Phylogeny and taxonomy of the North American clade of the Ceratocystis fimbriata complex.

Ceratocystis fimbriata is a widely distributed, plant pathogenic fungus that causes wilts and cankers on many woody hosts. Earlier phylogenetic analyses of DNA sequences revealed three geographic clades within the C. fimbriata complex that are centered respectively in North America, Latin America and Asia. This study looked for cryptic species within the North American clade. The internal transcribed spacer regions (ITS) of the rDNA were sequenced, and phylogenetic analysis indicated that most isolates from the North American clade group into four host-associated lineages, referred to as the aspen, hickory, oak and cherry lineages, which were isolated primarily from wounds or diseased trees of Populus, Carya, Quercus and Prunus, respectively. A single isolate collected from P. serotina in Wisconsin had a unique ITS sequence. Allozyme electromorphs also were highly polymorphic within the North American clade, and the inferred phylogenies from these data were congruent with the ITS-rDNA analyses. In pairing experiments isolates from the aspen, hickory, oak and cherry lineages were interfertile only with other isolates from their respective lineages. Inoculation experiments with isolates of the four host-associated groupings showed strong host specialization by isolates from the aspen and hickory lineages on Populus tremuloides and Carya illinoensis, respectively, but isolates from the oak and cherry lineages did not consistently reveal host specialization. Morphological features distinguish isolates in the North American clade from those of the Latin American clade (including C. fimbriata sensu stricto). Based on the phylogenetic evidence, interfertility, host specialization and morphology, the oak and cherry lineages are recognized as the earlier described C. variospora, the poplar lineage as C. populicola sp. nov., and the hickory lineage as C. caryae sp. nov. A new species associated with the bark beetle Scolytus quadrispinosus on Carya is closely related to C. caryae and is described as C. smalleyi.

Genetic variation in eastern North American and putatively introduced populations of Ceratocystis fimbriata f. platani.

The plant pathogenic fungus Ceratocystis fimbriata f. platani attacks Platanus species (London plane, oriental plane and American sycamore) and has killed tens of thousands of plantation trees and street trees in the eastern United States, southern Europe and Modesto, California. Nuclear and mitochondrial DNA fingerprints and alleles of eight polymorphic microsatellite markers of isolates of C. fimbriata from these regions delineated major differences in gene diversities. The 33 isolates from the eastern United States had a moderate degree of gene diversity, and unique genotypes were found at each of seven collection sites. Fingerprints of 27 isolates from 21 collection sites in southern Europe were identical with each other; microsatellite markers were monomorphic within the European population, except that three isolates differed at one locus each, due perhaps to recent mutations. The genetic variability of C. fimbriata f. platani in the eastern United States suggests that the fungus is indigenous to this region. The genetic homogeneity of the fungus in Europe suggests that this population has gone through a recent genetic bottleneck, perhaps from the introduction of a single genotype. This supports the hypothesis that the pathogen was introduced to Europe through Naples, Italy during World War II on infected crating material from the eastern United States. The Californian population may also have resulted from introduction of one or a few related genotypes because it, too, had a single nuclear and mitochondrial genotype and limited variation in microsatellite alleles.