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Title: Tubeufia asiana, the teleomorph of Aquaphila albicans in the Tubeufiaceae, Pleosporales, based on cultural and molecular data

Author
item TSUI, CLEMENT - BRITISH COLUMBIA CANADA
item SIVICHAI, SOMSAK - PATHUMTHANI, THAILAND
item Rossman, Amy
item BERBEE, MARY - VANCOUVER, CANADA

Submitted to: Mycologia
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/10/2007
Publication Date: 2/6/2008
Citation: Tsui, C.K., Sivichai, S., Rossman, A.Y., Berbee, M.L. 2008. Tubeufia asiana, the teleomorph of Aquaphila albicans in the Tubeufiaceae, Pleosporales, based on cultural and molecular data. Mycologia. 99:884-894.

Interpretive Summary: Interpretive Summary: Fungi causes billions of dollars damage to agricultural and forest resources each year. These fungi often appear in two different forms that do not look alike. One form produces lots of spores to distribute the fungus and the other form is the sexual reproduction to maintain genetic diversity. Determining that these two forms are actually the same species can be difficult. In this paper a fungus that sporulates profusely was determined to be the same species as a sexual state that has never been seen before. Molecular and morphological data are presented to prove that these two forms are actually one species. Both forms are described and illustrated. This research will be used by scientists who need to identify these fungi.

Technical Abstract: Technical Abstract: The teleomorph of Aquaphila albicans was discovered on submerged wood collected in Thailand. It produced black, soft-textured, setose ascomata, bitunicate asci and hyaline to pale brown, multiseptate ascospores. These features indicate its affinity to Tubeufia (Tubeufiaceae, Dothideomycetes), and it is described and illustrated as a new species, T. asiana Sivichai & K.M. Tsui, sp. nov. Finding a Tubeufia teleomorph for A. albicans was surprising because other species in the Tubeufiaceae have coiled, helicosporous conidia and A. albicans does not. Instead, A. albicans has falcate conidia that superficially resemble the conidia of Fusarium. We assessed the phylogenetic relationships of A. albicans-T. asiana to related fungi using ribosomal sequences from SSU, ITS, and partial LSU regions by parsimony, and Bayesian analysis. An initial set of 40 taxa and their SSU sequences from GenBank showed that A. albicans-T. asiana to be nested within the Tubeufiaceae with strong statistical support. A more detailed analysis of their placement in the Tubeufiaceae was inferred using ITS and partial LSU ribosomal sequences. Sequences of two isolates of A. albicans and one isolate of Tubeufia asiana were nearly identical, clustering as a strong monophyletic group and nested in a clade containing Helicoon gigantisporum and Helicoma chlamydosporum. This is the first report where molecular data place a non-helicosporous species within the Tubeufiaceae, suggesting that production of helical conidia was lost at least once within the family. Additional molecular data also support that Tubeufia cylindrothecia and T. paludosa are not conspecific and should be maintained as separate species.