Substrate specificity of members of the genus Xylaria (Ascomycota)
Z_Myk_2005-02
From 11/2005 to 07/2006Principal Investigator: Derek Peršoh, Gerhard Rambold
Staff: Katrin Graf
Xylaria hypoxylon, the type species of the genus Xylaria (Xylariaceae, Sordariomycetes), was first described by Linnaeus as Clavaria hypoxylon from Sweden. Initially, mycologists such as Saccardo assumed that this species had a cosmopolitan distribution. However, inconsistent reports regarding its morphoanatomical characteristics, as well as conflicting rDNA sequence data attributed to this species in GenBank, indicated the existence of an unresolved species complex. To address these discrepancies, molecular and morphological characteristics of numerous specimens, along with corresponding cultures of X. hypoxylon and related taxa from Europe, were carefully analyzed. The newly obtained 5.8S/ITS nrDNA sequence data were compared with previously published sequences and those from reference strains. The European populations of X. hypoxylon from various host species exhibited consistent rDNA sequence data and a relatively uniform holomorphic morphology, with the exception of one specimen from Sweden, which showed a deviation in ascospore morphology. Interestingly, some samples from the western United States showed DNA sequences identical to those from the European specimens, confirming the presence of X. hypoxylon in North America. However, DNA sequences and morphological traits from other extra-European material displayed significant deviations. Notably, a strain that had been assigned to X. hypoxylon in various phylogenetic studies, based on its DNA sequence data, did not match the European material examined. This strain is more likely representative of X. longiana.
List of publications of this Project
| Peršoh, D; Melcher, M; Graf, K; Fournier, J; Stadler, M; Rambold, G: Molecular and morphological evidence for the delimitation of Xylaria hypoxylon, Mycologia, 101(2), 256–268 (2009), doi:DOI: 10.3852/08-108 [Link] -- Details |