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Research Article
Two new species of Sordariomycetes (Chaetomiaceae and Nectriaceae) from China
expand article infoHai-Yan Wang‡, Xin Li‡, Chun-Bo Dong‡, Yan-Wei Zhang§, Wan-Hao Chen|, Jian-Dong Liang|, Yan-Feng Han‡
‡ Guizhou University, Guiyang, China
§ Guizhou Education University, Guiyang, China
| Guizhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guiyang, China

Corresponding author: Yan-Feng Han ( swallow1128@126.com )

Academic editor: Huzefa Raja
© 2024 Hai-Yan Wang, Xin Li, Chun-Bo Dong, Yan-Wei Zhang, Wan-Hao Chen, Jian-Dong Liang, Yan-Feng Han.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation: Wang H-Y, Li X, Dong C-B, Zhang Y-W, Chen W-H, Liang J-D, Han Y-F (2024) Two new species of Sordariomycetes (Chaetomiaceae and Nectriaceae) from China. MycoKeys 102: 301-315. https://doi.org/10.3897/mycokeys.102.114480
Open Access

Abstract

Rich and diverse fungal species occur in different habitats on the earth. Many new taxa are being reported and described in increasing numbers with the advent of molecular phylogenetics. However, there are still a number of unknown fungi that have not yet been discovered and described. During a survey of fungal diversity in different habitats in China, we identified and proposed two new species, based on the morphology and multi-gene phylogenetic analyses. Herein, we report the descriptions, illustrations and molecular phylogeny of the two new species, Bisifusarium keratinophilum sp. nov. and Ovatospora sinensis sp. nov.

Key words

Fungal taxonomy, mesophilic fungus, phylogeny, thermophilic fungus, two new taxa

Introduction

The species diversity of fungi on earth is extremely rich, with some studies suggesting that there are as many as 5.1 million species of fungi (Blackwell 2011), while others believe that there are 3.8 million species of fungi on the earth (Hawksworth and Lücking 2017). More recent estimates suggest 2.5 million fungal species (Niskanen et al. 2023). With the rapid increase in fungal DNA sequence data obtained, the species names and numbers of fungi are constantly updated (Wijayawardene et al. 2020). fungi are one of the most diverse microbial communities on Earth and play a vital role in ecosystem processes and functions (Hyde et al. 2020). Meanwhile, fungi have an important influence on human life and production. On the one hand, they can produce a large number of biometabolites available to humans, such as various amino acids, enzymes, sugars, lipids, vitamins and antibiotics (Zhang et al. 2013; de Cassia Pereira et al. 2015; Pejin et al. 2019; Yokokawa et al. 2021; Arsenault et al. 2022; Mapook et al. 2022). On the other hand, they also infect humans, animals and plants and then cause great harm to human health and national economies (Fisher et al. 2012; Fisher et al. 2020; Zhang et al. 2023). At the same time, fungi widely exist in various habitats, such as forests, grasslands, zoos, hospitals, agricultural land (Li et al. 2014; Shao et al. 2021; Yao et al. 2021; Liu et al. 2022).

Due to factors such as global climate change, urban growth and environmental pollution, there is an increasingly accelerated loss of natural habitats worldwide, which, in turn, leads to a decrease in species diversity and the abundance of non-human organisms (Driscoll et al. 2018; Kurth et al. 2021). At present, the threat to species and their extinction rates have risen to dangerous levels threatening biological diversity. Latest data from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has fuelled growing societal concern, indicating that 28% of all assessed species are threatened with extinction, which is a nerve-wrackingly high figure (Löbl et al. 2023). In times of a biodiversity crisis, the community structure and species diversity of fungi are also inevitably affected by various factors. In many habitats, it is suspected that species are disappearing before they are discovered (Wang et al. 2018; Löbl et al. 2023). Therefore, it is necessary to accelerate the intensity and speed of investigating. Study on the diversity of fungal species on the earth should be one of the important issues of modern biology (Löbl et al. 2023).

