Fungi associated with dead branches of Magnolia grandiflora: A case study from Qujing, China

Nalin N Wijayawardene; Dong-Qin Dai; Mei-Ling Zhu; Dhanushka N Wanasinghe; Jaturong Kumla; Gui-Qing Zhang; Ting-Ting Zhang; Li-Su Han; Saowaluck Tibpromma; Huan-Huan Chen

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2022.954680

Fungi associated with dead branches of Magnolia grandiflora: A case study from Qujing, China

Front Microbiol. 2022 Aug 4:13:954680. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.954680. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Center for Yunnan Plateau Biological Resources Protection and Utilization, Yunnan Engineering Research Center of Fruit Wine, College of Biological Resource and Food Engineering, Qujing Normal University, Qujing, China.
² Section of Genetics, Institute for Research and Development in Health and Social Care, Battaramulla, Sri Lanka.
³ Centre for Mountain Futures, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China.
⁴ Department of Economic Plants and Biotechnology, Yunnan Key Laboratory for Wild Plant Resources, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China.
⁵ Research Centre of Microbial Diversity and Sustainable Utilization, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Abstract

As a result of an ongoing survey of microfungi associated with garden and ornamental plants in Qijing, Yunnan, China, several saprobic fungal taxa were isolated from Magnolia grandiflora. Both morphological and combined SSU, LSU, ITS, tef1, and rpb2 locus phylogenetic analyses (maximum-likelihood and Bayesian analyses) were carried out to identify the fungal taxa. Three new species are introduced in Pleosporales, viz., Lonicericola qujingensis (Parabambusicolaceae), Phragmocamarosporium magnoliae, and Periacma qujingensis (Lentitheciaceae). Botryosphaeria dothidea, Diplodia mutila, and Diplodia seriata (in Botryosphaeriaceae) are reported from Magnolia grandiflora for the first time in China. Angustimassarina populi (Amorosiaceae) is reported for the first time on M. grandiflora from China, and this is the first report of a member of this genus outside Europe. Shearia formosa is also reported for the first time on M. grandiflora from China.

Keywords: Ascomycota; Botryosphaeriales; Pleosporales; diversity; phylogeny; taxonomy.