Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Type: Article
Published: 2026-09-02
Page range: 226-234
Abstract views: 25
PDF downloaded: 5

Ceratocystis quercina sp. nov. (Ceratocystidaceae) from Quercus mongolica in South Korea

Department of Environment and Forest Resources; Chungnam National University; 99 Daehak-ro; Yuseong-gu; Daejeon 34134; Republic of Korea
Institute of Agriculture and Life Science; Gyeongsang National University; Jinju 52828; South Korea
Department of Environment and Forest Resources; Chungnam National University; 99 Daehak-ro; Yuseong-gu; Daejeon 34134; Republic of Korea
Department of Environment and Forest Resources; Chungnam National University; 99 Daehak-ro; Yuseong-gu; Daejeon 34134; Republic of Korea
Fungi Ophiostomatoid Microascales oak insect vector morphology taxonomy phylogeny

Abstract

During a survey of putative tree pathogens on oak forests in Gangwon Province, South Korea, a fungal isolate exhibiting morphological characteristics typical of Ceratocystis was consistently recovered from natural wounds on Quercus mongolica. Multi-locus phylogenetic analyses based on maximum parsimony and maximum likelihood approaches using three loci (TUB2, TEF1α and MCM7), combined with distinctive morphological features of aleuriospores and conidia, revealed that the isolate forms a phylogenetically distinct lineage. Consequently, this fungus is herein described as Ceratocystis quercina sp. nov., marking the second novel species newly described from South Korea, following C. quercicola. In this regard, this discovery suggests the potential for further taxonomic novelty within the genus Ceratocystis and highlights the need for broader surveys to determine the actual prevalence and spatial distribution of Ceratocystis taxa in the Korean Peninsula.

References

  1. Baker, C.J., Harrington, T.C., Kraus, U. & Alfenas, A.C. (2003) Genetic variability and host specialization in the Latin American clade of Ceratocystis fimbriata. Phytopathology 93: 1274–1284. https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO.2003.93.10.1274
  2. Brawner, J., Japarudin, Y., Lapammu, M., Rauf, R., Boden, D. & Wingfield, M.J. (2015) Evaluating the inheritance of Ceratocystis acaciivora symptom expression in a diverse Acacia mangium breeding population. Southern Forests: A Journal of Forest Science 77: 83–90. https://doi.org/10.2989/20702620.2015.1007412
  3. Carbone, I. & Kohn, L.M. (1999) A method for designing primer sets for speciation studies in filamentous ascomycetes. Mycologia 91: 553–556. https://doi.org/10.1080/00275514.1999.12061051
  4. Cho, S.E., Lee, D.H., Wingfield, M.J. & Marincowitz, S. (2020) Ceratocystis quercicola sp. nov. from Quercus variabilis in Korea. Mycobiology 48: 245–251. https://doi.org/10.1080/12298093.2020.1766649
  5. de Beer, Z.W., Duong, T., Barnes, I., Wingfield, B.D. & Wingfield, M.J. (2014) Redefining Ceratocystis and allied genera. Studies in Mycology 79: 187–219. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.simyco.2014.10.001
  6. DeVay, J.E., Lukezic, F.L., English, H., Trujillo, E.E. & Moller, W.J. (1968) Ceratocystis canker of deciduous fruit trees. Phytopathology 58: 949–954.
  7. Engelbrecht, C.J.B., Harrington, T.C., Steimel, J. & Capretti, P. (2004) Genetic variation in eastern North American and putatively introduced populations of Ceratocystis fimbriata f. platani. