Research Article |
Corresponding author: Quan Lu ( luquan@caf.ac.cn ) Corresponding author: HuiXiang Liu ( hxliu@sdau.edu.cn ) Academic editor: Marc Stadler
© 2018 HuiMin Wang, YingYing Lun, Quan Lu, HuiXiang Liu, Cony Decock, XingYao Zhang.
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 HM, Lun YY, Lu Q, Liu HX, Decock C, Zhang XY (2018) Ophiostomatoid fungi associated with pines infected by Bursaphelenchus xylophilus and Monochamus alternatus in China, including three new species. MycoKeys 39: 1-27. https://doi.org/10.3897/mycokeys.39.27014
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The activity of the pine wood nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus leads to extremely serious economic, ecological and social losses in East Asia. The nematode causes pine wilt disease, which is currently regarded as the most important forest disease in China. The pathogenic nematode feeds on dendrocola fungi to complete its cycle of infection. As the vector of the nematode, the Japanese pine sawyer (Monochamus alternatus) also carries dendrocola fungi. Pine woods, infected by B. xylophilus and tunnelled by M. alternatus, are also inhabited by ophiostomatoid fungi. These fungi are well known for their association with many bark and ambrosia beetles. They can cause sapstain and other serious tree diseases. The aims of our study were to investigate and identify the ophiostomatoid communities associated with the epidemic pine wood nematode and the pine sawyer in Pinus massoniana and P. thunbergii forests, which are the main hosts of the pine wood nematode in China. Two hundred and forty strains of ophiostomatoid fungi were isolated from nematode and sawyer–infected trees in the coastal Shandong and Zhejiang Provinces, representing newly and historically infected areas, respectively. Six ophiostomatoid species were identified on the basis of morphological, physiological and molecular data. For the latter, DNA sequences of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS1–5.8S–ITS2) region and partial b-tubulin gene were examined. The ophiostomatoid species included one known species, Ophiostoma ips, three novel species, viz. Ophiostoma album sp. nov., Ophiostoma massoniana sp. nov. and Sporothrix zhejiangensis sp. nov. and two species whose identities are still uncertain, Ophiostoma cf. deltoideosporum and Graphilbum cf. rectangulosporium, due to the paucity of the materials obtained. The ophiostomatoid community was dominated by O. ips. This study revealed that a relatively high species diversity of ophiostomatoid fungi are associated with pine infected by B. xylophilus and M. alternatus in China.
Ophiostoma , taxonomy, Sporothrix , Ophiostoma minus complex, Ophiostoma ips complex
The pathogenic pine wood nematode (PWN) Bursaphelenchus xylophilus (Steiner & Buhrer) Nickle (Aphelenchida, Parasitaphelenchidae), presumably native to North America (
Bursaphelenchus xylophilus infects many species of coniferous trees, mainly from the genus Pinus (
The ophiostomatoid fungi are one of the most common fungal groups inhabiting wood infected by B. xylophilus. Further, many ophiostomatoid reproduction structures are detected in the tunnels of M. alternatus, suggesting a relationship between the fungi and the occurrence and development of the disease. For instance, O. ips has been found in the PWN vector beetles in North America, China and Korea (
The association of PWN with ophiostomatoid fungi and bacteria likely contributes to the nematode’s pathogenicity (
Thus far, the association with PWN and Monochamus spp. has been documented for only five species of ophiostomatoid fungi worldwide (
The aims of the current study were to investigate and identify the ophiostomatoid mycobiota associated with the nematode and sawyer in the epidemic forests of Shandong and Zhejiang Provinces in eastern China to facilitate the understanding of pine wilt disease infection and prevalence mechanisms. The two coastal provinces, Shandong and Zhejiang, represent new and historic epidemic areas, with P. thunbergii and P. massoniana as hosts, respectively.
Fungi were isolated from 98 samples of M. alternatus galleries or pupal chambers in P. massoniana and P. thunbergii in the Zhejiang and Shandong Provinces (Table
Strains of ophiostomatoid fungi isolated from pines infested by Monochamus alternatus and pine wood nematode in the current study.