Fortunately, our team has discovered many new fungal species during the investigation of fungal diversity in different habitats in China (Li et al. 2022a, b; Ren et al. 2022; Zhang et al. 2023; Wang et al. 2023). In this study, based on the morphology and multi-gene phylogenetic analyses, two new species from zoo soils were identified and described, respectively.

Materials and methods

Sample collection and fungal isolation

Soil samples were collected from two zoos, Shandong Province, China. Samples from 3–10 cm below the soil surface were collected, and placed in Ziploc plastic bags and brought back to the laboratory. Then, the 2 g collected samples were placed into a sterile conical flask containing 20 ml sterile water and thoroughly shaken using a Vortex vibration meter. Next, the suspension was diluted to a concentration of 10-3. Subsequently, 1 ml of the diluted sample was added to a sterile Petri dish and mixed with Sabouraud’s dextrose agar (SDA; peptone 10 g/l, dextrose 40 g/l, agar 20 g/l, 3.3 ml of 1% Bengal red aqueous solution) medium containing 50 mg/l penicillin and 50 mg/l streptomycin. After the plates were incubated at 25 °C and 45 °C for 1–2 weeks, single colonies were transferred from the plates to new potato dextrose agar (PDA, potato 200 g/l, dextrose 20 g/l, agar 20 g/l) plates.

Morphological study

The target strains were transferred to plates of malt extract agar (MEA), oatmeal agar (OA) and potato dextrose agar (PDA) and were incubated at 25 °C and 45 °C. After seven days, their colony characteristics (the colony colours and diameters) on the surface and reverse of inoculated Petri dishes were observed and recorded and microscopic characteristics (fungal hyphae and conidiogenous structures) were examined and captured by making direct wet mounts with 25% lactic acid on PDA, with an optical microscope (DM4 B, Leica). The ex-types of two new species were deposited in the China General Microbiological Culture Collection Center (CGMCC) and living cultures and dried holotypes were deposited in the Institute of Fungus Resources, Guizhou University (GZUIFR = GZAC). Taxonomic descriptions and nomenclature of two new species were recorded in MycoBank (https://www.mycobank.org/).

DNA extraction, PCR amplification and sequencing

Total genomic DNA was extracted using the BioTeke Fungus Genomic DNA Extraction kit (DP2032, BioTeke) following the manufacturer’s instruction. Primer combinations such as ITS1/ITS4 (White et al. 1990), LR0R/LR5 (Wang et al. 2022a), EF1-728F/EF2 (O’Donnell et al. 1998; Carbone and Kohn 1999), CAL-228F/CAL2Rd (Carbone and Kohn 1999; Lombard et al. 2015), rpb2-5F2/rpb2-7CR (Sung et al. 2007; O’Donnell et al. 2007) and T1/TUB4Rd (O’Donnell and Cigelnik 1997; Woudenberg et al. 2009) were used for amplification of the internal transcribed spacers (ITS), the 28S nrRNA locus (LSU), translation elongation factor 1-alpha gene region (tef1), calmodulin gene (cmdA), RNA polymerase II second largest subunit gene (rpb2) and beta-tubulin gene (tub2), respectively. The PCR products were sent to Quintarabio (Wuhan, China) for purification and sequencing. The new sequences were submitted to GenBank (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/) (Table 1).

Table 1.
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Strain and GenBank accession included in phylogenetic analyses.

