordinal level, the best resolved phylogeny was obtained from the combined LSU rDNA and SSU rDNA datasets. Individually, the RPB2 gene dataset resulted in significantly higher number of parsimony informative characters. Our results supported the recent separation of Boliniaceae, Chaetosphaeriaceae and Coniochaetaceae from Sordariales and placement of Coronophorales in Hypocreomycetidae. Microascales was found to be paraphyletic and Ceratocystis is phylogenetically associated to Faurelina, while Microascus and Petriella formed another clade and basal to other members of Halosphaeriales. In addition, the order Lulworthiales does not appear to fit in any of the three subclasses. Congruence between morphological and molecular classification schemes is discussed.     

中国粪壳纲一个新记录属和两个新记录种

在对我国腐生粪壳纲真菌的研究中,发现了1个新记录属和2个中国新记录种。3个种均形成闭囊果,果上生独特的子囊果毛,子囊孢子单细胞、暗色。异果刺囊壳Ascotricha distans的主要特征为产生具膝曲状合轴分枝的子囊果毛,子囊孢子具芽缝,无性阶段为Dicyma型,归属炭角菌目炭角菌科。旋毛米氏壳Emilmuelleria spirotricha和粪闭毛壳Chaetomidium fimeti产生具芽孔、表面光滑的子囊孢子,归属粪壳目毛壳科。其中米氏壳属作为单种属,是我国的一个新记录属。文中对各个种进行了形态描述和讨论。研究菌株保存于中国科学院微生物研究所中国普通微生物菌种保藏管理中心。