Group | Species | Strain No. | Host | Origin (Latitude, Longitude) | Genbank No. | Collector | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ITS | β-tubulin | ||||||
A | Sporothrix zhejiangensis sp. nov. | MUCL 55181 (CFCC52167, CXY1612) | Pinus massoniana | Yuyao, Zhejiang (29°58'10.2"N, 121°05'57.1"E) | KY094069 | MH397728 | Q. Lu, YY Lun |
MUCL 55182 (CFCC52164, CXY1613) | P. massoniana | Yuyao, Zhejiang (29°58'10.2"N, 121°05'57.1"E) | KY094070 | MH397729 | |||
MUCL 55183 (CFCC52165, CXY1614) | P. massoniana | Yuyao, Zhejiang (29°58'10.2"N, 121°05'57.1"E) | KY094071 | MH397730 | |||
MUCL 55184 (CFCC52166, CXY1615) | P. massoniana | Yuyao, Zhejiang (29°58'10.2"N, 121°05'57.1"E) | KY094072 | MH397731 | |||
B | Ophiostoma album sp. nov. | MUCL 55189 (CFCC52168, CXY1622) | P. massoniana | Yuyao, Zhejiang (29°58'10.2"N, 121°05'57.1"E) | KY094073 | MH360979 | |
MUCL 55190 (CFCC52169, CXY1642) | P. massoniana | Yuyao, Zhejiang (29°58'10.2"N, 121°05'57.1"E) | KY094074 | MH360980 | |||
CFCC52170 (CXY1643) | P. massoniana | Yuyao, Zhejiang (29°58'10.2"N, 121°05'57.1"E) | KY094075 | MH360981 | |||
C | Ophiostoma ips | CXY1628 | P. thunbergii | Changdao, Shandong (37°59'13.5"N, 120°42'18.1"E) | KY593324 | MH324804 | |
CXY1631 | P. thunbergii | Zhoushan, Zhejiang (29°52'51.33"N, 122°24'14.13"E) | MH324811 | MH324805 | |||
CXY1635 | P. massoniana | Yuyao, Zhejiang (29°58'10.2"N, 121°05'57.1"E) | MH324812 | MH324808 | |||
CXY1638 | P. thunbergii | Fuyang, Zhejiang (30°05'15.1"N, 119°58'55.1"E) | MH324813 | MH324809 | |||
CXY1639 | P. massoniana | Weihai, Shandong (37°23'23.6"N, 122°32'33.1"E) | MH324814 | MH324810 | |||
D | Ophiostoma massoniana sp. nov. | MUCL 55179 (CFCC51648, CXY1610) | P. massoniana | Fuyang, Zhejiang (30°05'15.1"N, 119°58'55.1"E) | KY094067 | MH370810 | |
MUCL 55180 (CFCC51649, CXY1611) | P. massoniana | Yuyao, Zhejiang (29°59'36.87"N, 121°09'09.90"E) | KY094068 | MH370811 | |||
E | Graphilbum cf. rectangulosporium | CXY1623 | P. massoniana | Yuyao, Zhejiang (29°59'36.87"N, 121°09'09.90"E) | MH324816 | – | |
F | Ophiostoma cf. deltoideosporum | MUCL 55191 (CXY1640) | P. thunbergii | Weihai, Shandong (37°23'23.6"N, 122°32'33.1"E) | MH324815 | – |
The ophiostomatoid fungal strains were incubated on 2% MEA and 2% potato dextrose agar (PDA; 200 g potato and 20 g dextrose, 20 g agar powder in 1000 ml of deionised water: the dextrose was obtained from American Amresco) in the dark at 25 °C in an incubator. Fungal growth on MEA plates was monitored daily. Hyphal tips of emerging colonies were transferred to fresh MEA plates to purify the fungi. Slides were made to observe the sexual/asexual state structures; these were mounted in lactic acid cotton blue on glass slides and examined under a BX51 OLYMPUS microscope. Fifty measurements were made of each microscopic taxonomically informative structure. The measurements are presented in the form: (minimum–) mean minus standard deviation–mean plus standard deviation (–maximum).
