Molecular Phylogeny and Morphology of Tolypocladium globosum sp. nov. Isolated from Soil in Korea

Kallol Das; Jung-Joo Ryu; Soo-Min Hong; Seong-Keun Lim; Seung-Yeol Lee; Hee-Young Jung

doi:10.1080/12298093.2023.2192614

Molecular Phylogeny and Morphology of Tolypocladium globosum sp. nov. Isolated from Soil in Korea

Mycobiology. 2023 Apr 20;51(2):79-86. doi: 10.1080/12298093.2023.2192614. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Kallol Das¹, Jung-Joo Ryu¹, Soo-Min Hong¹, Seong-Keun Lim¹, Seung-Yeol Lee^{1

2}, Hee-Young Jung^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Korea.
² Institute of Plant Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Korea.

Abstract

In this study, fungal strains designated as KNUF-22-14A and KNUF-22-15A were isolated from soil samples in Korea. These two strains were identified based on cultural and morphological characteristics as well as phylogenetic analyses and were found to be morphologically and phylogenetically identical. Upon their morphological comparison with closely related species, such as Tolypocladium album, T. amazonense, T. endophyticum, T. pustulatum, and T. tropicale, a difference in the size of short phialides [0.6-2.4(-9.3) × 0.8-1.4 µm] was observed. Meanwhile, these strains had larger conidia (1.2-3.0 × 1.2-3.0 µm) than T. album, T. amazonense, T. endophyticum, and T. tropicale and smaller conidia than T. pustulatum. Phylogenetic analyses using a multi-locus datasets based on ITS, LSU, and SSU showed that KNUF-22-14A and KNUF-22-15A formed a distinct cluster from previously identified Tolypocladium species. Thus, these fungal strains isolated from soil in Korea are proposed as a novel species according to their characteristics and are named Tolypocladium globosum sp. nov.

Keywords: Phylogeny; Tolypocladium globosum; soil-inhabiting fungi; sordariomycetes.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Biological Resources, funded by the Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Korea (NIBR202304104).