Search

The family Thelebolaceae belongs to the order Thelebolales, class Leotiomycetes, and contains 22 genera. In this study, we introduce a new genus Solomyces gen. nov. in the family Thelebolaceae, which is supported by morphological observation and multilocus-based [internal transcribed spacers (ITS) + LSU and ITS + LSU + MCM7 + EF1A + RPB2 ] phylogenetic analysis. Maximum-likelihood and Bayesian phylogenetic inference analyses indicated that Solomyces is a distinct genus within this family. The new genus is compared against related Thelebolaceae genera, and its description and illustration are provided. This genus comprises one new species and one unnamed species (including two strains). We also report the addition of four new species – Pseudogymnoascus shaanxiensis , Pseudogymnoascus guizhouensis , Pseudogymnoascus sinensis , and Geomyces obovatus – in the family Thelebolaceae and present their morphological and phylogenetic characterizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many Isaria-like species have recently been moved into more appropriate genera. However, more robust molecular phylogenetic analyses are still required for Isaria-like fungi to ensure accurate taxonomic identification. We analyzed these Isaria-like strains using multi-gene phylogenetics. Cryptic diversity was discovered in several Isaria farinosa strains, and two new species, Samsoniella pseudogunnii and S. pupicola, are proposed. Our results reveal that more attention needs to be paid to cryptic intraspecific diversity across different isolates and genotypes of the Isaria-like species, some of which will need to be transferred to Samsoniella. Interestingly, S. hepiali, with a very broad host distribution, has been widely used as a medicinal and edible cordycipitoid fungus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Near-urban farmland is an important component of agricultural soils in China. Understanding the distribution and functional patterns of soil microbial communities is essential for accurate fertilization and disease control in this area. By considering the generalists, intermediates, and specialists of soil microbiota, we studied the soil microbial community assembly process and functional transformations characteristics in near-urban farmlands. We found that the intermediate group has the highest relative abundance with 66.24 % and 50.33 % for fungi and bacteria, respectively. A steeper geographic distance decay relationship (DDR) was found for the specialist bacteria than the generalist and intermediate taxa in the near-urban farmlands. However, the generalist species of fungi showed a steeper DDR than the intermediate and specialist. Both bacterial and fungal generalists have the widest niche, followed by the intermediate and specialists, respectively. The null model indicated that the deterministic processes dominate the community assembly process for bacteria (56%) and fungi (54 %). Variation partitioning analysis (VPA) showed that both the specialists and intermediate groups were more susceptible to geospatial distance than the generalists. Soil water content, C and N nutrients were the main factors driving the changes in the community structure of dominant generalist, intermediate and specialist species. The main functional groups of the generalists and specialist bacteria were chemoheterotrophy. Moreover, specialist bacteria have much more functions related to nitrogen transformation and organic matter degradation than generalist species. For fungi, the specialist species mainly are responsible for saprophytic, pathotrophic_saprotrophic and symbiotrophic nutritional types. Interestingly, the specialist fungi also consisted of a higher number of saprophytic, pathotrophic and symbiotic trophic functions. Thus, fungal and bacterial specialist species, rather than the intermediate or generalist groups support the soil microbial ecosystem functions in the near-urban farmland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]