Metulocladosporiella gen. nov. for the causal organism of Cladosporium speckle disease of banana

• Published in: Mycological research Vol. 110; no. 3; pp. 264 - 275
• Main Authors: Crous, Pedro W., Schroers, Hans-Josef, Groenewald, Johannes Z., Braun, Uwe, Schubert, Konstanze
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.03.2006
• Subjects: Ascomycota; bananas; Chaetothyriales; Cladosporium; Cladosporium - classification; Cladosporium - cytology; Cladosporium - genetics; Cladosporium musae; complex; culture; Dothideales; fungal anatomy; fungal diseases of plants; genera; host plants; Hyphomycetes; internal transcribed spacers; leaf spotting; Metulocladosporiella; Metulocladosporiella musae; Metulocladosporiella musicola; Molecular phylogeny; molecular systematics; Musa; Musa - virology; Mycosphaerellaceae; new genus; new geographic records; new species; Phylogeny; Plant Diseases - microbiology; plant pathogenic fungi; Plant pathology; ribosomal DNA; ribosomal dna-sequences; sequence analysis; Sequence Analysis, DNA; speckle disease; taxonomic keys; taxonomy; Honduras; Mexico; South Africa; Jamaica; Musa; Plant pathology; Hyphomycetes; Molecular phylogeny; Chaetothyriales
• ISSN: 0953-7562; 1469-8102
• DOI: 10.1016/j.mycres.2005.10.003

Cladosporium musae, a widespread leaf-spotting hyphomycete on Musa spp., is genetically and morphologically distinct from Cladosporium s. str. ( Davidiella anamorphs, Mycosphaerellaceae, Dothideales). DNA sequence data derived from the ITS and LSU gene regions of C. musae isolates show that this species is part of a large group of hyphomycetes in the Chaetothyriales with dematiaceous blastoconidia in acropetal chains. Cladosporium adianticola, a foliicolous hyphomycete known from leaf litter in Cuba is also a member of this clade and is closely related to C. musae. A comparison with other genera in the Cladosporium complex revealed that C. musae belongs to a lineage for which no generic name is currently available, and for which the genus Metulocladosporiella gen. nov. is proposed. Two species of Metulocladosporiella are currently known, namely M. musae, which is widely distributed, and M. musicola sp. nov., which is currently known from Africa.