A 5-mm mycelium disc was cut from an actively growing fungal colony using a sterile cork borer and placed at the centre of MEA plates, with the aerial mycelium side in contact with the medium. Three replicate plates were prepared for each strain and were incubated at temperatures ranging from 5–40 °C at five-degree intervals. The colony diameters on each Petri dish were determined along two perpendicular axes every day until the entire dish was covered. The colour descriptions were provided according to
DNA was extracted from freshly collected mycelia grown in liquid malt medium (20g malt extract in 1000 ml of deionised water) at 25 °C in the dark for 7 d using an Invisorb Spin Plant mini kit (Invitek, Berlin, Germany), following the manufacturer’s instructions. The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions and partial β–tubulin (tub2) genes were amplified using primer pairs ITS1/ITS4 (
PCR reactions were performed in 25 ml volumes (2.5 mM MgCl2, 1X PCR buffer, 0.2 mM dNTP, 0.2 mM of each primer and 2.5 U of Taq polymerase). The conditions for ITS and tub2 PCR amplifications were as described earlier (
Sequencing reactions were performed using CEQ DTCS Quick Start KitH (Beckman Coulter, American), following the manufacturer’s instructions, with the same PCR primers as above. Nucleotide sequences were determined using a CEQ 2000 XL capillary automated sequencer (Beckman Coulter).
Contigs were subjected to BLAST searches of the NCBI GenBank database (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/); published sequences of closely related species were retrieved. Alignments of the related genes (most up-to-date sequence regions deposited in the GenBank) were conducted online using MAFFT v 7.0 (https://mafft.cbrc.jp/alignment/server/index.html) (
The most parsimonious trees generated by MP analyses were identified by heuristic searches with a random addition sequence (1000); max trees were set to 200 and further evaluated by bootstrap analysis, retaining clades compatible with the 50% majority rule in the bootstrap consensus tree. The analysis was based on tree bisection reconnection branch swapping (TBR). The tree length (TL), consistency index (CI), retention index (RI), homoplasy index (HI) and rescaled consistency index (RC) were recorded for each dataset after tree generation.
The general-time-reversible (GTR) model for ML analyses was selected using the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) in ModelTest v 3.7 (
For BI analyses, the most appropriate substitution models were also selected using the general-time-reversible model (GRT) with AIC in ModelTest v 3.7. BI was carried out with MrBayes using the Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) approach with 5,000,000 generations, to estimate posterior probabilities.
In total, 240 strains belonging to Ophiostomatales were obtained from PWN-infected galleries and pupal chambers of M. alternatus. The strains were sorted into six morphological groups (groups A–F in Table
ITS and tub2 sequences were generated for 16 strains and deposited in GenBank (Table
The information of references sequences used for phylogenetic analyses in this study.
Species | Strain No. | Host/insect | Country | Genbank No. | Reference | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ITS | β-tubulin | |||||
Sporothrix abietina | CBS125.89 | Abies vejari | Mexico | AF484453 | KX590755 | de Beer et al. 2003 |
S. aurorae | CMW19362 | Pinus eliottii | South Africa | DQ396796 | DQ396800 |
|
S. bragantina | CBS 474.91 | Soil | Brazil | FN546965 | FN547387 |
|
