Rambellisea gigliensis and Rambellisea halocynthiae, gen. et spp. nov. (Lulworthiaceae) from the Marine Tunicate Halocynthia papillosa

Martina Braconcini; Susanna Gorrasi; Massimiliano Fenice; Paolo Barghini; Marcella Pasqualetti

doi:10.3390/jof10020127

Rambellisea gigliensis and Rambellisea halocynthiae, gen. et spp. nov. (Lulworthiaceae) from the Marine Tunicate Halocynthia papillosa

J Fungi (Basel). 2024 Feb 3;10(2):127. doi: 10.3390/jof10020127.

Authors

Martina Braconcini¹, Susanna Gorrasi¹, Massimiliano Fenice^{1

2}, Paolo Barghini¹, Marcella Pasqualetti^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Ecological and Biological Sciences (DEB), University of Tuscia, 01100 Viterbo, Italy.
² Laboratory of Applied Marine Microbiology, CoNISMa, Department of Ecological and Biological Sciences, University of Tuscia, 01100 Viterbo, Italy.
³ Laboratory of Ecology of Marine Fungi, CoNISMa, Department of Ecological and Biological Sciences, University of Tuscia, 01100 Viterbo, Italy.

Abstract

In this study, 15 Lulworthiales strains isolated from the marine tunicate Halocynthia papillosa collected in the central Tyrrhenian Sea were characterized using a polyphasic approach (morpho-physiological, molecular, and phylogenetic analyses). Based on multi-locus phylogenetic inference and morphological characters, a new genus, Rambellisea, and two new species, R. halocynthiae and R. gigliensis (Lulworthiales), were proposed. Multi-locus phylogenetic analyses using the nuclear ribosomal regions of DNA (nrITS1-nr5.8S-nrITS2, nrLSU, and nrSSU) sequence data strongly supported the new taxa. Phylogenetic inference, estimated using Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian Inference, clearly indicates that Rambellisea gen. nov. forms a distinct clade within the order Lulworthiales. Moreover, the two new species were separated into distinct subclades, solidly supported by the analyses. This is the first report of Lulworthiales species isolated from animals.

Keywords: Halocynthia papillosa; Rambellisea; epizoic fungi; marine fungi; new taxa.

Grants and funding

The work was partially supported by the Programma Operativo Nazionale (PON—DOT1335703) Ricerca e Innovazione of the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR) and by the “Progetto di Ricerca di Interesse Nazionale”(PRIN)—Production and characterization of new bioactive molecules against emerging and/or multidrug-resistant pathogens by neglected poly-extremophilic marine fungi (MYCOSEAS, no. 2022MPTT35).