Four phylogenetic species of ergot from Canada and their characteristics in morphology, alkaloid production, and pathogenicity

ABSTRACT

Four ergot species (Claviceps ripicola, C. quebecensis, C. perihumidiphila, and C. occidentalis) were recognized based on analyses of DNA sequences from multiple loci, including two housekeeping genes, RNA polymerase II second largest subunit (RPB2), and translation elongation factor 1-α (TEF1-α), and a single-copy ergot alkaloid synthesis gene (easE) encoding chanoclavine I synthase oxidoreductase. Morphological features, ergot alkaloid production, and pathogenicity on five common cereal crops of each species were evaluated and presented in taxonomic descriptions. A synoptic key was also provided for identification.

KEYWORDS:

• Ascomycota
• Claviceps
• Clavicipitaceae
• ergotpeptine
• morphology
• phylogeny
• sclerotial tissue types
• 4 new taxa

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank students Nicole Beck, Jason Liang, Maria Mankel, and Olivia C. Pochopsky and the Molecular Technologies Laboratory (MTL) at the Ottawa Research and Development Centre for technical assistance. We thank Canadian Collection of Fungal Cultures (CCFC), Canadian National Mycological Herbarium (DAOM), Dr. Miroslav Kolařík (Culture Collection of Clavicipitaceae, CZ), Dr. James F. White (Herbarium of Cook College, Rutgers University, RUTPP), Randy Clear, Yuanhong Chen, Stephen Darbyshire, Bryan Doig, Sarah Hambleton, Henry Klein-Gebbinck, Keith A. Seifert, and Joey Tanney for providing ergot samples or cultures; Zhongdong Wang for facilitating M.L. conducting field works; and Eiji Tanaka (Ishikawa Prefectural University, Japan) for sharing DNA sequences. We thank National Capital Commission (Quebec) and Newfoundland Labrador Provincial Parks Division for granting land access permits for collecting specimens. We also thank two anonymous reviewers for providing valuable comments.

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Funding

This study was funded by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Growing Forward 2 for a research network on Emerging Mycotoxins (EmTox, project no. J-000048); Government Canada STB J-002272.