Species Strains ITS LSU tef1 cmdA rpb2 tub2 Reference
Bisifusarium aseptatum LC13607 MW016390 MW016390 MW580430 MW566257 MW474376 MW533717 Wang et al. (2022b)
LC13608 MW016391 MW016391 MW580431 MW566258 MW474377 MW533718 Wang et al. (2022b)
Bisifusarium allantoides UBOCC-A-120035 MW654536 MW654511 MW811075 MW811017 MW811060 MW811090 Savary et al. (2021)
UBOCC-A-120036T MW654548 MW654523 MW811087 MW811029 MW811072 MW811102 Savary et al. (2021)
UBOCC-A-120037 MW654549 MW654524 MW811088 MW811030 MW811073 MW811103 Savary et al. (2021)
Bisifusarium biseptatum CBS 110311T MW654547 MW654522 MW811086 MW811028 MW811071 MW811101 Savary et al. (2021)
Bisifusarium dimerum MNHN-RF-05625T MW654546 MW654521 MW811085 MW811027 – MW811100 Savary et al. (2021)
CBS 108944T JQ434586 JQ434514 KR673912 KM231365 KM232363 EU926400 Lombard et al. (2015)
Bisifusarium penicilloides UBOCC-A-120021T MW654542 MW654517 MW811081 MW811023 MW811066 MW811096 Savary et al. (2021)
UBOCC-A-120034 MW654541 MW654516 MW811080 MW811022 MW811065 MW811095 Savary et al. (2021)
VTT-D-041022 MW654535 MW654510 MW811074 MW811016 MW811059 MW811089 Savary et al. (2021)
Bisifusarium delphinoides CBS 120718T EU926229 EU926229 EU926296 KM231363 – EU926362 Lombard et al. (2015)
CBS 110140 MW827603 – EU926302 – – EU926368 Park et al. (2019)
CBS 110310 EU926240 EU926240 EU926307 – – EU926373 Sun et al. (2017)
Bisifusarium nectrioides CBS 176.31T EU926245 EU926245 EU926312 KM231362 – EU926378 Lombard et al. (2015)
Bisifusarium penzigii CBS 116508 EU926256 EU926256 EU926323 – – EU926389 Sun et al. (2017)
Bisifusarium domesticum CBS 102407 EU926221 EU926221 EU926288 – – EU926355 Sun et al. (2017)
CBS 244.82 EU926220 EU926220 EU926287 – – EU926354 Sun et al. (2017)
Bisifusarium lunatum CBS 632.76T EU926224 EU926224 EU926291 KM231367 – EU926357 Lombard et al. (2015)
Bisifusarium tonghuanum CGMCC3.17369 KX790413 KX790414 KX790418 – – KX790417 Sun et al. (2017)
CGMCC3.17370 KX790415 KX790416 KX790420 – – KX790419 Sun et al. (2017)
Bisifusarium lovelliae BRIP 75047a OQ629340 – – – OQ626864 – Tan et al. (2023)
Bisifusarium keratinophilum CGMCC 3.23621T OP693473 OP693469 OR168082 OR043998 OR168079 OR168085 This study
GZUIFR 22.371 OP693474 OP693470 OR168083 OR043999 OR168080 OR168086 This study
GZUIFR 22.372 OP693475 OP693471 OR168084 OR044000 OR168081 OR168087 This study
Longinectria lagenoides UBOCC-A-120039 MW654539 MW654514 MW811078 MW811020 MW811063 MW811093 Savary et al. (2021)
Longinectria verticilliforme UBOCC-A-120043 MW654540 MW654515 MW811079 MW811021 MW811064 MW811094 Savary et al. (2021)
Ovatospora amygdalispora CBS 672.82T – – – – MZ342991 MZ343030 Wang et al. (2022a)
Ovatospora angularis LC3973 KP336768 KP336817 – – KT149491 KP336866 Wang et al. (2022a)
Ovatospora unipora CBS 109.83T KX976689 KX976787 – – KX976902 KX977037 Wang et al. (2016)
Ovatospora brasiliensis CBS 140.50 KX976683 KX976781 – – KX976896 KX977031 Wang et al. (2016)
Ovatospora medusarum CBS 148.67T KX976684 KX976782 – – KX976897 KX977032 Wang et al. (2016)
Ovatospora mollicella CBS 583.83T KX976685 KX976783 – – KX976898 KX977033 Wang et al. (2016)
Ovatospora pseudomollicella CBS 251.75T KX976686 KX976784 – – KX976899 KX977034 Wang et al. (2016)
Ovatospora senegalensis CBS 728.84T KX976687 KX976785 – – KX976900 KX977035 Wang et al. (2016)
Trichocladium asperum CBS 903.85T LT993632 LT993632 – – LT993551 LT993713 Wang et al. (2022a)
Trichocladium acropullum CBS 114580T LT993626 LT993626 – – LT993545 LT993707 Wang et al. (2022a)
Trichocladium amorphum CBS 127763T LT993628 LT993628 – – LT993547 LT993709 Wang et al. (2022a)
Trichocladium antarcticum CBS 123565T LT993629 LT993629 – – LT993548 LT993710 Wang et al. (2022a)
Trichocladium beniowskiae CBS 757.74T LT993635 LT993635 – – LT993554 LT993716 Wang et al. (2022a)
Trichocladium gilmaniellae CBS 388.75T LT993638 LT993638 – – LT993557 LT993719 Wang et al. (2022a)
Thermochaetoides dissita CBS 180.67T – MK919319 – – MK919375 MK919433 Wang et al. (2022a)
Thermochaetoides thermophila CBS 144.50T – MK919314 – – KM655436 MK919428 Wang et al. (2022a)
Ovatospora sinensis CGMCC40675T OR016676 OR016679 – – OR043992 OR043995 This study
GZUIFR 23.002 OR016677 OR016680 – – OR043993 OR043996 This study
GZUIFR 23.003 OR016678 OR016681 – – OR043994 OR043997 This study
Triangularia verruculosa CBS 148.77 MK926874 MK926874 – – MK876836 MK926974 Wang et al. (2022a)
Triangularia allahabadensis CBS 724.68T MK926865 MK926865 – – MK876827 MK926965 Wang et al. (2022a)

