Crinipellis brasiliensis, a new species based on morphological and molecular data

Abstract

Crinipellis perniciosa infects a diversity of hosts causing severe damage to T. cacao production in many Brazilian growing regions. We compared isolates of Crinipellis from different geographic origins and hosts in Brazil by structural analysis using light (LM) and scanning electronic microscopy (SEM), as well as RFLP and sequence data based on the nuclear rDNA ITS region. Statistical analyses of morphometric data of basidia and basidiospores revealed a distinct group of isolates of Crinipellis obtained from Heteropterys acutifolia when compared to representatives from Theobroma cacao, Solanum lycocarpum and Heteropterys nervosa. A similar distinction also was observed based on sequence data of the ITS region such that combined results allowed for the segregation of a new species within the genus Crinipellis.

• Crinipellis perniciosa
• cocoa witches’ broom
• internal transcribed spacer
• phylogeny
• ribosomal RNA genes
• Theobroma cacao
• tropical mycology

The authors thank Drs Givaldo Rocha Niella (Centro de Pesquisas do Cacau, CEPEC/CEPLAC, Ilhéus, BA, Brazil), Alan Pomella (Fazenda Almirante, Cocoa Research Center, Itajuípe, BA, Brazil) for providing infected broom material and Crinipellis perniciosa isolates and Prof. Sônia Báo (Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, DF, Brazil) for helping with the SEM studies. This work was supported by the graduate programs of the Plant Pathology and Cellular Biology Departments, Universidade de Brasília, Brazil. The first author is grateful to PICDT/CAPES for a doctorate fellowship.