Alternaria vulgarae L. He & J.X. Deng, 2021

He, Lin, Cheng, Hong, Zhao, Lin, Htun, Aye Aye, Yu, Zhi He, Deng, Jian Xin & Li, Qi Li, 2021, Morphological and molecular identification of two new Alternaria species (Ascomycota, Pleosporaceae) in section Radicina from China, MycoKeys 78, pp. 187-198 : 187

Alternaria vulgarae L. He & J.X. Deng sp. nov. Figure 3

Type.

China, Hubei Province, Yichang city, Badong county on infected leaves of Foeniculum vulgare . 19 July, 2016, J.X Deng, (YZU-H-0040, holotype), ex-type culture YZU 161234 .

Etymology.

In reference to the host species name, Foeniculum vulgare .

Description.

Colonies on PDA (Fig. 3A ) hazel in center and vinaceous buff at the edge, greenish black to mouse gray in reverse, surface velvety or floccose, 79-82 mm in diam.; On PCA, conidiophores straight or curved, 12-80 × 4-6 μm, 1-4 transverse septa; conidia solitary arising from the apex or near the apex of the conidiophores or terminal hyphae, rare from lateral of wire-like hyphae, ovoid, short-ovoid or ellipsoid, 25-50 (-70) × 16-27 μm, with 1-5 transverse septa and 1-4 longitudinal septa (Fig. 3B, C, F ); On V8A, conidiophores 24-93 × 4-7 μm, 1-4 transverse septa, wire-like hyphae up to 200-400 × 4-6 μm; conidia short-ovoid, ovoid, ellipsoid or long-ellipsoid, 24-55 (-77) × 13-26 μm, 1-8 transverse septa, 1-4 longitudinal or oblique between septa (Fig. 3D, E, G ). There was no secondary conidium production observed on PCA and V8A medium.

Additional isolate examined.

China, Hubei Province, Yichang city, Badong county on infected leaves of Foeniculum vulgare . 19 July, 2016, L He, living culture YZU 161235.

Notes.

Phylogenetic analysis based on combining four gene fragments indicated that Alternaria vulgarae fell in an individual branch in section Radicina of Alternaria and displayed a close relationship with A. petroselini and A. selini with high supported values (Fig. 1 ). Morphologically, A. vulgarae could be easily distinguished from A. petroselini and A. selini by their sporulation and length of conidiophores. Conidia of A. petroselini were solitary or cluster a small clump with 2-4 spores near the tips or lateral of conidiophores. Occasionally, the secondary conidium could be observed. Meanwhile, the single conidium or conidial chains (1-3) of A. selini grew from numerous lateral conidiophores, which produced from wire-like hyphae ( Simmons 2007). Differently, conidia of A. vulgarae were erected from apex of conidiophores or terminal hyphae. There were no small conidial clumps and secondary conidium formed (Fig. 3B, C, D, E ). Moreover, the conidiophores of A. vulgarae (12-80 × 4-6 μm) was longer than A. petroselini (30-60 × 5-6.5 μm) and shorter than A. selini (200-400 × 4-6 μm) ( Simmons 2007). Besides, A. vulgarae differed from A. petroselini in conidial shape. Conidium populations of A. petroselini were dominated by shot-ovoid to subsphaerical spores though, the shapes of A. vulgarae were mainly ovoid, ellipsoid or long-ellipsoid ( Simmons 2007).

Figures

Figure 1. Phylogenetic tree based on the combined gene sequences of ITS, TEF 1, GAPDH, and RPB 2. The Bayesian posterior probabilities> 0.70 (PP), maximum likelihood and maximum parsimony bootstrap support values> 70 (BS) are given at the nodes (PP / BS). Examined strains are in bold.

Figure 3. Morphological characteristics of Alternaria vulgarae (strain: YZU 161234). Colony on PDA for 7 days at 25 ° C (A); Sporulation patterns on PCA and V 8 A (B-E: B, C from V 8 A D, E from PCA); Conidia from PCA and V 8 A (F-G). Scale bars: 25 µm (B, C, D, F, G); 50 µm (E).