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AbstractThere is increasing evidence that holocarpic oomycetes, i.e., those converting their entire vegetative thallus into zoospores upon maturation, are a phylogenetically diverse group in both freshwater and marine ecosystems. Most of the known holocarpic oomycete species diverge before the main split of Peronosporomycetes and Saprolegniomycetes and are, thus, termed as early-diverging oomycetes. In environmental sequencing studies, it was revealed that of the early-diverging genera especially Sirolpidium, Miracula, and Diatomophthora are widespread. As in these studies especially the Arctic Ocean seemed to harbor many undiscovered species, sampling was conducted at the Blávík research station on Fáskrúðsfjörður in the East Fjords of Iceland, where there is both an influence from the Arctic Ocean and the North Atlantic. During the screening for infected diatoms, a parasitoid was found in the marine diatom genus Melosira, which is one of the most abundant genera in arctic ecosystems. Molecular phylogenetics and morphological characterization revealed that the parasitoid belonged to the genus Miracula and corresponded to one of the lineages previously found in single-cell sequencing. Thus, the current study both contributes to the knowledge of the genus Miracula and the increasing diversity of the genus suggests that the many linages found in environmental sequencing which can still not be associated with known species might represent actual species to be discovered in future studies.

Holocarpic oomycetes infecting freshwater diatoms are obligate endobiotic parasites reported from a wide range of habitats. So far, the taxonomy of and phylogeny of most species remains unresolved, since most have not been reported throughout the past decades and sequence data are available for only the four species, Aphanomycopsis bacillariacearum, Diatomophthora gillii, Ectrogella bacillariacearum, and the recently-discovered species Miracula moenusica. In the current study, a new freshwater diatom parasite resembling Ectrogella bacillariacearum in the sense of Scherffel was discovered from pennate diatoms (Ulnaria acus, Ulnaria ulna) collected from the small stream Einbúalækur on Víkurskarð, North Iceland and investigated for its life cycle and phylogenetic placement. In contrast to the original description, Scherffel reports an achlya-like spore discharge for Ectrogella bacillariacearum. The phylogenetic reconstruction and morphological characterisation in this study revealed that Scherffel’s E. bacillariacearum is largely unrelated to the epitype of the species and is a member of the early-diverging genus Miracula. Consequently, the new species is described as M. einbuarlaekurica in the present study. This adds a second freshwater member to the genus, demonstrating the high ecological adaptability of the genus, which thrives in both freshwater and marine ecosystems.

Obligate endoparasitic oomycetes are known to ubiquitously occur in marine and freshwater diatoms, but their diversity is still largely unexplored. Many of these parasitoids are members of the early-diverging oomycete lineages (Miracula, Diatomophthora), others are within the Leptomitales of the Saprolegniomycetes (Ectrogella, Lagenisma) and some have been described in the Peronosporomycetes (Aphanomycopsis, Lagenidium). Even though some species have been recently described and two new genera were introduced (Miracula and Diatomophthora), the phylogeny and taxonomy of most of these organisms remain unresolved. This is contrasted by the high number of sequences from unclassified species, as recently revealed from environmental sequencing, suggesting the presence of several undiscovered species. In this study, a new species of Miracula is reported from a marine centric diatom (Minidiscus sp.) isolated from Skagaströnd harbor in Northwest Iceland. The morphology and life cycle traits of this novel oomycete parasite are described herein, and its taxonomic placement within the genus Miracula is confirmed by molecular phylogeny. As it cannot be assigned to any previously described species, it is introduced as Miracula islandica in this study. The genus Miracula thus contains three described holocarpic species (M. helgolandica, M. islandica, M. moenusica) to which likely additional species will need to be added in the future, considering the presence of several lineages known only from environmental sequencing that clustered within the Miracula clade.

Over the past 15 years, downy mildew became the most destructive foliar disease in cultivated Impatiens species (Balsaminaceae) worldwide. A previous study had revealed that the causal agent was not Plasmopara obducens (Oomycota, Peronosporales) but Plasmopara destructor on Impatiens walleriana, and Plasmopara velutina on Impatiens balsamina. This hints to a relatively high degree of specialization of Plasmopara on Balsaminaceae. Therefore, it was the aim of the present study to perform multigene phylogenetic analysis and detailed morphological investigation for several Korean downy mildew samples parasitic to cultivated I. walleriana, and I. balsamina, but also to a northeast Asian wild plant, Impatiens textori. It was revealed that I. textori harbors a new species, which is introduced and described here as Plasmopara elegantissima.