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Article

New Species of Large-Spored Alternaria in Section Porri Associated with Compositae Plants in China

1
Department of Plant Protection, College of Agriculture, Yangtze University, Jingzhou 434025, China
2
Department of Applied Biology, Chungnam National University, Daejeon 34134, Korea
3
Department of Biology, College of Life Sciences, Yangtze University, Jingzhou 434025, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
J. Fungi 2022, 8(6), 607; https://doi.org/10.3390/jof8060607
Submission received: 17 May 2022 / Revised: 2 June 2022 / Accepted: 3 June 2022 / Published: 6 June 2022

Abstract

:
Alternaria is a ubiquitous fungal genus including saprobic, endophytic, and pathogenic species associated with a wide variety of substrates. It has been separated into 29 sections and seven monotypic lineages based on molecular and morphological data. Alternaria sect. Porri is the largest section, containing the majority of large-spored Alternaria species, most of which are important plant pathogens. Since 2015, of the investigations for large-spored Alternaria species in China, 13 species were found associated with Compositae plants based on morphological comparisons and phylogenetic analyses. There were eight known species and five new species (A. anhuiensis sp. nov., A. coreopsidis sp. nov., A. nanningensis sp. nov., A. neimengguensis sp. nov., and A. sulphureus sp. nov.) distributed in the four sections of Helianthiinficientes, Porri, Sonchi, and Teretispora, and one monotypic lineage (A. argyranthemi). The multi-locus sequence analyses encompassing the internal transcribed spacer region of rDNA (ITS), glyceraldehydes-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), Alternaria major allergen gene (Alt a 1), translation elongation factor 1-alpha (TEF1), and RNA polymerase second largest subunit (RPB2), revealed that the new species fell into sect. Porri. Morphologically, the new species were illustrated and compared with other relevant large-spored Alternaria species in the study. Furthermore, A. calendulae, A. leucanthemi, and A. tagetica were firstly detected in Brachyactis ciliate, Carthamus tinctorius, and Calendula officinalis in China, respectively.

1. Introduction

Alternaria is a cosmopolitan and widely distributed fungal genus described originally by Nees (1816), which is characterized by the dark-coloured phaeodictyospores in chains and a beak of tapering apical cells [1]. It is also associated with nearly every environmental substrate including animal, plant, agricultural product, soil, and the atmosphere. Species of Alternaria are known as serious plant pathogens, causing enormous losses on many crops [1,2]. The taxonomy is mainly based on sporulation patterns and their conidial shape, size, and septation [2,3]. Around 280 species are summarised and recognised on the basis of morphology [2], comprising two groups, large-spored (60–100 μm long conidial body) and small-spored (below 60 μm conidial body) [4,5,6].
Since the 20th century, molecular approaches, especially multi-locus phylogenetic analyses, have been used to identify Alternaria species [7,8,9,10]. Over ten gene regions are used in the classification, such as the internal transcribed spacer region of rDNA (ITS), large subunit ribosomal DNA (LSU), mitochondrial small subunit (mtSSU), glyceraldehydes-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), Alternaria major allergen gene (Alt a 1), translation elongation factor 1-alpha (TEF1), RNA polymerase second largest subunit (RPB2), and plasma membrane ATPase [1,4,7,9,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18]. Alternaria has been separated into 29 sections and seven monotypic lineages [19,20,21]. The introduction of a molecular phylogenetic approach has helped to clarify their taxonomy, combining many allied genera into one large genus of Alternaria complex [1].
Due to the effects of Alternaria on humans and their surroundings, the identification is particularly important to agriculture, medicine, and science. The Compositae plants serve as food plant, oil seed, seed plant, ornamental, and sources of medicine and insecticide worldwide [22], of which nearly 3000 species almost 240 genera have been found in China [23]. Most Alternaria are commonly plant pathogens leading to substantial economic losses caused by Alternaria leaf spots and defoliation [18,24,25,26]. Large-spored Alternaria species encompassing 148 species are almost phytopathogenic demonstrated [2].
During the investigation of large-spored Alternaria in China, five new species were encountered from diseased leave samples of composite plants. The objectives of this study were to identify them on the basis of the cultural and conidial morphology incorporate with multi-loci phylogeny (ITS, GAPDH, Alt a 1, TEF1, and RPB2). The present multi-locus analysis supplemented with cultural and morphological data forms an example for Alternaria species recognition. The five new species described in this study add species diversity to large-spored Alternaria and provide theoretical and practical basis for the further identification and disease management.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Sample Collection and Fungal Isolation

Symptomatic samples of composite plants (14) have been randomly collected from different provinces in China since 2015. For fungal isolation, the samples were put into sterile plastic bags and taken to the laboratory. Small leaf segments (2 mm) with disease lesions were placed into petri dishes with moist filter papers and incubated at 25 °C in dark for conidial sporulation. Single spore of large-spored Alternaria was picked by a sterilized glass needle under the stereoscopic microscope and transferred to potato dextrose agar (PDA: Difco, Montreal, Canada). Over ten similar spores were randomly picked from a sample for sub-culturing to obtain the pure cultures, and two to three strains were selected for deposition when exhibiting similar cultural morphology on PDA. A total of 81 strains were kept in test-tube slants and deposited at 4 °C. Living ex-type strains were preserved in the Fungi Herbarium of Yangtze University (YZU), in Jingzhou, Hubei, China.

2.2. Morphological Observations

To determine cultural characteristics including growth rate, color and texture of colonies [27], mycelial plugs (6 mm in diameter) were taken from the edge of colonies grown on PDA. Then, the plugs were put on fresh PDA plates (90 mm) at 25 °C for 7 days in darkness. To observe the conidial morphology (conidial sporulation patterns, shape, size, etc.), mycelia were grown on potato carrot agar (PCA) and V8 juice agar (V8A) inoculated at 22 °C with a light period of 8 h light/16 h dark [2]. After 7 days, conidia and sporulation patterns were observed. Conidiophores and conidia were mounted with lactophenol picric acid solution and photographed with a Nikon ECLIPSE Ni-U microscope (Nikon, Japan). Randomly selected conidia (n = 50) were separately measured for each characterization.

