ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Microbiol., 14 February 2023

Sec. Microbe and Virus Interactions with Plants

Volume 13 - 2022 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2022.1080290

Two new species of Exidia sensu lato (Auriculariales, Basidiomycota) based on morphology and DNA sequences

  • 1. Institute of Microbiology, School of Ecology and Nature Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, China

  • 2. Administration of Yuyuantan Park, Beijing, China

  • 3. Retired, Orliénas, France

  • 4. Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture, Hobart, TAS, Australia

Abstract

In the present study, fourteen Exidia-like specimens were collected from China, France, and Australia. Based on morphological characteristics and phylogenetic analyses using the internal transcribed spacer regions (ITS) and the large subunit of nuclear ribosomal RNA gene (nLSU), four species in Exidia sensu lato, including Exidia saccharina and Tremellochaete atlantica, and two new species, Exidia subsaccharina and Tremellochaete australiensis, were identified. The four species are described and illustrated in detail. E. saccharina and T. atlantica, two known species from China are reported for the first time. E. subsaccharina and T. australiensis, two new species from France and Australia, respectively are also described. E. subsaccharina is characterized by its reddish brown to vinaceous brown basidiomata, slightly papillate hymenial surface, and narrowly allantoid basidiospores without oil drop measuring 12.5–17.5 × 4.2–5.5 μm. It differs from the similar species, E. saccharina, by distinctly larger basidiospores (12.5–17.5 × 4.2–5.5 vs. 10–14.2 × 3.2–4.5 μm). Tremellochaete australiensis is characterized by its white to grayish blue basidiomata, obviously and densely papillate hymenial surface, and allantoid basidiospores with oil drop measuring 13.8–16.2 × 4.8–6.5 μm. It also can be distinguished from the similar species, T. atlantica and T. japonica, by its distinctly larger basidiospores (13.5–17.8 × 4–5.2 vs. 10–11.8 × 4–4.8 μm in T. atlantica; 9.4–11.8 × 3.5–4.2 μm in T. japonica).

Introduction

Exidia Fr. was proposed by Fries and typified by Exidia glandulosa (Bull.) Fr. The genus is characterized by gelatinous bassidiomata, ellipsoid to subglobose, longitudinally cruciate septate, 4-celled basidia, cylindrical to allantoid basidiospores, and the ability to cause white rot in woody plants (Lowy, ; Liu, ; Roberts, ; Spirin et al., ; Ye et al., ; Wu et al., ). Because of their morphological similarities, Exidia sensu lato traditionally includes three genera Exidia, Myxarium Wallr., and Tremellochaete Raitv (Roberts, ; Weiß and Oberwinkler, ; Malysheva, ), as confirmed by phylogenetic analyses in recent studies (Malysheva and Spirin, ; Spirin et al., , ; Wu et al., ). Some species in Hyaloria Möller, Stypella Möller, and Sebacina C. Tul and C. Tul. et al., have waxy, very small, and effused basidiomata different from the usually gelatinous, thick, orbicular basidiomata of Exidia, were recently transferred into Myxarium based on morphological and phylogenetic analyses (Spirin et al., ). Myxarium phylogenetically forms a monophyletic clade distantly related to Exidia and Tremellochaete (Spirin et al., ; Stalpers et al., ). In addition, Myxarium belongs to Hyaloriaceae, whereas Exidia and Tremellochaete belong to Auriculariaceae, and Myxarium can be distinguished from the latter two genera by its distinctly stalked basidia (Spirin et al., , ). Therefore, Exidia sensu lato is defined here as a group of fungi that includes Exidia and Tremellochaete.

