Two new Erythrobasidium species inhabiting the phyllosphere discovered in the Baotianman Nature Reserve in China

Yun-Feng Lu; Chun-Yue Chai; Feng-Li Hui

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2024.1287984

Two new Erythrobasidium species inhabiting the phyllosphere discovered in the Baotianman Nature Reserve in China

Front Microbiol. 2024 Feb 6:15:1287984. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1287984. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Yun-Feng Lu^{1

2}, Chun-Yue Chai^{1

2}, Feng-Li Hui^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ School of Life Sciences and Agricultural Engineering, Nanyang Normal University, Nanyang, China.
² Research Center of Henan Provincial Agricultural Biomass Resource Engineering and Technology, Nanyang Normal University, Nanyang, China.

Abstract

The genus Erythrobasidium is kind of species-scarce and undersampling basidiomycetes. Currently, only six species have been accepted into the genus and the diversity still remains incompletely understood. In this study, five Erythrobasidium strains were isolated in the surface of plant leaves collected from the Baotianman Nature Reserve, Henan Province, central China. Phylogenetic analyses of the small ribosomal subunit (SSU) rRNA gene, the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region, the D1/D2 domain of the large subunit (LSU) rRNA gene, and the translation elongation factor 1-α (TEF1-α) gene coupled with morphological studies were employed to characterize and identify these isolates. As a result of these, two new species, namely E. turpiniae sp. nov. and E. nanyangense sp. nov., were delimited and proposed based on morphological and molecular evidence. A detailed description and illustration of both new species, as well as their differences with the close relatives in the genus are provided. An identification key for Erythrobasidium species is also provided. This study provides further insights into our understanding of Erythrobasidium species.

Keywords: Basidiomycota; Erythrobasidiaceae; leaf; orange-red yeast; phylogenetic analysis.

Grants and funding

The authors declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project No. 31570021) and the State Key Laboratory of Motor Vehicle Biofuel Technology, Henan Tianguan Enterprise Group Co., Ltd., China (No. 2018001).