2.3. DNA Extraction and PCR Amplification

Genomic DNA extraction was performed using fresh mycelia collected from colonies grown on PDA [28]. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplifications of the internal transcribed spacer region of rDNA (ITS), glyceraldehydes-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), Alternaria major allergen gene (Alt a 1), translation elongation factor 1-alpha (TEF1), and RNA polymerase second largest subunit (RPB2) gene regions were amplified with the primer pairs ITS5/ITS4 [29], EF1-728F/EF1-986R [30], gpd1/gpd2 [31], Alt-for/Alt-rev [12], and RPB2-5F2/RPB2-7cR [32,33], respectively. A 25 μL of the PCR reaction mixture comprising 21 μL of 1.1 × Taq PCR Star Mix (TSINGKE, Beijing, China), 2 μL template DNA and 1 μL of each primer was applied and performed in a BIORAD T100 thermocycler [1]. Successfully amplified PCR products were purified and sequenced by TSINGKE company (Beijing, China).

2.4. Phylogenetic Analyses

The resulted sequences were examined by BioEdit v.7.0.9 [34] and assembled with PHYDIT 3.2 [35]. All newly generated sequences were deposited in GenBank (Table 1). Relevant sequences [4] were retrieved from NCBI database based on the results of BLAST searches (Table 1). The concatenated sequence dataset of multiple loci was aligned using MEGA v.6.0 [36]. Phylogenetic analyses of each alignment were performed using maximum likelihood (ML) and Bayesian inference (BI) methods. ML analysis was conducted using RAxML v.7.2.8 [37]. Bootstrapping with 1000 replicates was performed using the model of nucleotide substitution obtained by MrModeltest. For the BI analysis, it was performed using parameters including 1,000,000 Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm with Bayesian posterior probabilities [38]. MrModel test v.2.3 used the best-fit model (GTR+I+G) according to the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC). Two MCMC chains were run from random trees for 106 generations, and the trees were sampled every 100th generation. After discarding the first 25% of the samples, the 50% majority rule consensus tree and posterior probability values were calculated. Finally, the resulting trees were edited in FigTree v.1.3.1 [39]. Branch support of the groupings (>60%/0.6 for ML bootstrap value-BS/posterior probability-PP) were indicated in the phylogram. Alternaria gypsophilae CBS 107.41 in sect. Gypsophilae was used as an outgroup.

3. Results

In the present study, large-spored Alternaria species associated with Compositae leaf spot in China since a survey from 2015 are summarized based on the phylogenetic analysis of GAPDH and RPB2 gene fragments (Figure S1 and Table S1). A total of 13 species including the present five new taxa revealed in four sections of Helianthiinficientes (A. helianthiinficiens), Porri (A. calendulae, A. tagetica and A. zinniae), Sonchi (A. cinerariae and A. sonchi), and Teretispora (A. leucanthemi), and one monotypic lineage (A. argyranthemi) (Figure S1). Meanwhile, a comprehensive description of the five new species in sect. Porri are described as A. anhuiensis sp. nov., A. coreopsidis sp. nov., A. nanningensis sp. nov., A. neimengguensis sp. nov., and A. sulphureus sp. nov..

3.1. Phylogenetic Analysis

The multi-gene phylogeny was constructed to determine the accurate positions of the new Alternaria based on five sequence loci (ITS + GAPDH + Alt a 1 + TEF1 + RPB2) (Table 1). The analysis comprised sequences of the ITS (504 characters), GAPDH (526 characters), Alt a 1 (457 characters), TEF1 (342 characters), and RPB2 (672 characters) gene regions with a total length of 2501 characters. The tree topologies (Figure 1) computed from the ML and BI analyses, were similar to each other, resulting in identical species-clades and the ML topology was presented as basal tree. The present strains fell into five separate branches in sect. Porri of Alternaria. Strain YZU 171206 was sister to A. alternariacida supported with a PP value of 1.0, which close to A. silybi with low BS and PP values surpport. Strains YZU 161159 and YZU 161160 formed an independent clade (BS/PP = 100%/1.0). Strain YZU 171523 fell into an individual branch close to A. obtecta and A. tillandsiae well-supported by 97%/0.99 (BS/PP). Strain YZU 171784 was clustered with A. cirsinoxia, A. centaureae, A. cichorii, and A. cantannaches supported by values of 79%/1.0 (BS/PP). Strain YZU 191448 was out group of strain YZU 171206, A. silybi and A. alternariacida with BS and PP values below 60% and 0.6. The results indicated that the five branches represent five new species from three different hosts (Coreopsis basalis, Cosmos sulphureus, and Lactuca seriola).