Exidia was less studied in the latter part of the 20th century but has received attention more recently (Weiß and Oberwinkler, ; Wells et al., ; Roberts, ) due to its edible species and medicinal values (Łopusiewicz, ; Wu et al., ). One edible species from China, Exidia yadongensis described by F. Wu et al., contains rich amino acids and plays a key role in the balance of physiological functions (Chen et al., ; Wu et al., ). Recently, E. reflexa F. Wu et al., E. subglandulosa F. Wu et al., and E. qinghaiensi S.R. Wang and Thorn, were described based on multigene phylogenies (Ye et al., ; Wang and Thorn, ). However, the genus is still polyphyletic in the phylogeny, and species of the genus are scattered in several genera of Auriculariaceae (Yuan et al., ; Spirin et al., ,; Ye et al., ). Tremellochaete was reinstated to accommodate T. japonica (Yasuda), Raitv. and T. nigerrima (Viégas), Spirin and Malysheva (Malysheva and Spirin, ), and T. atlantica Alvarenga and T. cerradensis Alvarenga, and one new combination species, T. ciliata (Möller) Spirin and Alvarenga, were described and proposed in this genus (Alvarenga et al., ; Phookamsak et al., ). In total, there are more than 70 species in Exidia and six species in Tremellochaete worldwide according to Index Fungorum (http://www.indexfungorum.org) and MycoBank (https://www.mycobank.org), but < 20 species have molecular data (Alvarenga et al., ; Wu et al., ; Wang and Thorn, ). Tremellochaete was reinstated at the genus level, it is not accepted by some researchers (Wang and Thorn, ), and the generic demarcation of Exidia and Tremellochaete is unclear both in morphology and phylogeny (Alvarenga et al., ; Ye et al., ). Further studies are urgently needed based on more samples and taxa.

In the present study, fourteen Exidia-like specimens were collected from China, France, and Australia. After morphological examinations and phylogenetic analyses using the internal transcribed spacer regions (ITS) and the large subunit of the nuclear ribosomal RNA gene (nLSU), four species were identified in Exidia and Tremellochaete, among which two are new to science, and a detailed description of these species is given in the present study.

Materials and methods

Morphology

The studied specimens were deposited at the herbarium of the Institute of Microbiology, Beijing Forestry University (BJFC), with color terms following those outlined by Petersen (). Sections mounted in 5% KOH and 2% phloxine B (C20H2Br4Cl4Na2O5) were studied at a magnification of up to 1,000 × using a Nikon Eclipse 80i microscope and phase contrast illumination. A Nikon Digital Sight DS-L3 camera was used to photograph microscopic structures. We also used other reagents, including Cotton Blue and Melzer's reagent to observe micromorphology following Wu et al. (). To show the variation in spore sizes, 5% of measurements were excluded from each end of the range and shown in parentheses. At least thirty basidiospores from each specimen were measured. Stalks were excluded from basidia measurements, and the hilar appendage was excluded from basidiospore measurements. The following abbreviations were used: KOH, potassium hydroxide (5%); L, mean length (arithmetic average of all basidiospores length); W, mean width (arithmetic average of all basidiospores width); Q, L/W ratio for each specimen studied; n (a/b), number of basidiospores (a) measured from a given number of specimens (b).

DNA extraction, PCR reaction, and sequencing

DNA was extracted from dried specimens using a rapid plant genome extraction kit (Aidlab Biotechnologies Co., Ltd., Beijing, China) and modified following Wu et al. (). The internal transcribed spacer regions (ITS) and the large subunit of the nuclear ribosomal RNA gene (nLSU) were amplified with primer pairs ITS 4 and ITS 5 (White et al., ) and LR0R and LR7 (Vilgalys and Hester, ), respectively. The PCR (polymerase chain reaction) procedure for ITS was initial denaturation at 95°C for 3 min, followed by 35 cycles at 94°C for 40 s, 58°C for 45 s, and 72°C for 1 min, and a final extension at 72°C for 10 min. The PCR procedure for nLSU was initial denaturation at 94°C for 1 min, followed by 35 cycles at 94°C for 1 min, 48°C for 1 min, and 72°C for 1.5 min, and a final extension at 72°C for 10 min (Wu et al., ). The PCR products were purified and sequenced at the BGI (Beijing Genomics Institute, China), with the same primers that are used in the PCR reactions. The nLSU sequences were obtained by splicing bidirectional sequences because LR0R-LR7 is >1,000 bp.

Phylogenetic analyses

The new sequences generated in this study and reference sequences retrieved from GenBank (Table 1) were aligned with MAFFT (version 7; Katoh and Standley, ) and then manually adjusted in BioEdit and Mesquite version 3.04 software (Hall, ; Maddison and Maddison, ). A dataset composed of concatenated ITS+nLSU sequences was used in the phylogenetic analyses using the maximum likelihood (ML), maximum parsimony (MP), and Bayesian inference (BI) methods. Bourdotia galzinii (Bres.) Trotter was selected as the outgroup in the phylogenetic analyses because the species was closer to species of Auriculariaceae than others but not closely related to species in Exidia sensu lato (Spirin et al., ). Except for the outgroup, sequences from the other eleven Auriculariales genera were added to the phylogenetic analyses because Exidia was previously shown to be polyphyletic (Yuan et al., ; Spirin et al., ).

Table 1

SpeciesSampleGenBank Accession nos.Country
ITSnLSU
Adustochaete niveaRLMA 531MN165954MN165989USA
Adustochaete interruptaLR 23435MK391518MK391527Mexico
Adustochaete ravaKHL 15526MK391517MK391526Brazil
Amphistereum leveilleanumFP1 06715KX262119KX262168USA
Amphistereum schrenkiiHHB 8476KX262130KX262178USA
Auricularia auricula-judaeJT 04KT152099KT152115UK
Auricularia auricula-judaeDai 16353MZ618932MZ669900France
Auricularia corneaDai 13621MZ618936MZ669905China
Auricularia tibeticaDai 13336MZ618943MZ669915China
Elmerina cladophoraOtto Miettinen X1902MG757509MG757509Indonesia
Elmerina efibulataDai 9322JQ764669JQ764647China
Elmerina sclerodontiaOtto Miettinen X3269MG757512MG757512Malaysia
Eichleriella alliciensHHB 7194KX262120KX262169USA
Eichleriella flavidaLR 49412KX262137KX262185UK
Eichleriella siccaOM 17349KX262143KX262191USA
Exidia candidaVS 3921KY801867KY801892Russia
Exidia candidaVS 8588KY801870KY801895USA
Exidia candidaLE 313211KY801868KY801893Russia
Exidia candidaLE 38198KY801871KY801896Russia
Exidia crenataDai 19464MT663359MT664778Canada
Exidia crenataWu 26MT663361MT664780Canada
Exidia glandulosaMW 355AF291273AF291319Germany
Exidia glandulosaTUFC 34008AB871761AB871742Japan
Exidia glandulosaDai 18024MH213394MH213426China
Exidia glandulosaWu 265MN850376MN850356China
Exidia pithyaMW 313AF291275AF291321Germany
Exidia qinghaiensisHMAS 156328MW353409MW353409China
Exidia qinghaiensisHMAS 156376MW353408MW353408China
Exidia recisaMW 315AF291276AF291322Germany
Exidia recisaSL 180317MT663365MT664783Finland
Exidia reflexaDai 20833MN850386MN850362China
Exidia reflexaDai 20861MN850388MN850364China
Exidia reflexaDai 20874MN850389MN850365China
Exidia repandaLY BR 7046MT663367MT664784France
Exidia saccharinaRoki 88AF291277AF291323Germany
Exidia saccharinaDai 15848OP605366OP605350China
Exidia saccharinaDai 15890OP605367OP605351China
Exidia saccharinaDai 21719OP605368OP605352China
Exidia saccharinaDai 21720OP605369OP605353China
Exidia subglandulosaWu 270MN850381MN850357China
Exidia subglandulosaWu 272MN850383MN850359China
Exidia subglandulosaWu 278MN850385MN850361China
Exidia subsaccharinaDai 22195OP605370OP605354France
Exidia subsaccharinaDai 22187OP605371OP605355France
Exidia thuretianaSpirin 9999KY801878KY801905Finland
Exidia thuretianaMW 373AF291278AF291324Germany
Exidia thuretianaVS 11185KY801889KY801914Norway
Exidia truncataMW 365AF291279AF291325Germany
Exidia truncataDai 21231MT663369MT664785Finland
Exidia uvapassaTUFC 34007AB871863AB871744Japan
Exidia uvapassaAFTOL-ID 461DQ241776AY645056Japan
Exidia yadongensisDai 17209MT663370MT664786China
Exidia yadongensisDai 17212MT663373MT664789China
Exidia yadongensisDai 17268MT663375MT664791China
Exidiopsis calceaMW 331AF291280AF291326Germany
Exidiopsis effusaOM 19136KX262145KX262193Finland
Exidiopsis griseaRoKi 162AF291281AF291328Germany
Grammatus labyrinthinusYuan 1600KM379139KM379140China
Grammatus semisOM10618KX262146KX262194China
Heteroradulum adnatumLR 23453KX262116KX262165Mexico
Heteroradulum deglubensLE 38182KX262112KX262162Sweden
Heteroradulum deglubensSolheim 1864KX262133KX262181Norway
Heteroradulum kmetiiVS 6466KX262104KX262152Russia
Heteroradulum kmetiiHe 4915MH178262MH178286China
Proterochaete adustaVS 9021MK391520MK391528Canada
Tremellochaete atlanticaURM 90198MG594382MG594384Brazil
Tremellochaete atlanticaURM 90199MG594381MG594383Brazil
Tremellochaete atlanticaDai 22363OP605374OP605358China
Tremellochaete atlanticaDai 22375OP605375OP605359China
Tremellochaete atlanticaWu 539OP605373OP605357China
Tremellochaete australiensisDai 18601AOP605376OP605360Australia
Tremellochaete australiensisDai 18664OP605377OP605361Australia
Tremellochaete australiensisDai 18704OP605378OP605362Australia
Tremellochaete australiensisDai 18714OP605379OP605363Australia
Tremellochaete australiensisDai 18758OP605380OP605364Australia
Tremellochaete cerradensisURM 90200MK391524MK391530Brazil
Tremellochaete ciliataSP 467241MK391523MK391529Brazil
Tremellochaete japonicaTAA 42689AF291274AF291320Russia
Tremellochaete japonicaWu 251MN850378MN850367China
Tremellochaete japonicaWu 254MN850379MN850368China
Bourdotia galzinii (out group)Otto MiettinenX3067MG757511MG757511Spain

Taxa information and GenBank accession numbers used in this study.

New sequences are in bold.

Maximum likelihood (ML), Bayesian inference (BI), and maximum parsimony (MP) phylogenetic analyses were performed using RAxML (version 8; Stamatakis, ), MrBayes (version 3.2.7a; Ronquist et al., ), and PAUP (version 4.0b10; Swofford, ), respectively, following the study of Wu et al. (). The optimal substitution models for the combined dataset are determined using the Akaike information criterion (AIC) implemented in MrModeltest 2.3 (Posada and Crandall, ; Nylander, ) after scoring 24 models of evolution by PAUP (version 4.0b10; Swofford, ). The GTR + I + G model was applied in the BI and ML analyses.

Branches that received bootstrap support for maximum likelihood (BS), Bayesian posterior probabilities (BPP), and maximum parsimony (BP) >50% (BS), 0.90 (BPP), and 50% (BP), respectively, are considered to be significantly supported. The phylograms were viewed using FigTree version 1.4.2 (Rambaut, ).