CBS 430.92 | Soil | Brazil | FN546964 | FN547386 |
|
|
S. brasiliensis | Ss383 | Felis catus | Brazil | KP890194 | FN547387 |
|
S. brunneoviolacea | CBS 124562 | Soil | Spain | FN546959 | FN547385 |
|
CBS 124564 | Soil | Spain | FN546958 | FN547384 |
|
|
S. dentifunda | CMW13016 | Quercus wood | Hungary | AY495434 | AY495445 |
|
CMW13017 | Quercus wood | Poland | AY495435 | AY495446 |
|
|
S. epigloea | CBS 573.63 | Tremella fusiformis | Argentina | KX590817 | KX590760 |
|
S. eucalyptigena | CPC 24638 | Eucalyptus marginata | Western Australia | KR476721 | N/A |
|
S. gemella | CMW23057 | Protea caffra | South Africa | DQ821560 | DQ821554 |
|
S. inflata | CMW12529 | Soil | Canada | AY495428 | AY495438 |
|
CMW12527 | wheat-field soil | Germany | AY495426 | AY495437 |
|
|
S. nebularis | CMW27319 | Orthotomicus erosus | Spain | DQ674375 | N/A |
|
CMW27900 | O. erosus | Spain | DQ674376 | N/A |
|
|
S. pallida | CBS131.56 | Stemonitis fusca | Japan | EF127880 | EF139110 |
|
CBS150.87 | S. fusca | Japan | EF127879 | EF139109 |
|
|
S. palmiculminata | CMW23049 | Protea repens | South Africa | DQ316191 | DQ821543 |
|
S. phasma | CMW20676 | P. laurifolia | South Africa | DQ316219 | DQ821541 |
|
S. proteara | CMW1103 | P. caffra | South Africa | DQ316203 | DQ316165 |
|
S. schenckii | MITS2474 | N/A | Mexico | KP132783 | N/A |
|
CBS 938.72 | Human | Franch | KP017094 | N/A |
|
|
S. fusiforis | CMW9968 | Populus nigra | Azerbaijan | AY280481 | AY280461 |
|
S. lunata | CMW10563 | Carpinus betulus | Austria | AY280485 | AY280466 |
|
S. narcissi | CBS138.50 | N/A | Canada | AY194510 | KX590765 |
|
S. splendens | CMW872 | Protea repens | South Africa | DQ316215 | DQ316177 |
|
S. stenoceras | CMW2524 | Acacia mearnsii | South Africa | AF484459 | AY280473 | de Beer et al. 2003 |
CBS237.32 | pine pulp | Norway | AF484462 | N/A | de Beer et al. 2003 | |
S. thermara | CMW38930 | Euphorbia ingens | South Africa | KR051115 | KR051103 |
|
CMW38929 | E. ingens | South Africa | KR051114 | KR051102 |
|
|
S. stylites | CMW14543 | Pine utility poles | Australia | EF127883 | EF139096 |
|
Ophiostoma adjuncti | CMW135 | Pinus ponderosa | USA | AY546696 | N/A |
|
O. allantosporum | CBS185.86 | P. pinaster | Europe | AY934506 | N/A |
|
O. angusticollis | Zoq16 | N/A | N/A | EU109671 | N/A |
|
CBS186.86 | Pinus banksiana | USA | AY924383 | KX590757 |
|
|
O. bicolor | CBS492.77 | Picea glauca/Ips sp. | USA | DQ268604 | DQ268635 |
|
O. candidum | CMW26484 | Eucalyptus cloeziana | South Africa | HM051409 | HM041874 |
|
CMW26483 | E. cloeziana | South Africa | HM051408 | HM041873 |
|
|
O. catonianum | C1084 | Pyrus | Italy | AF198243 | N/A |
|
O. coronatum | CBS 497.77 | Pinus pinaster | Iberian Peninsula | AY924385 | KX590758 |
|
O. cupulatum | C1194 | Pseudotsuga | USA | AF198230 | N/A |
|
O. deltoideosporum | WIN(M)41 | N/A | N/A | EU879121 | N/A |
|
O. fasciatum | UM56 | Pseudotsuga menziesii | CanadaCanada | EU913720 | EU913759 |
|
O. floccosum | C01-021 | Girdled Picea rubens | Canada | AY194504 | N/A |
|
C1086 | Soil | Sweden | AF198231 | N/A |
|
|
O. fumeum | CMW26813 | Eucalyptus cloeziana | South Africa | HM051412 | HM041878 |
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CMW26818 | E. cloeziana | South Africa | HM051415 | HM041877 |
|
|
O. fuscum | CMW23196 | Picea abies | Finland | HM031504 | HM031563 |
|
O. himai ulmi | C1183 | Ulmus | India | AF198233 | N/A |
|
C1306 | Ulmus | India | AF198234 | N/A |
|
|
O. ips | CMW7075 | N/A | USA | AY546704 | N/A |
|
CMW22843 | Orthotomicus erosus | N/A | DQ539549 | N/A |
|
|
O. japonicum | YCC099 | N/A | N/A | GU134169 | N/A |