3.2. Taxonomy

Alternaria anhuiensis H. Luo and J.X. Deng, sp. nov. (Figure 2).
MycoBank No: 844033.
Etymology: Named after the collecting locality, Anhui Province.
Typification: China, Anhui Province, Hefei City, from leaf spot of Coreopsis basalis. June, 2017, J.X Deng, ex-type culture YZU 171206.
Description: Colonies on PDA circular, buff in the centre, flocculent with brown halo at the edge; reverse crimson pigment at centers, light yellow at margins, 59–60 mm in diam, at 25 °C for 7 days. On V8A, conidiophores arising from substrate or lateral of aerial hyphae with geniculate conidiogenous loci at or near apex, straight or curved, smooth-walled, septate, pale to dark brown, (40–) 60–145 (–203) × (4.5–) 5–7.5 (–8) μm; conidia solitary, long-narrow ovoid or ellipsoid body, apex rounded, base narrow, smooth-walled, single to double beak, dark brown, 61–100 (–111.5) × (11.5–) 13–19.5 μm, 6–11 transverse septa, 0–1 (–2) longitudinal septa; beak long-narrowed filiform, 1-beak, (32–) 58–133 (–150.5) × 2.5–4 (–4.5) μm; 2-beak, (22–) 60.5–90.5 (–116.5) × 2.5–3.5 μm. On PCA, conidiophores straight or curved, smooth-walled, septate, (42.5–) 50–140 × 4.5–6.5 (–9) μm; conidia solitary, long-narrow ovoid or ellipsoid body, single to double beak, triple or quadruple beaks not common, black brown, (55–) 66–105 × 11–16 μm, 5–10 (–11) transverse septa, 0–1 longitudinal septum; beak long-narrowed filiform, 1-beak, 100–180 (–202) × 2.5–4 μm; 2-beak, 95–217 (–236) × 2.5–4 (–5.5) μm; 3-beak, 60–140 × 2.5–3.5 μm; 4-beak (n = 1), 82 × 3 μm.
Notes: Phylogenetic analysis of the species based on a combined dataset of ITS, GAPDH, Alt a 1, TEF1, and RPB2 gene fragments falls in an individual clade close to A. alternariacida and A. silybi in sect. Porri (Figure 1). Morphologically, its primary conidiophores can generate geniculate conidiogenous loci at or near apex which differed from those two species (Figure 2, Table 2). It can be easily distinguished from A. alternariacida by producing more transverse septa and shorter beaks. Moreover, its conidia are solitary while A. alternariacida forms solitary or in unbranched chains of 2 (–3) conidia.
Alternaria coreopsidis H. Luo and J.X. Deng, sp. nov. (Figure 3).
MycoBank No: 844034.
Etymology: Named after the host genus name, Coreopsis.
Typification: China, Shaanxi Province, Xian City, from leaf spot of Coreopsis basalis. June, 2016, J.X Deng, ex-type culture YZU 161160.
Description: Colonies on PDA circular, buff halo in the centre, villiform with white at the edge; reverse dark brown at centers, vinaceous buff pigment at margins, 47–48 mm in diam, at 25 °C for 7 days. On V8A, conidiophores arising from substrate or lateral of aerial hyphae, solitary, simple, straight to slightly curved, septate, pale to dark brown, apical conidiogenous locus, pale brown, (34–) 50–86 (–115.5) × 5–7 (–9) μm; conidia solitary or in unbranched chains of 2 conidia, long-narrow ovoid or ellipsoid body, smooth-walled, single beak, yellow or brown, (48.5–) 55–80 (–85) × (9–) 10–15 μm, 6–9 transverse septa, 0–1 longitudinal septa; beak filamentous, 1-beak, (20–) 30–140 (–206) × (2–) 2.5–4 μm; normally, false beak swollen at the apex, around 8–10.5 (–14) × 4.5–5 (–6) μm. On PCA, conidiophores straight or curved, smooth-walled, septate, (24–) 50–90 (–135) × 5–7.5 (–9) μm; conidia long-narrow ovoid or ellipsoid body, apex rounded, single beak, pale brown, (40–) 45–70 × 9–13 μm, (5–) 6–8 (–9) transverse septa, 0–1 longitudinal septa; beak filamentous, 1-beak, (0–) 15–100 (–175) × (0–) 2–4 μm; swollen apex of false beak commonly 10–13 (–16.5) × 5–6 (–6.5) μm.
Materials examined: China, Shaanxi Province, Xian City, from leaf spot of Coreopsis basalis. June 2016, J.X Deng, living culture YZU 161159.
Notes: Phylogenetically, the species falls into an independent lineage outside of a clade comprising type species of A. porri of sect. Porri (Figure 1). It can be delimited based on either of GAPDH and RPB2 gene sequences (Figure S1). The species is characterized by producing conidia with false beak swollen at the apex up to 8–13 (–16.5) × 4.5–6.5 μm (Figure 3; Table 2).
Alternaria nanningensis H. Luo and J.X. Deng, sp. nov. (Figure 4).
MycoBank No: 844035.
Etymology: Named after the collecting locality, Nanning City.
Typification: China, Guangxi Province, Nanning City, from leaf spot of Cosmos sulphureus. July 2017, J.X Deng, ex-type culture YZU 171523.
Description: Colonies on PDA irregular, pistac, entire; reverse dark olive green, slightly protuberant with white at margins, 56–57 mm in diam, at 25 °C for 7 days. On V8A, conidiophores arising from substrate or lateral of aerial hyphae with geniculate conidiogenous loci at apex, straight or curved, smooth-walled, septate, pale brown, 38–59 (–64)× 4–5 (–6) μm; conidia solitary, ovoid or ellipsoid body, base narrow, smooth-walled, single beak, pale to yellow brown, (40.5–) 47–79 (–87) × 9–13.5 (–15) μm, 6–10 (–11) transverse septa, 0–1 longitudinal septa; beak long-narrowed filiform, 1-beak, 10–30 × (1–) 1.5–2 (–3) μm. On PCA, conidiophores straight or curved, smooth-walled, septate; 32–70 (–86) × 4–5.5 μm; conidia solitary, ovoid or ellipsoid body, single beak, pale to yellow brown, (49–) 55–77 (–82) × 10.5–13.5 (–15) μm, (5–) 6–9 (–10) transverse septa, 0–1 longitudinal septum; beak long-narrowed filiform, 1-beak, 13–26 (–44) × 1.5–2 (–2.5) μm.
Notes: The species is phylogenetically recognized as a distinct species in sect. Porri based on ITS, GAPDH, Alt a 1, TEF1, and RPB2 which displays a close relationship with A. obtecta, A. tillandsiae, and A. steviae (Figure 1). Compared with them, it is quite different by producing smaller conidia with short beaks (Figure 4; Table 2). Furthermore, its conidia are smooth-walled while some conidia of A. obtecta and A. steviae are minutely punctulate. Alternaria nanningensis forms simple conidiophores (solitary). But many conidiophores of A. steviae produce geniculate extensions and additional conidia, yielding tiny distal clumps of sporulation.
Alternaria neimengguensis H. Luo and J.X. Deng, sp. nov. (Figure 5).
MycoBank No: 844036.
Etymology: Named after the collecting locality, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
Typification: China, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, IMAU, from leaf spot of Lactuca seriola. September 2017, J.X Deng, ex-type culture YZU 171784.
Description: Colonies on PDA circular, pale brown en masse, flocculent, reverse dark olive green at centers, pale brown at margins, 51–54 mm in diam, at 25 °C for 7 days. On V8A, conidiophores arising from substrate or lateral of aerial hyphae, straight or curved, smooth-walled, septate, brown, 26–45 (–51) × 5–7 (–8) μm; conidia solitary, ovoid or ellipsoid body, apex rounded, base wide, smooth-walled, single to double beak, brown, (70–) 77–130 (–143.5) × (13–) 15–20 (–23) μm, 6–11 (–12) transverse septa, 0–1 (–2) longitudinal septa; beak long-narrowed filiform, 1-beak, (24.5–) 35–65 (–76) × (1.5–) 2–3 (–4) μm; 2-beak, (33–) 45–65 (–92) × (2–) 2.5–3 (–3.5) μm. On PCA, conidiophores straight or curved, smooth-walled, septate; 35–70 (–75)× 5–6.5 (–7.5) μm; conidia solitary, ovoid or ellipsoid body, apex rounded, single to double beak, pale to yellow brown, (59–) 66–104 (–120.5) × 13–18 (–20) μm, (5–) 6–10 (–11) transverse septa, 0–1 (–2) longitudinal septa; beak long-narrowed filiform, 1-beak, (13–) 31.5–60 (–93) × 1.5–3 μm; 2-beak, (12–) 26–53 (–80) × 1.5–2.5 (–3) μm.
Notes: In the phylogeny, the species is sister to A. cirsinoxia, A. centaureae, A. cichorii, and A. catananches (Figure 1). The conidiophores are distinct to A. cirsinoxia whose are 2–3 arm branches near a conidiophore tip and progressively geniculate, yielding tufts of several conidia. They are different from A. cichorii whose are frequently branch or proliferate in a geniculate manner near the apex, yielding terminal clumps of 4–5 conidia. In conidial morphology, it is obviously different from those four species by producing larger conidia (Table 2).
Alternaria sulphureus L. Zhao and J.X. Deng, sp. nov. (Figure 6).
MycoBank No: 844037.
Etymology: Named after the host species name, Cosmos sulphureus.
Typification: China, Shanxi Province, from leaf spot of Cosmos sulphureus. September 2019, J.X Deng, ex-type culture YZU 191448.
Description: Colonies on PDA circular, light brown in the centre, buff texture velutinous at the edge, reverse black brown at centers, 62–63 mm in diam, at 25 °C for 7 days. On V8A, conidiophores arising from substrate, solitary, simple, straight to slightly curved, septate, apical conidiogenous locus, pale brown; (50–) 63–100 (–108) × 6–8 (–9) μm; conidia solitary, sometimes in chains of two conidia, ovoid, ellipsoid or obovoid body, smooth-walled, pale to yellow, (64–) 74–116 × (12.5–) 14–20 (–25.5) μm, (5–) 7–11 transverse septa, 0–1 (–2) longitudinal septa; beak long-narrowed filiform, 1-beak, (25.5–) 34–151 (–159.5) × 2.5–4.5 (–5.5) μm; 2-beak (n = 1), 129 × 4 μm. On PCA, conidiophores straight or curved, smooth-walled, septate, (34.5–) 40.5–56 (–85) × 5–7.5 μm; conidia ovoid, ellipsoid, or obovoid body, apex rounded, single to double beak, triple beaks not common, pale brown, 80–110 × 16–24 μm, 6–10 transverse septa, 0–1 longitudinal septum; beak long-narrowed filiform, 1-beak, (73–) 110–195 × 3–5 μm; 2-beak, (74–) 96–170 × 3–4 μm; 3-beak (n = 1), 109.5 × 3.5 μm.
Notes: This species is phylogenetically related to A. silybi, A. alternariacida and A. anhuiensis sp. nov. in sect. Porri (Figure 1). It could be distinguished from A. silybi and A. alternariacida by forming larger conidia (Figure 6; Table 2) and is quite different from A. alternariacida by producing multiple and shorter beaks.

