Ceratocystis uchidae, a new species on Araceae in Hawaii and Fiji

Publication date: Available online 1 August 2017 Source:Mycoscience Author(s): Qian Li, Thomas C. Harrington, Douglas McNew, Jianqiang Li An examination of the isolates of Ceratocystis fimbriata from corms of Araceae (Colocasia esculenta, taro, and Xanthosoma sagittifolium) from Hawaii and Fiji found that they represent a new species, Ceratocystis uchidae. Phylogenetic analyses showed that the new species is in the Asian-Australian clade of the C. fimbriata complex, and it is most closely related to C. polychroma from Indonesia and C. cercfabiensis from China. Ceratocystis uchidae differs from these species in its shorter perithecial necks, longer ostiolar hyphae, and reduced growth at 32 °C compared to 30 °C. An unnamed species on Eucalyptus sp. from Yunnan, China was similar to C. uchidae, but C. uchidae forms shorter perithecial necks, and the two species were not interfertile in mating tests. Crossing of mating testers demonstrated that C. uchidae and C. polychroma also were not interfertile. Isolates of C. cercfabiensis showed substantial variation in mycelial morphology, with frequent sectoring. Perithecial necks of C. cercfabiensis varied greatly in length, and perithecia with the longest necks failed to exude ascospores. Also, tester strains of C. cercfabiensis were partially interfertile with tester strains of C. uchidae. Ceratocystis cercfabiensis appears to be an aberrant species and may be a hybrid between two other species of Ceratocystis.
Source: Mycoscience - Category: Biology Source Type: research