IMA Fungus 8(2): 259-286, doi: 10.5598/imafungus.2017.08.02.04

Calonectria species isolated from Eucalyptus plantations and nurseries in South China

ShuaiFei Chen^‡§, Michael J. Wingfield^|, QianLi Liu^¶, Irene Barnes^#, Jolanda Roux^¤, Lorenzo Lombard^«, Pedro W. Crous^«, ShuaiFei Chen^»

‡ China Eucalypt Research Centre, Zhanjiang, China§ Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing, China| University of Pretoria, Department of Genetics, Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI), Pretoria, South Africa¶ Chinese Academy of Forestry (CAF), China Eucalypt Research Centre (CERC), ZhanJiang, GuangDong Province, China# University of Pretoria, Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology, Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI), Pretoria, South Africa¤ University of Pretoria, Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, FABI, Pretoria, South Africa« CBS-KNAW Fungal Biodiversity Centre, Utrecht» Chinese Academy of Forestry, China Eucalypt Research Centre, Zhanjiang, China

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Citation: Chen S, Wingfield MJ, Liu Q, Barnes I, Roux J, Lombard L, Crous PW, Chen S (2017) Calonectria species isolated from Eucalyptus plantations and nurseries in South China. IMA Fungus 8(2): 259-286. https://doi.org/10.5598/imafungus.2017.08.02.04

Abstract

Diseases caused by species of Calonectria (Ca.) represent a serious threat to the growth and sustainability of Eucalyptus plantations in China. Symptoms caused by these fungi mainly include leaf blight on trees in plantations and rotting of stems and leaves in nurseries. Extensive surveys have recently been conducted where Calonectria species were collected in Eucalyptus plantations and nurseries in the FuJian, GuangDong, GuangXi, and YunNan Provinces of South China. Additional isolates were baited from soil samples in the Hong Kong Region. The aim of this study was to identify the 115 Calonectria isolates obtained using comparisons of DNA sequence data for the ß-tubulin (tub2), calmodulin (cmdA), histone H3 (his3) and partial translation elongation factor-1 a (tefl) gene regions as well as their morphological features. Seven known species were identified, including Calonectria arbusta, Ca. asiatica, Ca. chinensis, Ca. eucalypti, Ca. hongkongensis, Ca. mossambicensis and Ca. pentaseptata. In addition, six novel taxa were collected and are described here as Ca. aciculata, Ca. honghensis, Ca. lantauensis, Ca. pseudoturangicola, Ca. pseudoyunnanensis, and Ca. yunnanensis spp. nov. Overall, the results reflect a high diversity of Calonectria species in China.

Keywords

Cylindrocladium, forest pathogens, Nectriaceae, phylogeny, soil, systematics