4. Discussion

Thirteen large-spored Alternaria species associated with Compositae leaf spot in China were assigned to four sections and one monotypic lineage in this study. Among theses species, five new species (A. anhuiensis sp. nov., A. coreopsidis sp. nov., A. nanningensis sp. nov., A. neimengguensis sp. nov., and A. sulphureus sp. nov.) were clearly recognized in section Porri. The section is speciose assessing encompassing 117 large-spored Alternaria [5]. In 2014, the section is reduced 82 morphospecies in to 63 phylogenetic species [2]. They are commonly pathogenic and could induce typical black necrotic lesions surrounded by chlorotic areas. There are some important famous plant pathogens, such as A. porri on Allium plants (Liliaceae), A. solani for potato (Solanaceae), A. sesami for sesame (Pedaliaceae) and A. dauci for carrot (Umbelliferae) [2]. Twenty-one species are comprised in sect. Porri associated with the Compositae family [4]. This study provides new data supplements for the Alternaria taxonomy of sect. Porri.
Morphologically, large-spored Alternaria species in sect. Porri are characterised by broadly ovoid, obclavate, ellipsoid, subcylindrical or obovoid, medium to large conidia containing multiple transverse and longitudinal septa, solitary or in short chains with a simple or branched, long to filamentous beak [4]. Among these characteristics, sporulation patterns, conidial body, transverse septa, and beak type provide useful information for the preliminary separation into sections [2]. Morphology is quite important for new fungal species identification, which can be defined based on unique morphological characters when the molecular data is not well-supported [41]. Morphological comparisons of the present new species and their relevant species in sect. Porri were conducted (Table 2). For the sporulation patterns, the conidia of A. anhuiensis, A. nanningensis, A. neimengguensis, and A. sulphureus are solitary produced except A. coreopsidis, which similar to A. alternariacida, A. cichorii, A. cirsinoxia, and A. steviae forming chain of 2 (–3) units [2,4]. In conidial morphology, A. anhuiensis, A. nanningensis, A. neimengguensis, and A. sulphureus are distinguishable from their closely related species based on the size of conidial bodies (Table 2) and also the wall ornamentations [2,4]. On the other hand, A. anhuiensis, A. neimengguensis, and A. sulphureus are readily be distinguished by producing multiple beaks. By the way, there are no significant differences on conidial morphology of PCA and V8A medium for all species.
In addition, morphological variation and fundamental pleomorphism complicate the Alternaria species recognition, and host plants reflect some evidences for the identification [3]. With the discovery of Alternaria species, it has been found from various plants of Compositae [1,4,21,42,43]. Alternaria calendulae has been reported from Calendula officinalis in Czech Republic [2], Germany [4], Japan [4], and Korea [44]. It also is found on C. officinalis in China and firstly on Brachyactis ciliata in the study. Alternaria leucanthemi has previously been found on Chrysanthemum maximum from Netherlands [1] and Helianthus annuus from China [45]. It is firstly isolated from Carthamus tinctorius in this study. In addition, A. tagetica is commonly associated with Tagetes plants (Tagetes erecta and Tagetes patula) [3,4,46,47,48], which firstly encountered from Calendula officinalis in this study. Interestedly, the five new species are isolated from three different composite hosts (Coreopsis basalis, Cosmos sulphureus, and Lactuca seriola) and A. cinerariae are found on five different composite plants in China (Figure S1; Table S1). The results suggest that an Alternaria species may associated with several host plants.

5. Conclusions

The present data indeed revealed a diversity of large-spored Alternaria associated with Compositae plants in China. A total of 13 large-spored Alternaria species were obtained and circumscribed as eight known species and five new species belonging to the four sections of Helianthiinficientes, Porri, Sonchi, and Teretispora, and one monotypic lineage (A. argyranthemi) based on the morphological characteristics and molecular properties of multiple DNA sequences (ITS, GAPDH, Alt a 1, TEF1, and RPB2). Alternaria calendulae, A. leucanthemi, and A. tagetica were firstly isolated from Brachyactis ciliate, Carthamus tinctorius, and Calendula officinalis in China, respectively. Since large-spored Alternaria species are almost demonstrated phytopathogens, further study on the pathogenicity is needed to verify in the future.

Supplementary Materials

The following supporting information can be downloaded at: https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/jof8060607/s1, Figure S1: Phylogenetic tree of large-spored Alternaria from the Compositae family in China using a maximum likelihood (ML) analysis based on combined GAPDH and RPB2 gene sequences. The RAxML bootstrap support values > 60% (ML) and Bayesian posterior probabilities >0.6 (PP) are given at the nodes (ML/PP); Table S1: The other Altenraria species associated with the Compositae plants from China analyzed by phylogeny.

Author Contributions

The contributions of L.Z. and H.L. are consistent. Conceptualization, L.Z. and J.-X.D.; methodology, L.Z. and J.-X.D.; software, H.L.; validation, H.L., H.C. and Y.-N.G.; formal analysis, H.C. and Y.-N.G.; data curation, L.Z. and H.L.; writing—original draft preparation, L.Z. and H.L.; writing—review and editing, L.Z., J.-X.D. and Z.-H.Y.; visualization, L.Z.; supervision, J.-X.D.; project administration, J.-X.D. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

The financial support was given by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31400014 and No. 31570022).

Institutional Review Board Statement

Not applicable.

Informed Consent Statement

Not applicable.

Data Availability Statement

The sequences newly generated in this study have been submitted to the GenBank database.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Xue-Feng Wei for providing the leaf samples.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

References

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Figure 1. Maximum likelihood (ML) phylogram of new five Alternaria species from the Compositae family based on a combined dataset of ITS, GAPDH, Alt a 1, TEF1, and RPB2 gene sequences. The RAxML bootstrap support values >60%(ML) and Bayesian posterior probabilities >0.6 (PP) are given at the nodes (ML/PP). The present strains are in bold.
Figure 1. Maximum likelihood (ML) phylogram of new five Alternaria species from the Compositae family based on a combined dataset of ITS, GAPDH, Alt a 1, TEF1, and RPB2 gene sequences. The RAxML bootstrap support values >60%(ML) and Bayesian posterior probabilities >0.6 (PP) are given at the nodes (ML/PP). The present strains are in bold.
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Figure 2. Morphology of Alternaria anhuiensis sp. nov. (A,B) Natural symptoms of Coreopsis basalis; (C,D) Colony phenotypes (on PDA for 7 days at 25 °C); (E,F) Sporulation patterns (on V8A at 22 °C); (G,H) Conidiophores (on V8A at 22 °C); (I) Conidia (on V8A at 22 °C); (J) Conidia (on PCA at 22 °C). Bars: (EJ) = 25 μm.
Figure 2. Morphology of Alternaria anhuiensis sp. nov. (A,B) Natural symptoms of Coreopsis basalis; (C,D) Colony phenotypes (on PDA for 7 days at 25 °C); (E,F) Sporulation patterns (on V8A at 22 °C); (G,H) Conidiophores (on V8A at 22 °C); (I) Conidia (on V8A at 22 °C); (J) Conidia (on PCA at 22 °C). Bars: (EJ) = 25 μm.
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Figure 3. Morphology of Alternaria coreopsidis sp. nov. (A,B) Natural symptoms of Coreopsis basalis; (C,D) Colony phenotypes (on PDA for 7 days at 25 °C); (E) Sporulation patterns (on V8A at 22 °C); (F,G) Conidiophores (on V8A at 22 °C); (H) Conidia (on V8A at 22 °C); (I) Conidia (on PCA at 22 °C). Bars: (EI) = 25 μm.
Figure 3. Morphology of Alternaria coreopsidis sp. nov. (A,B) Natural symptoms of Coreopsis basalis; (C,D) Colony phenotypes (on PDA for 7 days at 25 °C); (E) Sporulation patterns (on V8A at 22 °C); (F,G) Conidiophores (on V8A at 22 °C); (H) Conidia (on V8A at 22 °C); (I) Conidia (on PCA at 22 °C). Bars: (EI) = 25 μm.
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Figure 4. Morphology of Alternaria nanningensis sp. nov. (A,B) Natural symptoms of Cosmos sulphureus; (C,D) Colony phenotypes (on PDA for 7 days at 25 °C); (E,F) Sporulation patterns (on V8A at 22 °C); (G) Conidiophores (on V8A at 22 °C); (H) Conidia (on V8A at 22 °C); (I) Conidia (on PCA at 22 °C). Bars: (EJ) = 25 μm.
Figure 4. Morphology of Alternaria nanningensis sp. nov. (A,B) Natural symptoms of Cosmos sulphureus; (C,D) Colony phenotypes (on PDA for 7 days at 25 °C); (E,F) Sporulation patterns (on V8A at 22 °C); (G) Conidiophores (on V8A at 22 °C); (H) Conidia (on V8A at 22 °C); (I) Conidia (on PCA at 22 °C). Bars: (EJ) = 25 μm.
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Figure 5. Morphology of Alternaria neimengguensis sp. nov. (A) Natural symptoms of Lactuca seriola; (B,C) Colony phenotypes (on PDA for 7 days at 25 °C); (D,E) Sporulation patterns (on V8A at 22 °C); (F) Conidiophores (on V8A at 22 °C); (G) Conidia (on V8A at 22 °C); (H) Conidia (on PCA at 22 °C). Bars: (DH) = 25 μm.
Figure 5. Morphology of Alternaria neimengguensis sp. nov. (A) Natural symptoms of Lactuca seriola; (B,C) Colony phenotypes (on PDA for 7 days at 25 °C); (D,E) Sporulation patterns (on V8A at 22 °C); (F) Conidiophores (on V8A at 22 °C); (G) Conidia (on V8A at 22 °C); (H) Conidia (on PCA at 22 °C). Bars: (DH) = 25 μm.
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Figure 6. Morphology of Alternaria sulphureus sp. nov. (A,B) Natural symptoms of Cosmos sulphureus; (C,D) Colony phenotypes (on PDA for 7 days at 25 °C); (E,F) Sporulation patterns (on PCA at 22 °C); (G) Conidiophores (on PCA at 22 °C); (H) Conidia (on V8A at 22 °C); (I) Conidia (on PCA at 22 °C). Bars: (EI) = 25 μm.
Figure 6. Morphology of Alternaria sulphureus sp. nov. (A,B) Natural symptoms of Cosmos sulphureus; (C,D) Colony phenotypes (on PDA for 7 days at 25 °C); (E,F) Sporulation patterns (on PCA at 22 °C); (G) Conidiophores (on PCA at 22 °C); (H) Conidia (on V8A at 22 °C); (I) Conidia (on PCA at 22 °C). Bars: (EI) = 25 μm.
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Table 1. GenBank accession numbers of Alternaria species used in phylogenetic analyses.
Table 1. GenBank accession numbers of Alternaria species used in phylogenetic analyses.
SectionSpeciesStrainLocalitySubstrateITSGAPDHAlt a 1TEF1RPB2
PorriA. acalyphicolaCBS 541.94 TSeychellesAcalypha indicaKJ718097KJ717952KJ718617KJ718446KJ718271
PorriA. ageratiCBS 117221 RUSAAgeratum houstonianumKJ718098KJ717953KJ718618KJ718447KJ718272
PorriA. agripestisCBS 577.94 TCanadaEuphorbia esula, stem lesionKJ718099JQ646356KJ718619KJ718448KJ718273
PorriA. alliiCBS 116701 RUSAAllium cepa var. viviparumKJ718103KJ717957KJ718623KJ718452KJ718277
PorriA. alternariacidaCBS 105.51 TUKSolanum lycopersicum, fruitKJ718105KJ717959KJ718625KJ718454KJ718279
PorriA. anagallidisCBS 117129 RNew ZealandAnagallis arvensis, leaf spotKJ718109KJ717962KJ718629KJ718457KJ718283
