Multigene phylogeny reveals three new records of Colletotrichum spp. and several new host records for the mycobiota of Iran

Abstract

Abstract The genus Colletotrichum comprises a number of plant pathogens of major importance which cause anthracnose diseases on a wide range of woody and herbaceous plants worldwide. With the advent of molecular studies, it has been shown that most of the previously known species e.g. C. boninense, C. acutatum, and C. gloeosporioides have been split into several species. In the present study, the identity of Colletotrichum isolates from the northern and northwestern zone of Iran were determined based on multi-gene phylogenetic analyses. Phylogenetic analysis based on a combination of internal transcribed spacer (ITS), beta tubulin (TUB), histone H3 (HIS), calmodulin (CAL), and actin (ACT) loci, clustered our isolates into three clades, including C. salicis on Salix sp., Colletotrichum sp. (C. fuscum sensu lato) within the C. destructivum species complex on Viola sp., and C. fructicola on Citrus sinensis, Malus domestica, Gleditsia caspica, and Sambucus ebulus. These three species are new for mycobiota of Iran. According to these results, Viola sp. from West Azerbaijan (Khoy-Firouragh) is a new host for Colletotrichum sp. in the C. destructivum species complex. Furthermore, C. sinensis from Mazandaran (Behshahr), and G. caspica, and S. ebulus from Guilan (Talesh), are new host records for C. fructicola.