Additions to the Inventory of the Genus Alternaria Section Alternaria (Pleosporaceae, Pleosporales) in Italy

Junfu Li; Rungtiwa Phookamsak; Hongbo Jiang; Darbhe Jayarama Bhat; Erio Camporesi; Saisamorn Lumyong; Jaturong Kumla; Sinang Hongsanan; Peter E Mortimer; Jianchu Xu; Nakarin Suwannarach

doi:10.3390/jof8090898

Additions to the Inventory of the Genus Alternaria Section Alternaria (Pleosporaceae, Pleosporales) in Italy

J Fungi (Basel). 2022 Aug 24;8(9):898. doi: 10.3390/jof8090898.

Authors

Junfu Li^{1

2

3

4}, Rungtiwa Phookamsak^{1

2

3

4

5}, Hongbo Jiang^{1

2

3

4}, Darbhe Jayarama Bhat⁶, Erio Camporesi⁷, Saisamorn Lumyong^{5

8

9}, Jaturong Kumla^{5

8}, Sinang Hongsanan^{5

10

11}, Peter E Mortimer¹, Jianchu Xu^{1

2

3

4}, Nakarin Suwannarach^{5

8}

Affiliations

¹ Honghe Center for Mountain Futures, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Honghe 654400, China.
² Department of Economic Plants and Biotechnology, Yunnan Key Laboratory for Wild Plant Resources, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650201, China.
³ East and Central Asia Regional Office, World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), Kunming 650201, China.
⁴ Centre for Mountain Futures (CMF), Kunming Institute of Botany, Kunming 650201, China.
⁵ Research Center of Microbial Diversity and Sustainable Utilization, Faculty of Sciences, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand.
⁶ No. 128/1-J, Azad Housing Society, Curca, P.O. Box, Goa Velha 403108, India.
⁷ Società per gli Studi Naturalistici della Romagna, C.P. 143, 48012 Bagnacavallo, RA, Italy.
⁸ Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand.
⁹ Academy of Science, The Royal Society of Thailand, Bangkok 10300, Thailand.
¹⁰ Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Microbial Genetic Engineering, College of Life Sciences and Oceanography, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China.
¹¹ Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, Faculty of Agriculture, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand.

Abstract

The genus Alternaria is comprised of well-known plant pathogens causing various important diseases in plants, as well as being common allergens in animals and humans. Species of Alternaria can be found as saprobes associated with various dead plant materials. This research aims to enhance the taxonomy of saprobic species in the genus Alternaria found on grasses and herbaceous plants from Italy, based on multi-locus phylogenetic analyses of a concatenated ITS, LSU, SSU, tef1-α, rpb2, gapdh and Alt-a1 DNA sequence dataset combined with morphological characteristics. Multi-locus phylogenetic analyses demonstrated six novel species belonging to the genus Alternaria sect. Alternaria as: A. muriformispora sp. nov., A. obpyriconidia sp. nov., A. ovoidea sp. nov., A. pseudoinfectoria sp. nov., A. rostroconidia sp. nov. and A. torilis sp. nov. Detailed morphological descriptions, illustrations and an updated phylogenetic relationship of taxa in the genus Alternaria sect. Alternaria are provided herein.

Keywords: Dothideomycetes; Italian dematiaceous hyphomycetes; multi-locus phylogeny; saprobic fungi; taxonomy.

Grants and funding

This research study is supported by Yunnan Provincial Science and Technology Department, Key Project (Grant No. 202101AS070045) and the NSFC-CGIAR Project “Characterization of roots and their associated rhizosphere microbes in agroforestry systems: ecological restoration in high-phosphorus environment” (Grant No. 31861143002). The APC was supported by Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand.