Morphological and molecular characterization of Phytopythium litorale andPp. oedochilumfrom Iran

During a survey on the biodiversity of the genusPythiumin northwest region of Iran, three isolates belonging to the genusPhytopythium(Peronosporales) were isolated from the rhizosphere ofJuncussp. from the Myaneh region andCirsiumsp. from the Meshkin-Shahr region. Based on combination of cultural, morphological, cardinal growth rate and sequence data from ITS-rDNA, the isolate fromJuncussp. was identified asPp. litoraleand two isolates fromCirsiumsp. were identified asPp. oedochilum. Phylogenetic analyses of the ITS-rDNA sequences clustered our isolates with representative sequences forPp. litoraleandPp. oedochilumisolates from GenBank in thePhytopythiumclade. The generaJuncusandCirsiumare new hosts forPp. litoraleandPp. oedochilum, respectively. Both species represent new records for the mycobiota of Iran. With this paper, we provide full illustration for these two species and further discuss their phylogeny and morphology with closely related species.