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Published on: December 22, 2023
A co-evolutionary relationship exists between Endoraecium (Pucciniales) and its Acacia hosts in Australia
A R McTaggart1, C Doungsa-Ard2, A D W Geering3
1Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, The University of Queensland, Ecosciences Precinct, GPO Box 267, Brisbane, Queensland 4001, Australia;; Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Ecosciences Precinct, GPO Box 267, Brisbane, Queensland 4001, Australia.; Department of Microbiology and Plant Pathology, Tree Protection Co-operative Programme (TPCP), Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI), Private Bag X20, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, 0028, South Africa.
Abstract:
Endoraecium is a genus of rust fungi that infects several species of Acacia in Australia, South-East Asia and Hawaii. This study investigated the systematics of Endoraecium from 55 specimens in Australia based on a combined morphological and molecular approach. Phylogenetic analyses were conducted on partitioned datasets of loci from ribosomal and mitochondrial DNA. The recovered molecular phylogeny supported a recently published taxonomy based on morphology and host range that divided Endoraecium digitatum into five species. Spore morphology is synapomorphic and there is evidence Endoraecium co-evolved with its Acacia hosts. The broad host ranges of E. digitatum, E. parvum, E. phyllodiorum and E. violae-faustiae are revised in light of this study, and nine new species of Endoraecium are described from Australia based on host taxonomy, morphology and phylogenetic concordance.
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