Results

Phylogenetic analyses

The combined ITS+nLSU dataset included 81 fungal specimens representing 44 species in the Auriculariales. The dataset had an aligned length of 1,898 characters, including 1,406 constants, 156 parsimony-uninformative characters, and 336 parsimony-informative characters. MP analysis yielded four equally parsimonious trees (tree length = 1,607, consistency index = 0.432, retention index = 0.725, rescaled consistency index = 0.313, and homoplasy index = 0.568). The average standard deviation of split frequencies in BI analysis was 0.005425. The topology of the ML tree with bootstrap values for BP, BS, and BPP was chosen to represent the phylogenetic relationship of species in the Auriculariales since ML, MP, and BI resulted in similar topologies (Figure 1). The phylogeny demonstrated our fourteen Exidia-like specimens were clustered into four different lineages with high support, including two new lineages that represented two new species, E. subsaccharina (100% BS, 1.00 BPP, and 100% BP; Figure 1) and Tremellochaete australiensis (100% BS, 1.00 BPP, and 100% BP; Figure 1). The four Chinese specimens and one German sample (Roki 88) identified as E. saccharina by Weiß and Oberwinkler () were nested in the same lineage with high support in the phylogeny (Figure 1), so these specimens were treated as E. saccharina, and this represents the first record of the species in China.

Figure 1

Taxonomy

Exidia saccharina Fr., Syst. mycol. (Lundae) 2(1): 225 (1822), Figures 2A, 3.

Figure 2

Figure 3

Basidiomata: When fresh, the basidiomata are gelatinous, fawn to orange-brown, suborbicular to cerebriform, sessile, usually remaining separate, occasionally coalescing; are up to 10 cm wide and 1.5 cm thick; have free margins; have a hymenial surface that is clearly ridged, with sparse papillae, becoming vinaceous brown when dry; and are absent of mineral inclusions.

Internal features: Hyphal structure is monomitic; hyphae are clamped (clamps are usually open), usually branched, hyaline, thin-walled, 0.5–2.5 μm in diameter, and embedded in a gelatinous matrix. Basidia are longitudinally cruciate septate, 4-celled, subglobose to ovoid, and thin-walled, measuring 13–15.5 × 8.5–11.8 μm. Hyphidia are simple, thin-walled, and hyaline. Basidiospores are narrowly allantoid, slightly to distinctly curved, hyaline, thin-walled, smooth, usually without oil drop, neither amyloid, dextrinoid, nor cyanophilous, measuring (9.8–)10–14.2(−14.5) × (3–)3.2–4.5 μm, L = 11.71 μm, W = 3.82 μm, and Q = 2.98–3.12 (n = 60/2).

Specimens examined: CHINA. Hebei Province, Weichang County, Saihanba National Forest Park, on fallen trunk of Larix, 27.VIII.2020, Dai 21719 (BJFC 035621), and Dai 21720 (BJFC 035622); Xinjiang Autonomous Region, Burjin County, Karnas Nature Reserve, on fallen trunk of Larix, 11.IX.2015, Dai 15890 (BJFC 019991); Habahe County, Baihaba River Forest Park, on the fallen trunk of Larix, 10.IX.2015, Dai 15848 (BJFC 019949).

Exidia subsaccharina F. Wu, B. Rivoire, A. Tohtirjap, and Y.C. Dai, sp. nov. Figures 2B, 4.

Figure 4

MycoBank: MB846784.

Holotype: FRANCE. Chaussan, on dead tree of Pinus sylvestris, 10.VIII.2008, Dai 22187 and LY BR 337 (BJFC 036778).

Etymology: Subsaccharina (Latin) refers to the micromorphology being similar to that of E. saccharina.

Diagnosis: E. subsaccharina may be confused with E. saccharina when fresh, but E. saccharina differs from the species by its slightly smaller basidia (13–15.5 × 8.5–11.8 μm), usually simple hyphidia, and distinctly smaller basidiospores (10–14.2 × 3.2–4.5 μm).

