Molecular Phylogenetic Identification of Plant-pathogenic Fungi Isolated from Two Medicinal Atractylodes macrocephala Koidz Species

Plant-pathogenic fungi are a large and diverse group of organisms which exhibit great importance in agriculture and natural plant communities. In this study, we investigated the taxonomic identities and phylogenetic relationships of pathogenic fungi isolated from two medicinal Atractylodes macrocephala Koidz species, Swordlike A. macrocephala and Largehead A. macrocephala, using the morphological and molecular approaches. Morphological differences among the fungal isolates indicate that diverse distinct morphotypes might be present within the hosts. Forty fungal isolates were selected for further molecular phylogenetic analysis using the internal transcribed spaces (ITS1 and ITS2) of nuclear ribosomal DNA sequence and the intervening 5.8s gene region. While assessing diversity of Fusarium lateritium isolate and Gibberella zeae species from medicinal A. macrocephala using molecular approaches, Based on an 18S rRNA PCR approach, 4 fungal clone types were detected in medicinal A.macrocephala, Our results suggest that F.lateritium isolate and G. zeae species are the dominant pathogenic fungi in the A.macrocephala hosts, and some of these pathogenic fungi exhibit host and tissue specificity at the phylogeny level, fungal clone type A11, B11, D11 belongs to G. zeae, while the other C11 clone type belongs to F. lateritium. This aspect can be further explored to understand the relationships between plant hosts and their fungal pathogenic. Moreover, we firstly found F. lateritium is the dominant pathogenic fungi in A. macrocephala.