|
O. kryptum | DAOM 229701 | Picea abies/Tetropium sp. | Austria | AY304436 | AY305685 | Jacobs and Kirisits 2013 |
DAOM 229702 | Larix decidua/T. gabrieli | Austria | AY304434 | AY305686 | Jacobs and Kirisits 2013 | |
K6/3/2 | Picea abies/Tetropium sp. | Austria | AY304428 | AY305687 | Jacobs and Kirisits 2013 | |
O. minus | PIR 18S | N/A | N/A | AY934509 | N/A |
|
CMW22802 | Dryocoetes autographus | N/A | DQ539507 | N/A | Romón et al. 2005 | |
RJ-T144 | Tetropium sp. | Poland | AM943886 | N/A |
|
|
CMW28117 | Picea abies/Tomicus minor | Russia | HM031497 | HM031535 |
|
|
AU58.4 | Lodgepole pine | Canada | AF234834 | N/A |
|
|
DAOM 212686 | N/A | Canada | AY304438 | AY305690 | Jacobs and Kirisits 2013 | |
O. micans | CMW:38903 | Picea crassifolia | China | KU184432 | KU184303 |
|
O. montium | CMW13221 | Pinus ponderosa/ Dendroctonus ponderosae | USA | AY546711 | N/A |
|
CMW13222 | P. contorta/D. ponderosae | Canada | AY546712 | N/A |
|
|
O. nigrocarpum | CMW 560 | Abies sp. | USA | AY280489 | AY280479 |
|
CMW651 | Pseudotsuga menziesii | USA | AY280490 | AY280480 |
|
|
O. nitidum | CMW:38907 | Picea crassifolia | China | KU184437 | KU184308 |
|
O. novo ulmi | C1185 | Ulmus | Russia | AF198235 | N/A |
|
C510 | Ulmus | USA | AF198236 | N/A |
|
|
O. olgensis | CXY1404 | Larix gmelini/Ips subelongatus | China | KU551299 | KU882938 |
|
CXY1405 | L. gmelini/I. subelongatus | China | KU551300 | KU882939 |
|
|
CXY1410 | L. gmelini/I. subelongatus | China | KU551303 | KU882942 |
|
|
O. pallidulum | CMW23279 | Pinus sylvestris/Hylastes brunneus | Finland | HM031509 | N/A |
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CMW23278 | P. sylvestris/ H. brunneus | Finland | HM031510 | HM031566 |
|
|
O. piceae | C1087 | N/A | Germany | AF198226 | N/A |
|
C1246 | Pseudotsuga | USA | AF198227 | N/A |
|
|
O. pseudotsugae | 92-634/302/6 | Pinus menziesii/Dendroctonus frontalis | Canada | AY542502 | AY548744 |
|
D48/3 | N/A | Canada | AY542501 | AY542511 |
|
|
O. proteasedis | CMW 28601 | Protea caffra | Zambia | EU660449 | EU660464 |
|
O. pulvinisporum | CMW9022 | Pinus pseudostrobus/Dendroctonus mexicanus | Mexico | AY546714 | DQ296100 |
|
O. qinghaiense | CMW:38902 | Picea crassifolia | China | KU184445 | KU184316 |
|
O. querci | C970 | Quercus | United Kingdom | AF198239 | N/A |
|
C969 | Quercus | United Kingdom | AF198238 | N/A |
|
|
C1085 | Fagus | Germany | AF198237 | N/A |
|
|
O. rostrocoronatum | CBS434.77 | Woodpulp | USA | AY194509 | KX590771 |
|
O. saponiodorum | CMW29497 | Picea abies/Ips typographus | Finland | HM031507 | HM031571 |
|
CMW28135 | P. abies | Russia | HM031508 | N/A |
|
|
O. sejunctum | Ophi 1B | N/A | N/A | AY934520 | N/A |
|
Ophi 1A | N/A | N/A | AY934519 | N/A |
|
|
O. setosum | AU160-38 | Pseutotsugae menziesii | North America | AF128929 | N/A |
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CMW12378 | Tsuga sp. | China | FJ430485 | FJ430515 |
|
|
O. tenellum | CBS189.86 | Pinus banksiana | USA | AY934523 | KX590772 |
|
O. tetropii | C00-027a | Tetropium fuscum | Canada | AY194482 | NA |
|
C00-003 | T. fuscum | Canada | AY194485 | AY305701 |
|
|
O. ulmi | C1182 | Ulmus | Netherlands | AF198232 | N/A |
|
Graphilbum crescericum | CMW 22829 | Hylastes ater | Spain | DQ539535 | N/A |
|
Gra. fragrans | C1224 | Pinus sylvestris | Sweden | AF198248 | N/A |
|
Gra. microcarpum | YCC612 | Japanese larch logs | Japan | GU134170 | N/A |
|
Gra. rectangulosporium | MAFF 238951 | N/A | Japan | AB242825 | N/A |
|
Raffaelea canadensis | CBS 168.66 | N/A | N/A | GQ225699 | N/A |
|
Leptographium lundbergii | DAOM 64746 | N/A | N/A | EU879151 | AY534943 |