Basidiomata: When fresh, the basidiomata are gelatinous, reddish brown to vinaceous brown, orbicular to suborbicular, sessile, usually remaining coalescing, occasionally separate; are fused together with up to 10 cm in width and 1 cm in thickness; have free margins; have a hymenial surface that is slightly ridged, with papillae, becoming fuscous when dry; and are absent of mineral inclusions.

Internal features: Hyphal structure is monomitic; hyphae are clamped (clamps are usually open), usually branched, hyaline, thin-walled, 0.5–3 μm in diameter, and embedded in a gelatinous matrix. Basidia are longitudinally cruciate septate, 4-celled, subglobose to ovoid, and thin-walled, measuring 13.5–19.2 × 9.2–14.2 μm. Hyphidia are usually branched, sometimes simple, thin-walled, and hyaline. Basidiospores are narrowly allantoid, slightly to distinctly curved, hyaline, thin-walled, smooth, usually without oil drop, neither amyloid, dextrinoid, nor cyanophilous, measuring (12–)12.5–17.5(−18.5) × (4–)4.2–5.5(−5.8) μm, L = 15.78 μm, W = 4.73 μm, and Q = 3.23–3.44 (n = 60/2).

Additional specimen examined (paratype): FRANCE. Orliénas, on dead tree of Pinus sylvestris, 22.XII.2011, Dai 22195 and LY BR 4290 (BJFC 036786).

Tremellochaete atlantica Alvarenga, in Phookamsak et al., Fungal Diversity 95: 242 (2019) Figures 2C, 5.

Figure 5

Basidiomata: When fresh, the basidiomata are gelatinous, white to ash-gray or brownish, suborbicular to slightly cerebriform, sessile, usually remaining coalescing, occasionally separate; are fused, with up to 10 cm width and 1 cm thickness; have free margins; have occasionally ridged hymenial surface, are obviously and densely studded with irregular papillae, becoming dark gray or grayish brown when dry; and are absent of mineral inclusions.

Internal features: Hyphal structure is monomitic; hyphae are usually simple septate, rarely clamped, branched, hyaline, thin-walled, 0.5–2 μm in diameter, and embedded in a gelatinous matrix. Basidia are longitudinally cruciate septate, 4-celled, subglobose to globose, and thin-walled, measuring 10–12.8 × 9–10.8 μm. Hyphidia are distinctly branched, thin-walled, and hyaline. Basidiospores are allantoid, slightly to distinctly curved, hyaline, thin-walled, smooth, usually with oil drop, neither amyloid, dextrinoid, nor cyanophilous, measuring (9.8–)10–11.8(−12.8) × (3.8–)4–4.8(−5) μm, L = 10.95 μm, W = 4.24 μm, and Q = 2.58 (n = 30/1).

Specimens examined: CHINA. Fujian Province, Yongtai County, Tianmenshan National Forest Park, on fallen angiosperm branch, 5.VI.2021, Dai 22363 (BJFC 036947) and Dai 22375 (BJFC 036959); Yunnan Province, Xishuangbanna, Mengla County, Rainforest Valley Scenic Area, on fallen angiosperm branch, 3.VII.2021, Wu 539 (BJFC 036394).

Tremellochaete australiensis F. Wu, G.M. Gates, A. Tohtirjap, and Y.C. Dai, sp. nov. Figures 2D, 6.

Figure 6

MycoBank: MB846785.

Holotype: AUSTRALIA. Melbourne, Dandenong Ranges Botanical Garden, on the dead tree of Rhododendron, 12.V.2018, Dai 18664 (BJFC 027132).

Etymology: Australiensis (Latin) refers to the species being found in Australia.

Diagnosis: Tremellochaete australiensis is morphologically similar to T. atlantica and T. japonica, but the latter two species have shorter basidia (< 13 μm in length) and basidiospores (< 12 μm in length) and branched hyphidia.

