Morphological and Phylogenetic Analyses Reveal a New Species of Genus Monochaetia Belonging to the Family Sporocadaceae in Korea

Seong-Keun Lim; Kallol Das; Soo-Min Hong; Sang Jae Suh; Seung-Yeol Lee; Hee-Young Jung

doi:10.1080/12298093.2023.2195735

Morphological and Phylogenetic Analyses Reveal a New Species of Genus Monochaetia Belonging to the Family Sporocadaceae in Korea

Mycobiology. 2023 Apr 17;51(2):87-93. doi: 10.1080/12298093.2023.2195735. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Seong-Keun Lim¹, Kallol Das¹, Soo-Min Hong¹, Sang Jae Suh^{1

2}, Seung-Yeol Lee^{1

2}, Hee-Young Jung^{1

2}

Affiliations

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

Abstract

The fungal strain belonging to the genus Monochaetia of the family Sporocadaceae was isolated from hairy long-horned toad beetle (Moechotypa diphysis) during the screening of microfungi associated with insects from Gangwon Province, Korea. The strain KNUF-6L2F produced white, light brown to dirty black surface, and olivaceous green colonies with the higher growth, while the closest strain M. ilicis KUMCC 15-0520^T were light brown to brown, and M. schimae SAUCC 212201^T light brown to brown toward center. The strain KNUF-6L2F produced shorter (5.7-14.0 μm) apical appendages than M. ilicis (6.0-24.0 μm), but similar to M. schimae (7.0-12.5 μm). Three median cells of KNUF-6L2F were light brown to olivaceous green, whereas brown and olivaceous cells were observed from M. ilicis and M. schimae, respectively. And the strain KNUF-6L2F produced larger conidiogenous cells than M. ilicis and M. schimae. Additionally, phylogenetic analyses based on molecular datasets of internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions, translation elongation factor 1-alpha (TEF1α), and β-tubulin (TUB2) genes corroborated the strain's originality. Thus, the strain is different from other known Monochaetia species, according to molecular phylogeny and morophology, hence we suggested the new species Monochaetia mediana sp. nov. and provided a descriptive illustration.

Keywords: Moechotypa diphysis; Monochaetia; Sporocadaceae; morphology; phylogeny.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Biological Resources (NIBR), funded by the Ministry of Environment (MOE) of the Republic of Korea [NIBR202231206].