|
L. truncatum | WIN(M)1435 | Pinus taeda | South Africa | AY935626 | N/A |
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For each phylogenetic tree, MP, ML and BI analyses yielded trees with very similar topologies. Phylograms, generated by the MP analysis, are presented for all the datasets, with nodal support obtained from ML indicated at the nodes (Figure
Phylograms of fungal associates of pine infected by PWN and Monochamus alternatus in China. The phylograms were generated after MP analysis of the ITS1–5.8S–ITS2 rDNA and partial tub2 sequences. Novel sequences obtained in the current study are indicated in bold type. MP bootstrap values (10,000 replicates) and ML bootstrap support values (1000 replicates) (normal type) above 70% are indicated at the nodes. Values below 70% are indicated by asterisk (*). Posterior probabilities (above 90%) obtained from BI are indicated by bold lines at the relevant branching points. Scale bar, total nucleotide differences between taxa; ML, maximum likelihood; MP, maximum parsimony; BI, Bayesian inference.
According to the ITS sequence analysis, strains of the morphological group A nested in the Sporothrix lineage, as defined by
Phylogenetic inferences based on tub2 sequences revealed that clade A, B and D strains formed three well-supported independent clades within the Sporothrix and Ophiostoma lineages, respectively. Clade C strains nested within the well-supported O. ips clade (Suppl. material
Considering morphological differences, strains in groups A, B and D represent three undescribed species of Sporothrix or Ophiostoma. We concluded that group C strains belong to O. ips; group E and F strains clustered together with the well-supported Graphilbum rectangulosporium and O. deltoideosporum clades, respectively. However, because of a limited number of strains, further analysis of this potential species will need to be postponed until a sufficient amount of material obtained.
Based on the phylogenetic signals of the ITS and tub2 and morphological characteristics, all strains analysed in the current study were assigned to six different groups (A–F). They represent one known species, O. ips (
The epithet reflects Zhejiang Province in China where the species was first collected.
CHINA, Zhejiang, Yuyao City, from Monochamus alternatus gallery in Pinus massoniana infested by numerous PWN, November 2012, collected by Q Lu and YY Lun, culture ex-holotype MUCL 55183 = CFCC52165 = CXY1614.
Sexual morph perithecial: Perithecia occasional on 2% MEA, emerging from the superficial mycelium or partly iμmersed, with a globose base, (75–)80–108(–120) μm in diameter, with some basal hyphal ornamentation, black; extending progressively into a straight, brown to black neck, (127–)156–550(–631) μm long, (26–)32–58.5(–65) μm wide at the base, (7–)7.5–10.7(–12) μm wide at the apex; ending in a crown of hyaline, (6–)9–19.5(–24) μm long ostiolar hyphae; ascospores reniform in side view, without sheath, aseptate, hyaline, (2–)2.2–3.4(–4) × (0.6–)0.74–2(–2.5) μm.
Asexual morph: pesotum-like and sporothrix-like.
Pesotum-like: Conidiophores macronematous, synnematous, abundant in 2% MEA. Synnemata occurring singly, enlarging towards both the apex and the base, dark brown at base, becoming paler toward the apex, (100–)120–260(–290) μm long including the conidiogenous apparatus, (56–)63–145(–158) μm wide at base, rhizoids present; conidiogenous cells (7–)9.5–29(–45.5) × 1–2(–1.7) μm; conidia hyaline, aseptate, single-celled, smooth, cylindrical or obovoid, (2–)2.5–4.8(–6) × (0.5–)0.8–2.1(–2.6) μm.