Note: T=Ex-type; New isolates are in bold; The line “–” represents the absence of GenBank record; BRIP: Queensland Plant Pathology Herbarium, Australia; CBS: CBS-KNAW Fungal Biodiversity Centre, Utrecht, The Netherlands; CGMCC: The China General Microbiological Culture Collection Centre; GZUIFR: The Institute of Fungus Resources, Guizhou University, China; LC: Lei Cai’s personal culture collection, Beijing, China; MNHN: Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle culture collection, France; UBOCC: Universitée de Bretagne Occidentale Culture Collection, France; VTT: Culture Collection, Finland; cmdA: calmodulin; ITS: the internal transcribed spacer region and intervening 5.8S nrRNA; LSU: 28S large subunit; rpb2: RNA polymerase II second largest subunit; tef1: translation elongation factor 1-alpha; tub2: β-tubulin.

Phylogenetic analysis

In this study, the relevant sequences were obtained from GenBank (Table 1). The sequence set was aligned and trimmed in MEGA v.6.06 (Tamura et al. 2013). We performed single gene and multi-gene phylogenetic analysis using ITS, LSU, tef1, cmdA, rpb2 and tub2 gene and found that the topology structures of the single-gene and multi-gene phylogenetic trees were consistent in PhyloSuite v.1.16. Therefore, multi-gene phylogenetic analysis was chosen in this study. The concatenation of loci and phylogenetic analysis were processed, using the “Concatenate Sequence” function in PhyloSuite v.1.16 (Zhang et al. 2020). The Maximum Likelihood (ML) and the Bayesian Inference (BI) methods were used for the phylogenetic construction of each loci dataset. The ML analysis was conducted in IQ-TREE v.1.6.11 (Nguyen et al. 2015) with 1000 bootstrap tests using the ultrafast algorithm (Minh et al. 2013). The BI analysis was performed in MrBayes v.3.2 (Ronquist et al. 2012) and Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) simulations were used for 2,000,000 generations with a sampling frequency of every 100 generations. The phylogenetic trees were visualised using FigTree version 1.4.3 and subsequently edited in Adobe Photoshop.