PorriA. anhuiensis sp. nov.YZU 171206 TChinaCoreopsis basalis, leafMK264916MK303949MK303953MK303958MK303960
PorriA. anodaePPRI 12376South AfricaAnoda cristata, leafKJ718110KJ717963KJ718630KJ718458KJ718284
PorriA. aragakiiCBS 594.93 TUSAPassiflora edulisKJ718111KJ717964KJ718631KJ718459KJ718285
PorriA. argyroxiphiiCBS 117222 TUSAArgyroxiphium sp.KJ718112JQ646350KJ718632KJ718460KJ718286
PorriA. azadirachtaeCBS 116444 TAustraliaAzadirachta indica, leaf spotKJ718115KJ717967KJ718635KJ718463KJ718289
PorriA. bataticolaCBS 531.63 TJapanIpomoea batatasKJ718117JQ646349JQ646433KJ718465KJ718291
PorriA. blumeaeCBS 117364 TThailandBlumea auritaKJ718126AY562405AY563291KJ718474KJ718300
PorriA. calendulaeCBS 224.76 TGermanyCalendula officinalisKJ718127KJ717977KJ718648KJ718475KJ718301
PorriA. calendulaeCBS 101498New ZealandCalendula officinalis, leafKJ718128KJ717978KJ718645KJ718476KJ718302
Porri CBS 116439 TNew ZealandRosa sp., leaf spotKJ718129KJ717979KJ718646KJ718477KJ718303
Porri CBS 116650 RJapanCalendula officinalis, leaf spotKJ718130KJ717980KJ718647KJ718478KJ718304
PorriA. carthamiCBS 117091 RUSACarthamus tinctorius, leaf spotKJ718133KJ717983KJ718651KJ718481KJ718307
PorriA. carthamicolaCBS 117092 TIraqCarthamus tinctoriusKJ718134KJ717984KJ718652KJ718482KJ718308
PorriA. cassiaeCBS 116119 TMalaysiaSauropus androgynusKJ718136KJ717986KJ718654KJ718484KJ718310
PorriA. catananchesCBS 137456 TNetherlandsCatananche caeruleaKJ718139KJ717989KJ718657KJ718487KJ718313
PorriA. centaureaeCBS 116446 TUSACentaurea solstitialis, leaf spotKJ718140KJ717990KJ718658KJ718488KJ718314
PorriA. cichoriiCBS 102.33 TCyprusCichorium intybus, leaf spotKJ718141KJ717991KJ718659KJ718489KJ718315
PorriA. cirsinoxiaCBS 113261 TCanadaCirsium arvense, stem lesionKJ718143KJ717993KJ718661KJ718491KJ718317
PorriA. citrullicolaCBS 103.32 TCyprusCitrullus vulgaris, fruitKJ718144KJ717994KJ718662KJ718492KJ718318
PorriA. coreopsidis sp. nov.YZU 161159ChinaCoreopsis basalis, leafMK264914MK303947MK303951MK303955MK303971
Porri YZU 161160 TChinaCoreopsis basalis, leafON130144ON229924ON229926ON229928ON229930
PorriA. crassaCBS 110.38 TCyprusDatura stramonium, leaf spotKJ718147KJ717997KJ718665KJ718495KJ718320
Porri CBS 122590 RUSADatura stramonium, leaf spotKJ718152GQ180072GQ180088KJ718500KJ718325
PorriA. cucumerinaCBS 116114 TUSALuffa acutangulaKJ718153KJ718000KJ718668KJ718501KJ718326
Porri CBS 117225 RUSACucumis melo, leaf spotKJ718154KJ718001KJ718669KJ718502KJ718327
PorriA. cyamopsidisCBS 117219 RUSACyamopsis tetragonoloba, leaf spotKJ718157KJ718004KJ718672KJ718505KJ718330
PorriA. dauciCBS 111.38 TItalyDaucus carota, seedKJ718158KJ718005KJ718673KJ718506KJ718331
PorriA. deserticolaCBS 110799 TNamibiadesert soilKJ718249KJ718077KJ718755KJ718595KJ718424
PorriA. dichondraeCBS 199.74 TItalyDichondra repens, leaf spotKJ718166JQ646357JQ646441KJ718514KJ718339
PorriA. echinaceaeCBS 116117 TNew ZealandEchinacea sp., leaf lesionKJ718170KJ718015KJ718684KJ718518KJ718343
PorriA. grandisCBS 116695 RUSASolanum tuberosum, leaf spotKJ718241KJ718070KJ718748KJ718587KJ718416
PorriA. ipomoeaeCBS 219.79 TEthiopiaIpomoea batatas, stem and petioleKJ718175KJ718020KJ718689KJ718523KJ718348
PorriA. jesenskaeCBS 133855 TSlovakiaFumana procumbens, seedKJ718177KJ718022KJ718691KJ718525KJ718350
PorriA. linariaeCBS 105.41 TDenmarkLinaria maroccana, seedlingKJ718180KJ718024KJ718692KJ718528KJ718353
PorriA. passifloraeCBS 630.93 TUSAPassiflora edulisKJ718210JQ646352KJ718718KJ718556KJ718383
Porri CBS 116333 TNew ZealandGaura lindheimeri, leafKJ718211KJ718046KJ718719KJ718557KJ718384
PorriA. pipionipisiCBS 116115 TIndiaCajanus cajan, seedKJ718214KJ718049KJ718722KJ718560KJ718387
PorriA. porriCBS 116699 TUSAAllium cepa, leaf spotKJ718218KJ718053KJ718727KJ718564KJ718391
PorriA. protentaCBS 116437 TNew ZealandHordeum vulgare, seedKJ718220KJ718055KJ718729KJ718566KJ718393
PorriA. pseudorostrataCBS 119411 TUSAEuphorbia pulcherrimaJN383483AY562406AY563295KC584680KC584422
PorriA. ranunculiCBS 116330 TIsraelRanunculus asiaticus, seedKJ718225KJ718058KJ718732KJ718571KJ718398
PorriA. riciniCBS 215.31 TJapanRicinus communisKJ718226KJ718059KJ718733KJ718572KJ718399
PorriA. rostellataCBS 117366 TUSAEuphorbia pulcherrima, leafKJ718229JQ646332KJ718736KJ718575KJ718402
PorriA. scorzoneraeCBS 478.83 TNetherlandsScorzonera hispanica, leaf spotKJ718191JQ646334KJ718699KJ718538KJ718364
PorriA. sennaeCBS 477.81 TIndiaSenna corymbosa, leafKJ718230JQ646344JQ646428EU130543KJ718403
PorriA. sesamiCBS 115264 RIndiaSesamum indicum, seedlingJF780939KJ718061KJ718738KJ718577KJ718405
PorriA. sidaeCBS 117730 TKiribatiSida fallax, leaf spotKJ718232KJ718062KJ718739KJ718578KJ718406
PorriA. silybiCBS 134092 TRussiaSilybum marianum, leafKJ718233KJ718063KJ718740KJ718579KJ718407
Porri CBS 134093RussiaSilybum marianum, leafKJ718234KJ718064KJ718741KJ718580KJ718408
Porri CBS 134094RussiaSilybum marianum, leafKJ718235KJ718065KJ718742KJ718581KJ718409
PorriA. solaniCBS 109157 RUSASolanum tuberosum, leaf spotKJ718238GQ180080KJ718746KJ718585KJ718413
