«Phaeomoniella chlamydospora» Gen. et Comb. Nov., a Causal Organism of Petri Grapevine Decline and Esca

Phaeomoniella is proposed as a new hyphomycete genus to accommodate Phaeoacremonium chlamydosporum, the most important fungal organism associated to Petri grapevine decline. Morphologically the genus is similar to Phaeoacremonium, but is distinguished from the latter based on its cultural characteristics, conidiophore morphology, and its uniformly straight, and slightly pigmented conidia. Petri grapevine decline is seen as an important component of the esca disease complex of grapevines

Taxonomy and pathology of Togninia (Diaporthales) and its Phaeoacremonium anamorphs.

The genus Togninia (Diaporthales, Togniniaceae) is here monographed along with its Phaeoacremonium (Pm.) anamorphs. Ten species of Togninia and 22 species of Phaeoacremonium are treated. Several new species of Togninia (T.) are described, namely T. argentinensis (anamorph Pm. argentinense), T. austroafricana (anamorph Pm. austroafricanum), T. krajdenii, T. parasitica, T. rubrigena and T. viticola. New species of Phaeoacremonium include Pm. novae-zealandiae (teleomorph T. novae-zealandiae), Pm. iranianum, Pm. sphinctrophorum and Pm. theobromatis. Species can be identified based on their cultural and morphological characters, supported by DNA data derived from partial sequences of the actin and ß-tubulin genes. Phylogenies of the SSU and LSU rRNA genes were used to determine whether Togninia has more affinity with the Calosphaeriales or the Diaporthales. The results confirmed that Togninia had a higher affinity to the Diaporthales than the Calosphaeriales. Examination of type specimens revealed that T. cornicola, T. vasculosa, T. rhododendri, T. minima var. timidula and T. villosa, were not members of Togninia. The new combinations Calosphaeria cornicola, Calosphaeria rhododendri, Calosphaeria transversa, Calosphaeria tumidula, Calosphaeria vasculosa and Jattaea villosa are proposed. Species of Phaeoacremonium are known vascular plant pathogens causing wilting and dieback of woody plants. The most prominent diseases in which they are involved are Petri disease and esca, which occur on grapevines and are caused by a complex of fungi, often including multiple species of Phaeoacremonium. Various Phaeoacremonium species are opportunistic fungi on humans and cause phaeohyphomycosis. The correct and rapid identification of Phaeoacremonium species is important to facilitate the understanding of their involvement in plant as well as human disease. A rapid identification method was developed for the 22 species of Phaeacremonium. It involved the use of 23 species-specific primers, including 20 primers targeting the ß-tubulin gene and three targeting the actin gene. These primers can be used in 14 multiplex reactions. Additionally, a multiple-entry electronic key based on morphological, cultural and ß-tubulin sequence data was developed to facilitate phenotypic and sequence-based species identification of the different Phaeoacremonium species. Separate dichotomous keys are provided for the identification of the Togninia and Phaeoacremonium species. Keys for the identification of Phaeoacremonium-like fungi and the genera related to Togninia are also provided. The mating strategy of several Togninia species was investigated with ascospores obtained from fertile perithecia produced in vitro. Togninia argentinensis and T. novae-zealandiae have homothallic mating systems, whereas T. austroafricana, T. krajdenii, T. minima, T. parasitica, T. rubrigena and T. viticola were heterothallic.

International Society of Human and Animal Mycology (ISHAM)-ITS reference DNA barcoding database - the quality controlled standard tool for routine identification of human and animal pathogenic fungi

Human and animal fungal pathogens are a growing threat worldwide leading to emerging infections and creating new risks for established ones. There is a growing need for a rapid and accurate identification of pathogens to enable early diagnosis and targeted antifungal therapy. Morphological and biochemical identification methods are time-consuming and require trained experts. Alternatively, molecular methods, such as DNA barcoding, a powerful and easy tool for rapid monophasic identification, offer a practical approach for species identification and less demanding in terms of taxonomical expertise. However, its wide-spread use is still limited by a lack of quality-controlled reference databases and the evolving recognition and definition of new fungal species/complexes. An international consortium of medical mycology laboratories was formed aiming to establish a quality controlled ITS database under the umbrella of the ISHAM working group on "DNA barcoding of human and animal pathogenic fungi." A new database, containing 2800 ITS sequences representing 421 fungal species, providing the medical community with a freely accessible tool at http://www.isham.org and http://its.mycologylab.org/ to rapidly and reliably identify most agents of mycoses, was established. The generated sequences included in the new database were used to evaluate the variation and overall utility of the ITS region for the identification of pathogenic fungi at intra-and interspecies level. The average intraspecies variation ranged from 0 to 2.25%. This highlighted selected pathogenic fungal species, such as the dermatophytes and emerging yeast, for which additional molecular methods/genetic markers are required for their reliable identification from clinical and veterinary specimens.This study was supported by an National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (NH&MRC) grant [#APP1031952] to W Meyer, S Chen, V Robert, and D Ellis; CNPq [350338/2000-0] and FAPERJ [E-26/103.157/2011] grants to RM Zancope-Oliveira; CNPq [308011/2010-4] and FAPESP [2007/08575-1] Fundacao de Amparo Pesquisa do Estado de So Paulo (FAPESP) grants to AL Colombo; PEst-OE/BIA/UI4050/2014 from Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT) to C Pais; the Belgian Science Policy Office (Belspo) to BCCM/IHEM; the MEXBOL program of CONACyT-Mexico, [ref. number: 1228961 to ML Taylor and [122481] to C Toriello; the Institut Pasteur and Institut de Veil le Sanitaire to F Dromer and D Garcia-Hermoso; and the grants from the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPq) and the Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Goias (FAPEG) to CM de Almeida Soares and JA Parente Rocha. I Arthur would like to thank G Cherian, A Higgins and the staff of the Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory, Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Path West, QEII Medial Centre. Dromer would like to thank for the technical help of the sequencing facility and specifically that of I, Diancourt, A-S Delannoy-Vieillard, J-M Thiberge (Genotyping of Pathogens and Public Health, Institut Pasteur). RM Zancope-Oliveira would like to thank the Genomic/DNA Sequencing Platform at Fundacao Oswaldo Cruz-PDTIS/FIOCRUZ [RPT01A], Brazil for the sequencing. B Robbertse and CL Schoch acknowledge support from the Intramural Research Program of the NIH, National Library of Medicine. T Sorrell's work is funded by the NH&MRC of Australia; she is a Sydney Medical School Foundation Fellow.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio