Resource Survey And Phylogenetic Study On Aschersonia

Aschersonia is an important entomopathogenic fungus,and the members within the genus are mainly distributed in Latin America,South Asia and Southeast Asia.They had also been found in the citrus and tea gardens in China,Taiwan,Sichuan,Guangxi, Fujian,Zhejiang and Jiangxi.It can parasite on the whiteflies and scale insects and play the role in killing pests.Compared with chemical pesticides Aschersonia will not pollute the environment,and has promising application in biocontrol of pests in agriculture and forestry system.It's of great important signification to study Aschersonia phylogeny and classification system not only for the basic theory of pathogenic fungi,but also for the application of the biological control agents.A survey of entomopathogenic fungi was conducted in China from 2005 to 2007. A total of 141 specimens were collected from varied habitats including Wanmulin, Wuyi mountain,Hunan,Hubei,Jiangxi.From these collections 10 species of Aschersonia consisting of:A.aleyrodis,A.badia,A.basicystis,A.blumenaviensis,A. goldiana,A.oxystoma,A.placenta,A.samoensis,A.taitensis and A.turbinate had been isolated and identified.Among them,there are five newly recorded species from China.All of the recorded species are described and illustrated.Five speciemens of Aschersonia include WYTYâ…¡-4,WYTYâ…¡-11,WYTYâ…¡-17, WYTYâ…¡-22 and WYTYâ…¡-24 and their Hypocrella teleomorphs are described in detail as well.Moreover 56 speciemens are isolated,purified and preserved.Molecular phylogenetic of Aschersonia was study with the aid of ribosomal large subunit(nr-LSU)sequence of 29 isolates,the result showed that nr-LSU could distinguish the various species of Aschersonia,and could better reflect the phylogenetic relationships of different species.However the RNA polymerase RPB1 could not be used for Aschersonia phylogenetic analysis.