Cryptic species and host specificity of ectomycorrhizal fungi, Strobilomyces
2016
Sato, H. (Kyoto University, Otsu, Shiga (Japan). Center for Ecological Research)
Taxonomical classification of ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi remains an important challenge, which can benefit from the application of DNA analysis. ECM fungal taxa likely include large numbers of cryptic species, since few morphological characteristics are useful when trying to distinguish these fungi; also, crossing experiments are often difficult. Previous studies suggested that the host specificity of most ECM fungi is low; however, confusion surrounding cryptic species may have led the previous researchers to underestimate host specificity. The study showed that what were previously described as four different species within the genus Strobilomyces were actually grouped into 14 distinct lineages based on both nuclear and mitochondrial sequences derived from Strobilomyces, suggesting that these lineages might be distinct biological species. Moreover, they identified the host plants of Strobilomyces based on nucleotide sequencing of both fungal and plant DNA from ECM samples. Thus, they and showed that lineages of Strobilomyces likely preferred either Fagaceae or Pinaceae, despite the fact that Strobilomyces were previously thought to be rather non-specific with regard to host type. These studies suggest that the host specificity of ECM fungi has been underestimated owing to the confusion of several cryptic species.
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