Unreported Fungal Species Belong to Sordariomycetes; Botryotrichum luteum sp. nov. and Cephalotrichum hinnuleum in Korea

Seong-Keun Lim CS-2 Exploitation of fungal diversity

Unreported Fungal Species Belong to Sordariomycetes; Botryotrichum luteum sp. nov. and Cephalotrichum hinnuleum in Korea

Seong-Keun Lim1, Kallol Das1, Jung-Joo Ryu1, Soo-Min Hong1, Young-Hyun You2, Seung-Yeol Lee1, and Hee-Young Jung1*

1College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Korea

2Biological Resources Utilization Division, National Institute of Biological Resources, Incheon, Korea

*Email: heeyoung@knu.ac.kr

To investigate soil-inhabiting fungi, fungal strains were isolated from soil samples collected in Chungbuk and Gyeongbuk Provinces, Korea. Two fungal strains designated as UD CT 1-3-3 and KNU-19GWF1 belong to the genus Cephalotrichum, and strain KNUF-22-025 belongs to Botryotrichum under the Sordariomycetes class from BLAST search results of ITS regions to determine the genera. To identify strains at the species level, sequences of 28S rDNA large subunit (LSU), β-tubulin (TUB2), translation elongation factor 1 alpha (TEF1-α), and the second largest subunit of RNA polymerase II (RPB2) genes were analyzed. For strains UD CT 1-3-3 and KNU-19GWF1, BLAST results of ITS regions, LSU, TUB2, and TEF1-α sequences showed similarities of 100, 99.8, 99.8, and 99.8%, respectively, with the C. hinnuleum (CBS 289.66T) that formed a same clade in the phylogenetic tree. Moreover, the colonies on potato dextrose agar (PDA) and oatmeal agar (OA), size and shape of synnemata and conidia were similar with previously known C. hinnuleum. In the case of strain KNUF-22-025, the analyses of ITS regions, LSU, TUB2, and RPB2 sequences showed similarities of 99.8, 100, 94.9, and 96.6%, respectively, with the closely related species B. iranicum (ABRIICC 10152T and ABRIICC 10153) that showed distinct phylogenetic position. Morphologically, KNUF-22-025 was differentiated through the length of conidiophores and cultural characteristics on PDA, OA, malt extract agar, and potato carrot agar. Based on morphological and phylogenetic analyses, this is the first discovery of B. luteum sp. nov. and C. hinnuleum, a new record in Korea.