Sporothrix-like: Conidiophores micronematous, single on aerial mycelia, unbranched, (4.5–)9.6–31.5(–51.5) × (1.0–)1.5–2(–2.4) μm; conidia hyaline, smooth, aseptate, ellipsoid to ovoid, (2.5–)3–4.8(–5) × (0.7–)1–2.1(–2.5) μm.
Light micrographs of Sporothrix zhejiangensis. a–c Growth on 2% MEA and 2% PDA, 2 weeks after inoculation d Occasionally observed ostiolar hyphae (scale bar, 20 μm) e–f Perithecium (scale bar, 20 μm) g Pesotum-like anamorph, rhizoid, conidiophores, conidiogenous apparatus (scale bar, 20 μm), and conidia (bottom right corner) (scale bar, 10 μm) h, i Reniform ascospores without sheaths (scale bar, 10 μm) j–lSporothrix-like anamorph, conidiophores, and conidia (scale bar, 10 μm).
Colonies on 2% MEA medium are white, with colony edge thinning radially. Hyphae are superficial on agar. Diameter reaches 50 μm in the dark after 8 d at 25 °C, able to grow at 5 °C and 40 °C, with the optimal growth temperature of 30 °C. Growth characteristics on PDA medium are similar.
Galleries of Monochamus alternatus in Pinus massoniana infested by PWN; known hitherto from Zhejiang Province, China.
CHINA, Zhejiang, Yuyao City, from Monochamus alternatus galleries in Pinus massoniana infested by PWN, November 2012, collected by Q Lu and YY Lun, MUCL 55181 = CFCC 52167 = CXY1612, MUCL 55182 = CFCC 52164 = CXY1613, MUCL 55184 = CFCC 52166 = CXY1615.
Sporothrix zhejiangensis is characterised by a sexual and two asexual forms (pesotum-like and sporothrix-like). It is phylogenetically related to S. nebulare, S. eucalyptigena and S. epigloea (Figure
Sporothrix eucalyptigena and S. epigloea produce perithecia and ascospores similar to those of S. zhejiangensis (
Sporothrix zhejiangensis is also closely related to S. bragantina and S. thermara (Figure
The epithet reflects the white colour of the colonies.
CHINA, Zhejiang, Yuyao City, from Monochamus alternatus gallery of Pinus massoniana infested by numerous PWN, November 2012, collected by Q Lu and YY Lun, culture ex-holotype MUCL 55189 = CFCC 52168 = CXY1622.
Sexual form: Unknown. Asexual form: Hyalorhinocladiella-like. Conidiogenous cells micronematous, (4.2–)9.5–16.5(–20.5) × (0.5–)1–2(–2.5) μm; conidia hyaline, single-celled, aseptate, clavate or fusiform obovoid with pointed bases and (occasionally) rounded apices, slightly curved at the base (4–)4.2–14.5(–18) × (0.5–)1–2(–2.3) μm.
Colonies on 2% MEA white, with the mycelium edge thinning radially; Hyphae are superficial on agar, sporulation weak. Colonies slowly growing, reaching 18.5 μm in diameter at 8 d at 25 °C, able to grow at 40 °C but not at 5 °C, with the optimal growth temperature of 35 °C. Growth characteristics on PDA culture medium are similar but the growth rate is slower than on MEA.
Galleries of Monochamus alternatus in Pinus massoniana, infested by PWN, in Zhejiang Province, China.
CHINA, Zhejiang, Yuyao City, from Monochamus alternatus galleries of Pinus massoniana infested by numerous PWN, November 2012, collected by Q Lu and YY Lun, MUCL 55190 = CFCC 52169 = CXY1642, CXY1643 = CFCC 52170.
Ophiostoma album only known in its asexual hyalorhinocladiella-like form. According to both ITS and tub2 based phylogenetic analysis, it is closely related to O. kryptum and O. olgensis in the O. minus complex (Figure
The epithet reflects the host tree, Pinus massoniana.
