Morphological and molecular study on some species of Phoma and related taxa in Iran

Abstract

The genus <em>Phoma</em> Sacc. consists of important fungal plant pathogenic species occurring on economically important cultivated crops in spite of many other saprobic species. Thus, the aim of this study was to identify 35 isolates of <em>Phoma</em> species and related taxa collected from different hosts by means of morphological and molecular characters. Multi-locus phylogenetic analyses based on ITS1-5.8S-ITS2, actin and β-tubulin gene regions were conducted. Therefore, seven species including <em>Boeremia exigua</em>, <em>Didymella acetosellae</em>, <em>D. bellidis</em>, <em>D. pinodella</em>, <em>Neocamarosporium betae</em>,<em> Phoma destructiva </em>var<em>. destructive</em>, and<em> P. medicaginis </em>were identified and described, and among them, three species including <em>D. bellidis</em>,<em> D. acetosellae</em>, and<em> P. destructiva </em>var<em>. destructiva</em> are new records for the mycobiota of Iran. Also, <em>B. exigua</em>,and<em> D. pinodella </em>are reported for the first time from new host plants including <em>Paliurus spina-christi</em>, and <em>Trigonella-foenum graecum</em>, respectively. The morphological features and phylogenetic analyses were able to clarify the generic and species delimitation very clearly.