Basidiomata: When fresh, the basidiomata are gelatinous, white to grayish blue, suborbicular to slightly cerebriform, sessile, usually remaining coalescing, occasionally separate; are fused together with up to 20 cm in width and 0.5–1 cm in thickness; have free margins; have a hymenial surface occasionally ridged, is clearly and densely studded with irregular papillae, becoming dark gray to black when dry; and are absent of mineral inclusions.

Internal features: Hyphal structure is monomitic; hyphae are clamped (clamps are usually open), usually branched, hyaline, thin-walled, 0.5–2.5 μm in diameter, and embedded in a gelatinous matrix. Basidia are longitudinally cruciate septate, 4-celled, subglobose to globose, and thin-walled, measuring 13–15.8 × 11.5–15 μm. Hyphidia are simple, cylindrical, thin-walled, and hyaline. Basidiospores are allantoid, slightly to distinctly curved, hyaline, thin-walled, smooth, usually with oil drop, neither amyloid, dextrinoid, nor cyanophilous, measuring (12.8–)13.8–16.2(−18) × (4.5–)4.8–6.5 μm, L = 14.94 μm, W = 5.59 μm, and Q = 2.6 (n = 30/1).

Additional specimens examined (paratypes): AUSTRALIA. Tasmania, Hobart, Mt. Wellington, on rotten wood of Olearia, 13.V.2018, Dai 18704 (BJFC 027173) and Dai 18714 (BJFC 027183); Mount Field Forest, close to Mount National Park, on the fallen trunk of Nothofagus, 14.V.2018, Dai 18758 (BJFC 027226); Victoria, Yarra Ranges National Park, on rotten wood of Eucalyptus, 9.V.2018, Dai 18601A (BJFC 027070).

Discussion

Exidia sensu lato is a genus of wood-inhabiting fungi that grows on dead branches and logs and is best known in the temperate regions of Europe, America, and Asia (Malysheva, ; Spirin et al., ; Wu et al., ; Ye et al., ; Wang and Thorn, ). Although nearly eighty taxa were recorded in Exidia sensu lato, most species were described in the 20th century (Fries, ; Lowy, , ). In recent years, four species in Exidia and two species in Tremellochaete were described based on morphology and phylogenetic analyses (Alvarenga et al., ; Wu et al., ; Ye et al., ; Wang and Thorn, ), which improved knowledge of Exidia sensu lato across the world. However, since the demarcation of Exidia and Tremellochaete is still ambiguous, multilocus analyses based on taxonomically and geographically broad sampling are needed.

Tremellochaete was accepted by most researchers (Malysheva and Spirin, ; Malysheva et al., ; Yuan et al., ; Alvarenga et al., ). However, Wang and Thorn () rejected Tremellochaete because its type species T. japonica was closely related to E. candida Lloyd in their phylogeny. In our phylogeny (Figure 1), three Tremellochaete species, T. atlantica, T. australiensis, and T. japonica, are also closely related to E. candida, but they formed a separate clade with robust support; two other species placed in Tremellochaete, T. cerradensis and T. ciliata, are distantly related (Figure 1). Tremellochaete may be a polyphyletic genus like other genera, e.g., Exidia and Exidiopsis (Yuan et al., ; Alvarenga et al., ; Spirin et al., ). In addition, Tremellochaete can be distinguished from Exidia by its clear and dense papillae on the hymenial surface (Malysheva and Spirin, ; Alvarenga et al., ; Figure 2).