Results

Phylogenetic analysis

The ITS regions of all isolates were sequenced and BLASTn searched in NCBI. Our isolates were identified as two genera, Bisifusarium L. Lombard, Crous & W. Gams and Ovatospora X.Wei Wang, Samson & Crous, respectively. The ITS sequences of the isolated strains were less than 97% similarity to the closest strains in GenBank and were considered as the potential new species.

To further determine the phylogenetic position of these isolated strains, we performed a multi-locus phylogenetic analysis, based on ITS, LSU, tef1, cmdA, rpb2 and tub2 gene. The phylogenetic trees (Figs 1, 3) using ML and BI analyses were consistent and strongly supported in most branches. The ML analysis for the combined dataset provided the best scoring tree. The best-fit evolutionary models for ML analysis and BI analysis are shown in Table 2.

Table 2.
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The best-fit evolutionary models.

Genus ITS LSU tef1 cmdA rpb2 tub2
Bisifusarium ML analysis BI analysis TIM2e+I+G4 SYM+I+G4 K2P K2P TNe+R2 K2P+G4 TIM3e+I+G4 SYM+I+G4 TIM3e+I+G4 SYM+I+G4 TIM3e+I+G4 SYM+I+G4
Ovatospora ML analysis BI analysis GTR+F+G4 GTR+F+G4 TIM3+F+I GTR+F+I TIM3+F+G4 GTR+F+I+G4 HKY+F+I+G4 HKY+F+I+G4
Figure 1. 

Phylogenetic tree of the genus Bisifusarium constructed from the dataset of ITS, LSU, tef1, cmdA, rpb2 and tub2. Notes: Statistical support values (BI/ML) were shown at nodes. ML bootstrap values ≥ 75% and posterior probabilities ≥ 0.90 are shown above the internal branches. ‘–’ indicates the absence of statistical support (< 75% for bootstrap proportions from ML analysis; < 0.90 for posterior probabilities from Bayesian analysis). Three new strains are shown in blue font. BRIP: Queensland Plant Pathology Herbarium, Australia; CBS: CBS-KNAW Fungal Biodiversity Centre, Utrecht, The Netherlands; CGMCC: The China General Microbiological Culture Collection Centre; GZUIFR: The Institute of Fungus Resources, Guizhou University, China; LC: Lei Cai’s personal culture collection, Beijing, China; MNHN: Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle culture collection, France; UBOCC: Universitée de Bretagne Occidentale Culture Collection, France; VTT: Culture Collection, Finland.

In this study, three isolates of the genus Bisifusarium clustered in a well-separated clade with a high support value (BI/ML 1/100) (Fig. 1). Three isolates of the genus Ovatospora clustered together with a high support value (BI/ML 1/100) (Fig. 3). Therefore, Bisifusarium keratinophilum H.Y. Wang, X. Li & Y.F. Han, sp. nov. and Ovatospora sinensis H.Y. Wang & Y.F. Han, sp. nov. are proposed according to the phylogenetic analysis.

Taxonomy

Sordariomycetes O.E. Erikss. & Winka

Hypocreales Lindau

Nectriaceae Tul. & C. Tul.

Bisifusarium L. Lombard, Crous & W. Gams

Bisifusarium keratinophilum H.Y. Wang, X. Li & Y.F. Han, sp. nov.

MycoBank No: MycoBank No: 849504
Fig. 2

Etymology

Referring to degradation properties of chicken feathers.

Type

China: Shandong Province, Jinan City, Jinan Zoo (36°42'14"N, 116°58'55"E), soil, July 2021, Xin Li & Yan-Feng Han, ex-type CGMCC 3.23621 = GZUIFR 22.370, dried holotype GZAC 22.370.

Figure 2. 

Morphological characteristics of Bisifusarium keratinophilum sp. nov. a–c front and reverse of colony on MEA, OA and PDA after 7 days at 25 °C d, e conidiophores and macroconidia f phialidic pegs g hyphae h, i microconidia. Scale bars: 10 μm (d–i).

