sdu faculty of forestry journal special edition 2009 - Orman Fakültesi

SDU Faculty of Forestry Journal
Serial: A, Number: Special Issue, Year: 2009, ISSN: 1302-7085, Page: 15-23
TWO NEW SPECIES OF Lophodermium COLONISE SCOTS PINES
NEEDLES IN SCOTLAND
ABSTRACT
Sabrina. N. A. REIGNOUX 1 *, Elizabeth A.E. AITKEN, Sarah GREEN,
Richard A. ENNOS
1 Forest Research, Northern Research Station, Roslin, Midlothian, Scotland EH25 9SY
*s.n.a.reignoux@sms.ed.ac.uk
Previous work has indicated that Scots pine needles are colonized by three species of
Lophodermium, of which two are the endophytes L. pinastri and L. conigenum and the third
is the pathogen L. seditiosum. Recent work on a DNA based Lophodermium phylogeny
found huge variation among L. pinastri isolates which was interpreted as the presence of
two subspecies within this taxon. In this study we use a combination of sequence data,
molecular markers and culture morphology to demonstrate the existence of three distinct
taxa within the entity that was previously classified as L. pinastri. These three taxa co-occur
within the native pine woods of Scotland
Keywords: Ascomycete, Lophodermium pinastri, Pinus sylvestris, Phylogeny
1. INTRODUCTION
There is increasing evidence that the diverse endophytic communities within the
leaves and needles of trees confer protection against pathogens (Petrini, 1991;
Arnold et al., 2003). A situation in which protection by endophytes could be
commercially important is found in the ascomycete genus Lophodermium Chev
which is ubiquitous in pines and is distributed worldwide. Many Lophodermium
species live asymptomatically as endophytes inside the needles of pines for at least
part of their life cycle (Minter, 1981a; Diwani & Millar, 1987; Wilson, 1995) and
could potentially help to protect against needle cast diseases (Minter, 1981b).
However in order to determine the importance of endophytic Lophodermium
species in protecting pines from needle diseases, it is essential to clarify their
taxonomy so that they can be readily identified and their ecology and behaviour
can be studied.
Lophodermium Chev. includes 145 species, mostly from pine hosts, and there is
some degree of host specificity (Kirk et al., 2008; Ortiz-Garcia et al., 2003).
Morphological characteristics of this genus include a single longitudinal slit
opening of the apothecia, and the fusiform shape of the ascospores (Darker 1967).
As it is known today, the Lophodermium species complex on P. sylvestris in
Scotland includes two endophytes and one pathogen. The two endophytes differ in
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