CHINA, Zhejiang Province, Fuyang City, from Monochamus alternatus gallery in Pinus massoniana infested by numerous PWN, November 2012, collected by Q Lu and YY Lun, culture ex-holotype, MUCL 55179 = CFCC 51648 = CXY1610.
Sexual form: Unknown. Asexual form: Hyalorhinocladiella-like. Conidiophores abundant, single, borne on aerial hyphae, (3.3–)10.5–27.5(–42.5) × (0.7–)1.3–2.0(–2.7) μm; conidia hyaline, single-celled, aseptate, obovoid or globose with pointed bases and rounded apices, (2–)2.2–3.9(–5) × (0.5–)0.7–1.7(–2) μm.
Colonies on 2% MEA brown, the marginal hyphae sparse and radiating; some white mycelium produced early during growth that becomes black after 3–5 d. Colonies slowly growing, reaching 37.5 μm in diameter over 8 d at 25 °C, able to grow at 5 °C and 40 °C, with an optimal growth temperature of 30 °C; sporulation weak. On PDA culture medium, the colonies are dark brown; the mycelium is white, long and dense, with a daily growth of 4 μm at 25 °C.
Galleries of Monochamus alternatus in Pinus massoniana infested by PWN, in Zhejiang Province, China.
CHINA, Zhejiang Province, Yuyao City, from Monochamus alternatus galleries in Pinus massoniana infested by numerous PWN, November 2012, collected by Q Lu and YY Lun, MUCL 55180 = CFCC 51649 = CXY1611.
Ophiostoma massoniana, only known by its asexual, hyalorhinocladiella-like state, does not cluster in any of the 10 species complexes defined by
In the current study, six ophiostomatoid species were found associated with pines infected by M. alternatus and PWN in the eastern provinces of Shandong and Zhejiang in China: O. ips, the newly described S. zhejiangensis, O. album, O. massoniana and two species whose identities are uncertain; O. cf. deltoideosporum and Gra. cf. rectangulosporium. Ophiostoma ips was the most frequently isolated species, accounting for over 90% of all Ophiostomatales strains.
Ophiostoma ips was originally reported in association with bark beetles infecting pines in south-eastern North America (
In China, O. ips was reportedly associated with P. massoniana infected by PWN (
Ophiostoma ips appears to have travelled long-distances in wood materials presumably originating from North America (
Members of Sporothrix are reportedly associated with a wide range of habitats (
Sporothrix zhejiangensis forms an independent lineage according to both ITS and tub2 based on phylogenetic inferences. It is closely related to S. nebulare, S. eucalyptigena, S. epigloea, S. bragantina and S. thermara (
Although S. zhejiangensis is unrelated to S. fusiforis, S. lunata and S. stenoceras (Figure
In the current study, S. zhejiangensis was notably different from Sporothrix sp. 1 and Sporothrix sp. 2 (
According to ITS phylogeny analysis, Ophiostoma album is related to O. olgensis (
The O. minus complex currently includes O. minus, O. pseudotsugae, O. allantosporum, O. kryptum and O. olgensis (
According to both ITS and tub2 phylogenetic trees, O. massoniana forms a separated well-supported clade (Figure
In the current study, a relatively large number of ophiostomatoid fungal species associated with B. xylophilus and M. alternatus in Shandong and Zhejiang Provinces in China was identified. Three novel species, O. album, O. massoniana and S. zhejiangensis were discovered and described. Fourteen additional provinces in China are currently also listed as PWN epidemic areas (
This work was supported by the National Key R&D Programme of China (2017YFD0600103) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project No.: 31770682). Cony Decock gratefully acknowledges the financial support received from the Belgian State (Belgian Federal Science Policy through the BCCMTM research programme). We are grateful to Professor Yuichi Yamaoka and Hugo Madrid for their invaluable suggestions to improve the manuscript.
Figure S1. Phylogram of fungal associates of pine infected by PWN and Monochamus alternatus in China
Figure S2. Phylograms of fungal associates of pine infected by PWN and Monochamus alternatus in China
Figure S3. Three ML phylogenetic threes based on tub2 after excluding introns