Figure 3. 

Phylogenetic tree of the genus Ovatospora constructed from ITS, LSU, tub2 and rpb2. Notes: Statistical support values (BI/ML) were shown at nodes. ML bootstrap values ≥ 75% and posterior probabilities ≥ 0.90 are shown above the internal branches. ‘–’ indicates the absence of statistical support (< 75% for bootstrap proportions from ML analysis; < 0.90 for posterior probabilities from Bayesian analysis). Three new strains are shown in blue. CBS: CBS-KNAW Fungal Biodiversity Centre, Utrecht, The Netherlands; CGMCC: The China General Microbiological Culture Collection Centre; GZUIFR: The Institute of Fungus Resources, Guizhou University, China; LC: Lei Cai’s personal culture collection, Beijing, China.

Description

Culture characteristics: Colonies growing on MEA, OA and PDA after 7 days of incubation at 25 °C. On MEA, reaching up 20–25 mm diam., thick villiform, cream (RAL9001) at the centre, oyster white (RAL1013) at the edge, mostly regular in the margin, reverse light ivory (RAL 1015); On OA, reaching up 25–35 mm diam.; pure white (RAL9010), thin, villiform, mostly regular in the margin, reverse tele grey 4 (RAL7047); On PDA, reaching up 25–30 mm diam.; cream (RAL9001), thin, short villiform, mostly regular in the margin, reverse cream (RAL9001).

On PDA medium, Hyphae septate, hyaline, smooth, thick-walled, 1.5–3.5 μm wide. Conidiophores arising from hyphae, solitary, smooth, mostly clavate, 5–25 × 1–2.5 μm. Phialidic pegs arising from hyphae. Monophialides laterally on hyphae or phialidic pegs, cylindrical, erect. Polyphialides absent. Macroconidia produced by monophialidic conidiophores, mostly 0-1septate, rarely 2-septate, mostly crescent, rarely clavate, 12–23.0 × 2.0–3.5 μm (av. 16 × 2.5 μm, n = 50). Microconidia produced by later phialidic pegs, monocelled, cymbiform, 6.0–9.5 × 1.5–2.5 μm (av. 7.5 × 2.0 μm, n = 50).

Additional materials examined

China: Shandong Province, Jinan City, Jinan Zoo (36°42'14"N, 116°58'55"E), soil, July 2021, living cultures GZUIFR 22.371, GZUIFR 22.372.

Notes

Phylogenetically, our three strains (CGMCC 3.23621, GZUIFR 22.371 and GZUIFR 22.372) of Bisifusarium keratinophilum H.Y. Wang, X. Li & Y.F. Han sp. nov. clustered in a single separate clade with a high support value (BI/ML 1/100). Although it was closely related to B. allantoides O. Savary, M. Coton, E. Coton & J.L. Jany and B. penicilloides O. Savary, M. Coton, E. Coton & J.L. Jany in the phylogenetic tree, B. allantoides had allantoidal macroconidia (Savary et al. 2021) and B. penicilloides had ellipsoidal and reniform macroconidia and absent microconidia (Savary et al. 2021). Bisifusarium keratinophilum can be distinguished from the other previously described species by having crescent and clavate macroconidia and cymbiform microconidia.

Our team found that B. keratinophilum has the ability to degrade chicken feathers. Specific method: the spore suspension (107spores per millilitre) was inoculated into the fermentation medium containing 1g chicken feathers and cultured in a shaking table at 150 rpm, 30 °C for 96 h, then the chicken feather residue was filtered, dried and weighed. This fungus had a good degradation effect on chicken feathers with the degradation rate of 52.02%.

Sordariomycetes O.E. Erikss. & Winka

Sordariales Chadef. ex D. Hawksw. & O.E. Erikss.

Chaetomiaceae G. Winter

Ovatospora X.Wei Wang, Samson & Crous

Ovatospora sinensis H.Y. Wang &Y.F. Han, sp. nov.