PorriA. solani-nigriCBS 117101 RNew ZealandSolanum nigrum, leaf spotKJ718247KJ718075KJ718753KJ718593KJ718422
PorriA. steviaeCBS 117362 TJapanStevia rebaudiana, leaf spotKJ718252KJ718079KJ718758KJ718598KJ718427
PorriA. tageticaCBS 117217 RUSATagetes sp., leaf spotKJ718256KJ718083KJ718763KJ718602KJ718431
Porri CBS 297.79UKTagetes sp., seedKJ718253KJ718080KJ718759KJ718599KJ718428
Porri CBS 298.79UKTagetes sp., seedKJ718254KJ718081KJ718760KJ718600KJ718429
Porri CBS 479.81 RUKTagetes erecta, seedKC584221KC584143KJ718761KC584692KC584434
Porri CBS 480.81 RUSATagetes sp., seedKJ718255KJ718082KJ718762KJ718601KJ718430
PorriA. thunbergiaeCBS 116331 TAustraliaThunbergia alata, leaf spotKJ718257KJ718084KJ718764KJ718603KJ718432
PorriA. tillandsiaeCBS 116116 TNew ZealandTillandsia usneoidesKJ718260KJ718087KJ718767KJ718606KJ718435
PorriA. tropicaCBS 631.93 TUSAPassiflora edulis, fruitKJ718261KJ718088KJ718768KJ718607KJ718436
PorriA. venezuelensisCBS 116121 TVenezuelaPhaseolus vulgaris, leaf spotKJ718263KJ718263KJ718770KJ718609KJ718438
PorriA. zinniaeCBS 117223 RNew ZealandZinnia elegans, leaf spotKJ718270KJ718096KJ718777KJ718616KJ718445
Porri CBS 118.44HungaryCallistephus chinensis, seedKJ718264JQ646361KJ718771KJ718610KJ718439
Porri CBS 117.59ItalyZinnia elegansKJ718266KJ718092KJ718773KJ718612KJ718441
Porri CBS 299.79UKZinnia sp., seedKJ718268KJ718094KJ718775KJ718614KJ718443
GypsophilaeA. gypsophilaeCBS 107.41 TNetherlandsGypsophila elegans, seedKC584199KC584118KJ718688KC584660KC584401
Note: The bold indicate the newly generated sequences. T, ex-type strain; R, representative strain.
Table 2. Morphological comparisons of the five new Alternaria species and their closely related species.
Table 2. Morphological comparisons of the five new Alternaria species and their closely related species.
SpeciesStrainConidiaSporulation PatternMediumReference
ShapeSize (μm)TransverseseptaBeak (μm)
A. alternariacidaCBS 105.51Smooth-walled, narrowly ovoid; smooth-walled(85–) 99–111 (–121) × (6–) 7–8 (–10)(3–) 5–6 (–8)(47–) 129–257 (–610) × 2Solitary or in unbranched chains of 2 (–3) conidiaSNA[4]
A. anhuiensis sp. nov.YZU 171206Long-narrow ovoid or ellipsoid; smooth-walled61–100 (–111.5) × (11.5–) 13–19.56–11(22–) 58–133 (–150.5) × 2.5–4 (–4.5)SolitaryV8AThis study
A. catananchesCBS 137456Narrowly ovoid; ornamented in lower half of the conidium(26–) 37–43 (–57) × (7–) 8–9 (–11)(2–) 4 (–6)(77–) 126–160 (–260) × 2SolitarySNA[4]
A. centaureaeCBS 116446Long narrow-ellipsoid or long-ovoid; ornamentation and punctate to pustulate75–100 × 15–247–10140–190 × 1.5–6SolitaryV8A[2]
A. cichoriiCBS 117218Narrow-ovoid or narrow-ellipsoid; smooth-walled60–80 × 14–187–12120–240 × 2.5–7Terminal clumps of 4–5 conidiaV8A[2]
A. cirsinoxiaCBS 113261Long-obclavate, short-ovoid; punctulate-walled70–90 × 12–227–980–165 × 2.5–4Solitary or tufts of 2–7 conidiaV8A[2]
A. coreopsidis sp. nov.YZU 161160Long-narrow ovoid or ellipsoid; smooth-walled(48.5–) 55–80 (–85) × (9–) 10–156–9(20–) 30–140 (–206) × (2–) 2.5–4Solitary or 2–conidium chainsV8AThis study
A. nanningensis sp. nov.YZU 171523Ovoid or ellipsoid; smooth-walled(40.5–) 47–79 (–87) × 9–13.5 (–15)6–10 (–11)10–30 × (1–) 1.5–2 (–3)SolitaryV8AThis study
A. neimengguensis sp. nov.YZU 171784Ovoid or ellipsoid; smooth-walled(70–) 77–130 (–143.5) × (13–) 15–20 (–23)6–11 (–12)(24.5–) 35–65 (–92) × (1.5–) 2–3 (–4)SolitaryV8AThis study
A. obtectaCBS 134278Long-ovoid or ellipsoid; smooth or punctulate-walled65–95 × 18–227–1055–150 × 2SolitaryPCA[2]
A. porriCBS 116698Ovoid, sometimes broad or nearly cylindrical; smooth or punctulate-walled70–105 × 19–248–1295–160 × 2–6.5SolitaryV8A[2]
A. silybiCBS 134093Long-ellipsoid, subcylindrical or long-ovoid50–80 × 15–20 (–22)(5–) 7–1070–130 (–190) × 3SolitaryV4A[40]
A. steviaeCBS 117362Long-ovoid, subellipsoid, or obovoid; smooth or punctulate-walled55–95 × 18–307–1060–120 × 1.5–2.5Solitary or tiny distal clumpsV8A[2]
A. sulphureus sp. nov.YZU 191448Ovoid, ellipsoid, or obovoid; smooth-walled(64–) 74–116 × (12.5–) 14–20 (–25.5)(5–) 7–11(25.5–) 34–151 (–159.5) × 2.5–4.5 (–5.5)SolitaryV8AThis study
A. tillandsiaeCBS 116116Long-ovoid, ellipsoid, long-obovoid; smooth or a minor punctulate-walled70–102 × 16–198–1175–120 × 2SolitaryV8A[2]
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MDPI and ACS Style

Zhao, L.; Luo, H.; Cheng, H.; Gou, Y.-N.; Yu, Z.-H.; Deng, J.-X. New Species of Large-Spored Alternaria in Section Porri Associated with Compositae Plants in China. J. Fungi 2022, 8, 607. https://doi.org/10.3390/jof8060607

AMA Style

Zhao L, Luo H, Cheng H, Gou Y-N, Yu Z-H, Deng J-X. New Species of Large-Spored Alternaria in Section Porri Associated with Compositae Plants in China. Journal of Fungi. 2022; 8(6):607. https://doi.org/10.3390/jof8060607

Chicago/Turabian Style

Zhao, Lin, Huan Luo, Hong Cheng, Ya-Nan Gou, Zhi-He Yu, and Jian-Xin Deng. 2022. "New Species of Large-Spored Alternaria in Section Porri Associated with Compositae Plants in China" Journal of Fungi 8, no. 6: 607. https://doi.org/10.3390/jof8060607

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