Exidia subsaccharina is morphologically similar to E. saccharina by sharing gelatinous and brownish basidiomata, a slightly papillate hymenial surface, and narrowly allantoid basidiospores usually without oil drop and grows on rotten conifer wood (Spirin et al., ), and both species are closely related in the phylogeny (Figure 1). However, E. subsaccharina can be distinguished from E. saccharina by its slightly larger basidia (13.5–19.2 × 9.2–14.2 vs. 13–15.5 × 8.5–11.8 μm), usually branched hyphidia (usually simple in E. saccharina), and distinctly bigger basidiospores (12.5–17.5 × 4.2–5.5 vs. 10–14.2 × 3.2–4.5 μm), and they form two distinct lineages with robust support (Figure 1). Exidia pithya (Alb. and Schwein.) Fr. usually grows on conifer wood too, but it differs from E. subsaccharina by its resupinate and black basidiomata and distinctly smaller basidiospores (10–13 × 3–5 μm; Malysheva, ), and it is distantly related to E. subsaccharina in the phylogeny (Figure 1).

Tremellochaete australiensis may be confused with T. atlantica and T. japonica due to their gelatinous and white to gray basidiomata, densely papillated hymenial surface, and allantoid basidiospores usually with oil drop (Phookamsak et al., ; Ye et al., ), but it has longer basidia (13–15.8 × 11.5–15 μm in T. australiensis; 10–12.8 × 9–10.8 μm in T. atlantica; 9.4–12.4 × 9.1–14.2 μm in T. japonica) and basidiospores (13.8–16.2 × 4.8–6.5 μm in T. australiensis; 10–11.8 × 4–4.8 μm in T. atlantica; 9.4–11.8 × 3.5–4.2 μm in T. japonica). Furthermore, T. australiensis usually has cylindrical hyphidia, but they are distinctly branched in T. atlantica and T. japonica.

Tremellochaete atlantica was originally described from Brazil by Phookamsak et al. (), and our Chinese samples and the type of T. atlantica share almost the same ITS sequences, with < 2 base pair differences in the ITS region between the Chinese samples and the type of T. atlantica. The morphology of the Chinese samples fits the descriptions of T. atlantica except for slightly longer basidiospores (10–11.8 × 4–4.8 vs. 7.75–10 × 2–5 μm) and usually simple septate hyphae, with Brazillian specimens usually having clamped hyphae) (Phookamsak et al., ). These minor differences are considered intraspecific, so we consider this the first report of T. atlantica from China.

Statements

Data availability statement

The datasets presented in this study can be found in online repositories. The names of the repository/repositories and accession number(s) can be found in the article/supplementary material.

Author contributions

FW and Y-CD coordinated the project, designed the experimental plan, and acquired funding. AT and FW analyzed the data and prepared the original draft. BR and Y-CD collected the samples from the field. S-XH, GG, BR, and Y-CD reviewed and edited the manuscript. All authors contributed to the study and approved the submitted version.

Funding

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project Nos. 32070006 and 32270011), the Tibet Autonomous Region Science and Technology Project (XZ202201ZY0006N), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 2021ZY91).

Acknowledgments

We thank Long-Fei Fan, Zhan-Bo Liu, and Ya-Ping Lian for their guidance on DNA extraction, PCR reaction, sequencing, and illustration.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher’s note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

References

Summary

Keywords

Auriculariaceae, phylogenetic analysis, taxonomy, wood-rotting fungi, diversity

Citation

Tohtirjap A, Hou S-X, Rivoire B, Gates G, Wu F and Dai Y-C (2023) Two new species of Exidia sensu lato (Auriculariales, Basidiomycota) based on morphology and DNA sequences. Front. Microbiol. 13:1080290. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.1080290

Received

26 October 2022

Accepted

16 December 2022

Published

14 February 2023

Volume

13 - 2022

Edited by

Jesús Navas-Castillo, Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Spain

Reviewed by

R. Greg Thorn, Western University, Canada; Łukasz Łopusiewicz, West Pomeranian University of Technology, Poland

Updates

Copyright

*Correspondence: Fang Wu ✉ Yu-Cheng Dai ✉

This article was submitted to Microbe and Virus Interactions with Plants, a section of the journal Frontiers in Microbiology

Disclaimer

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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