MycoBank No: MycoBank No: 850259
Fig. 4

Etymology

Refers to China where the species was discovered.

Type

China: Shandong Province, Qingdao City, Qingdao Zoo (35°59'14"N, 120°3'53"E), soil, July 2021, Hai-Yan Wang & Yan-Feng Han, ex-type CGMCC 40675=GZUIFR 23. 001, dried holotype GZAC 23. 001.

Figure 4. 

Morphological characteristics of Ovatospora sinensis sp. nov. a–c reverse and front of colony on MEA, OA and PDA after7 days at 45 °C d–h conidiophores and conidia i hyphae. Scale bars: 10 μm (d–i).

Description

Culture characteristics: Colonies growing on MEA, OA and PDA after 7 days of incubation at 45 °C. Colony on MEA reaching about 35–45 mm diam., pure white (RAL9010), densely villiform; irregular in the margin; reverse light ivory (RAL1015), radial lines, irregular in the margin. Colony on OA reaching about 80–90 mm diam., grey white (RAL9002), sparsely aerial mycelium, mostly regular in the margin; reverse grey white (RAL9002). Colony on PDA reaching about 45–50 mm diam., creamy (RAL9001), densely villiform obviously powdery conidia group, sparsely spongy, irregular in the margin; reverse creamy (RAL9001), plicated at the centre, irregular in the margin.

Hyphae septate, hyaline, smooth, thin-walled, 1.5–3.5 μm wide. Conidiophores arising from hyphae, 2–30 × 1.5–3.5 μm, solitary or branched, smooth, mostly clavate, septate. Conidiogenous cell reduced to Conidiophores. Conidia on conidiogenous or acrogenous directly on the hyphae, hyaline or light-brown, mostly globose, rarely obovate, thick-walled, 6.0–10.5 μm diam. (av. 8.0 μm). Sexual morph unknown.

Additional specimens examined

China. Shandong Province, Qingdao City, Qingdao Zoo (35°59'14"N, 120°3'53"E), soil, July 2021, Hai-Yan Wang & Yan-Yeng Han, living cultures GZUIFR 23.002, GZUIFR 23.003.

Notes

Phylogenetically, our three strains (CGMCC 40675, GZUIFR 23.002 and GZUIFR 23.003) of Ovatospora sinensis H.Y. Wang &Y.F. Han sp. nov. clustered together in a single clade with a high support value (BI/ML 1/100). Although it was closely related to O. amygdalispora (Udagawa & T. Muroi) X.Wei Wang & Houbraken and O. senegalensis (Ames) X. Wei Wang & Samson, it has an apparent separate subclade. Morphologically, O. amygdalispora and O. senegalensis only have the sexual structures, while Ovatospora sinensis sp. nov. only produce an asexual morph with clavate and solitary or ramiform conidiophores and globose conidia. So far, Ovatospora sinensis sp. nov. is the only species that produces an asexual morph and is a thermophilic fungus in the genus Ovatospora.

Discussion

Lombard et al. (2015) re-estimated the status of those genera lacking DNA sequence data in Nectriaceae, based on the morphology and multi-gene phylogenetic analyses and the new genus Bisifusarium with the type B. dimerum (Penz.) L. Lombard & Crous was proposed, which formed a well-supported clade (ML = 100%, BYPP = 1.0) and separated from the clade of Fusarium. Therefore, these fusarium-like species including B. biseptatum (Schroers, Summerbell & O’Donnell) L. Lombard & Crous, B. delphinoides (Schroers, Summerbell, O’Donnell & Lampr.) L. Lombard & Crous, B. dimerum, B. domesticum (Fr.) L. Lombard & Crous, B. lunatum (Ellis & Everh.) L. Lombard & Crous, B. nectrioides (Wollenw.) L. Lombard & Crous Schroers, Summerbell & O’Donnell) and B. penzigii (Schroers, Summerbell & O’Donnell) L. Lombard & Crous, were transferred from the genus Fusarium Link to this new genus Bisifusarium. The genus Bisifusarium produces macroconidia below three septa and forms lateral phialidic pegs arising from the hyphae, which can be distinguished from the other species in the genus Fusarium (Schroers et al. 2009; Lombard et al. 2015). Recently, several new species in genus Bisifusarium have been published. Presently, Bisifusarium contains fifteen species records in the Index Fungorum (http://www.indexfungorum.org/Names/Names.asp, retrieval on 18 October 2023). Here, excluding synonyms and adding B. keratinophilum sp. nov., the genus Bisifusarium has a total of fourteen species.

