| Abstract Detail
Systematics Raja, Huzefa A. [1], Shearer, Carol A. [2], Miller, Andrew N [3], Tanaka, Kazuaki [4], Fournier, Jacques [5], El-Elimat, Tamam [1], Oberlies, Nicholas H. [1]. Minutisphaeraceae (Dothideomycetes, Ascomycota), a new family of freshwater ascomycetes including two new species from North Carolina, USA. Minutisphaera is a recently established genus of freshwater Dothideomycetes characterized by small, globose to subglobose, or apothecioid, erumpent to superficial, brown ascomata; fissitunicate, eight-spored, ovoid to obclavate asci; and 1-2 septate, clavate to broadly fusiform, hyaline to pale brown ascospores with or without a gelatinous sheath and filamentous appendages. Currently, the genus contains two species: M. fimbriatispora, the type species, and M. japonica. The higher-level phylogenetic relationships of Minutisphaera within the Dothideomycetes, however, was unresolved. During our continuing studies of freshwater ascomycetes in the USA, we discovered two additional collections of Minutisphaera from freshwater habitats in the piedmont region of North Carolina. To establish the phylogenetic position of Minutisphaera within the Dothideomycetes and to evaluate the phylogenetic affinities of the newly collected Minutisphaera-like taxa with the type species, M. fimbriatispora, we sequenced three ribosomal genes (18S, ITS, and 28S nrDNA) and a protein-coding gene, MCM7, for all strains of Minutisphaera. Based on maximum likelihood and Bayesian analyses of a combined dataset (18S and 28S) composed of 183 taxa, a more refined dataset (28S and MCM7) comprised of 52 taxa, and a separate ITS dataset, as well as examination of morphology, we describe and illustrate two new species of Minutisphaera. The Minutisphaera clade was strongly supported within the Dothideomycetes with both likelihood and Bayesian statistics, but did not share phylogenetic affinities with any existing taxonomic group within the Dothideomycetes. We therefore establish a new family, Minutisphaeraceae, for this monophyletic clade of freshwater ascomycetes.
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Related Links:
http://fungi.life.illinois.edu/
http://fungi.life.illinois.edu/
1 - University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Chemistry and Biochemistry, 435 Sullivan Science Building, PO Box 26170, Greensboro, NC, 27402-6170, USA
2 - University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Plant Biology, 265 Morrill Hall, 505 South Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA
3 - University of Illinois, Champaign, Illinois Natural History Survey, 1816 South Oak Street, Champaign, IL, 61820-6970, USA
4 - Hirosaki University, Faculty of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Bunkyo-cho, Hiroskaki, Amori, 036-8561, Japan
5 - Las Muros, F. 09420 Rimont, France
Keywords:
Systematics
aquatic
submerged wood.
Presentation Type: Offered Paper - Paper
Session: 10
Location: Auditorium/Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center
Date: Tuesday, June 10th, 2014
Time: 10:30 AM
Number: 10001
Abstract ID:54
Candidate for Awards:None |
