IMA Fungus 6(2): 471-476, doi: 10.5598/imafungus.2015.06.02.10
Knoxdaviesia proteae is not the only Knoxdaviesia-symbiont of Protea repens
Janneke Aylward‡, Léanne L. Dreyer‡, Emma T. Steenkamp§, Michael J. Wingfield|, Francois Roets¶‡ Stellenbosch University, Department of Botany and Zoology, Matieland, South Africa§ University of Pretoria, Department of Microbiology and Plant Pathology, Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute, Pretoria, South Africa| University of Pretoria, Department of Genetics, Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI), Pretoria, South Africa¶ Stellenbosch University, Department of Conservation Ecology and Entomology, Matieland, South Africa
© Janneke Aylward, Léanne Dreyer, Emma Steenkamp, Michael Wingfield, Francois Roets. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY-NC 4.0), which permits to copy and distribute the article for non-commercial purposes, provided that the article is not altered or modified and the original author and source are credited. Citation:
Aylward J, Dreyer LL, Steenkamp ET, Wingfield MJ, Roets F (2015) Knoxdaviesia proteae is not the only Knoxdaviesia-symbiont of Protea repens. IMA Fungus 6(2): 471-476. https://doi.org/10.5598/imafungus.2015.06.02.10 |  |
Abstract
Two polyphyletic genera of ophiostomatoid fungi are symbionts of Proteaceae in southern Africa. One of these, Knoxdaviesia, includes two closely related species, K. proteae and K. capensis, that have overlapping geographical distributions, but are not known to share Protea host species. Knoxdaviesia capensis appears to be a generalist that occupies numerous hosts, but has never been found in P. repens, the only known host of K. proteae. In this study, extensive collections were made from P. repens and isolates were identified using DNA sequence comparisons. This led to the surprising discovery of K. capensis from P. repens for the first time. The fungus was encountered at a low frequency, suggesting that P. repens is not its preferred host, which may explain why it has not previously been found on this plant. The basis for the specialisation of K. proteae and K. capensis on different Protea species remains unknown.
Keywords
Gondwanamycetaceae, infructescence, ophiostomatoid fungi, South Africa