Based on the morphology and phylogenetic analysis of a combined dataset of ITS, LSU, rpb2and tub2 sequence data, Wang et al. (2016) redefined the generic concept of Chaetomium Kunze and Ovatospora X. Wei Wang, Samson & Crous with the type O. brasiliensis (Batista & Pontual) X. Wei Wang & Samson was proposed, which formed a well-supported clade and separated from the Chaetomium clade. Therefore, these chaetomium-like species included O. brasiliensis (Batista & Pontual) X. Wei Wang & Samson, O. medusarum (Meyer & Lanneau) X. Wei Wang & Samson, O. mollicella (Ames) X. Wei Wang & Samson, O. senegalensis (Ames) X. Wei Wang & Samson and O. unipora (Aue & Müller) X. Wei Wang & Samson. Simultaneously, O. pseudomollicella X. Wei Wang & Samson sp. nov. was introduced. In addition, based on the results of the phylogeny and molecular data analyses, two new combinations, O. amygdalispora (Udagawa & T. Muroi) X.Wei Wang & Houbraken and O. angularis (Yu Zhang & L. Cai) X.Wei Wang & Houbraken from Chaetomium were proposed by Wang et al. (2022a). As of October 2023, the genus Ovatospora contains nine species: O. amygdalispora, O. angularis, O. brasiliensis, O. medusarum, O. mollicella, O. pseudomollicella, O. senegalensis, Ovatospora sinensis and O. unipora.

Additional information

Conflict of interest

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Ethical statement

No ethical statement was reported.

Funding

The work was supported by “Hundred” Talent Projects of Guizhou Province (Qian Ke He [2020] 6005), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 32060011, 32160007, 32260003) and Guizhou Provincial Department of Education Characteristic Field Project [QianJiaohe KY character [2021]073].

Author contributions

Sampling and fungal isolation: Hai-Yan Wang, Xin Li and Yan-Feng Han; molecular biology analysis and phylogenetic analysis: Chun-Bo Dong and Wan-Hao Chen; microscopy: Hai-Yan Wang and Yan-Wei Zhang; original draft preparation: Hai-Yan Wang and Yan-Feng Han; review and editing: Hai-Yan Wang, Xin Li, Chun-Bo Dong, Wan-Hao Chen, Jian-Dong Liang; Funding: Yan-Wei Zhang and Yan-Feng Han. All authors reviewed and approved the final manuscript.

Author ORCIDs

Hai-Yan Wang https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9190-0490

Xin Li https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7910-1469

Chun-Bo Dong https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7074-5700

Yan-Wei Zhang https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1251-5821

Wan-Hao Chen https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7240-6841

Jian-Dong Liang https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3939-3900

Yan-Feng Han https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8646-3975

Data availability

All of the data that support the findings of this study are available in the main text or Supplementary Information.

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Supplementary material

Supplementary material 1 

The alignments used in the phylogenetic analysis

Hai-Yan Wang, Yan-Feng Han

Data type: zip

This dataset is made available under the Open Database License (http://opendatacommons.org/licenses/odbl/1.0/). The Open Database License (ODbL) is a license agreement intended to allow users to freely share, modify, and use this Dataset while maintaining this same freedom for others, provided that the original source and author(s) are credited.
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