Taxonomy Of The Genus Pestalotiopsis And Evaluation Of Its DNA Barcoding

Pestalotiopsis-like fungi, including Pestalotiopsis, Neopestalotiopsis and Pseudopestalotiopsis, whose conidia bear appendages, are anamorphic groups in the family Amphisphaeriaceae. These fungal groups are widely distributed throughout the whole world, especially in tr opical and temperate ecosystems. They are important plant pathogens which can cause many kinds of diseases on a variety of plants owing to their not high host-specificity. As important groups of endophyte, Pestalotiopsis-like fungi can produce various sorts of active secondary metabolites which have potential medicinal use, so researches on these fungi are of great ecological and economical meaning.In our research, we collected more than 200 specimens concerning 60 plant species from 5 Chinese provinces(Yunnan PR, Guizhou PR, Hainan PR, Chongqing PR and Guangxi PR) and Thailand during 2010 to 2013, and isolated total to 92 Pestalotiopsis-like strains, including 40 ones in Pestalotiopsis, 46 in Neopestalotiopsis and 6 in Pseudopestalotiopsis. After morphological studies and phylogenetic analyses with combined ITS, β-tubulin and tef1 gene regions, 18 new species(5 published, 13 on publication) and 19 reported spices are identif ied, this indicates that Pestalotiopsis-like fungi have a wide distribution, rich sources and species diversity in Southern regions. New species are Neopestalotiopsis caryotae, N. cinnamomumae, N. coffeae-arabicae, N. podocarpusis, N. podocarpus-macrophyllus, N. pseudoaustrali s, N. pseudosaprophyta, N. strelit ziae, Pestalotiopsis camellia-sinensis, P. cyclobalanopsis, P. dracaenea, P. keteleeria, P. libosis, P. prunui, P. rhodomyrtus, P. shorea, P. subshorea and Pseudopestalotiopsi s simitheae;reported species are Neopestalotiopsis ellipsospora, N. foedans, N. formicarum, N. leucothoes, N. protearum, N. samarangensis, Pestalotiopsis adusta, P. anacardiacearum, P. camelliae, P. chamaeropi s, P. colombiensis, P. diploclisiae, P. humus, P. kenyana, P. malayana, P. portugalica, P. rhododendri, Pseudopestalotiopsis cocos and Ps. theae.To select and evaluate DNA barcoding of the genus Pestalotiopsis, we built mono-locus MP phylogenetic trees with ITS, β-tubulin and tef1 gene region respectively. After analyze their ability to resolve Pestalotiopsis species and bootstrap values, combining their success rate of PCR amplification, tef1 is thought to be the most competent gene region and selected as DNA barcoding for Pestalotiopsis.All the holotype and ex-type living cultures of new species identif ied in our research are conserved in Plant Pathology Lab, Guizhou University(HGUP) and Mae Fah Luang University(MFLUCC).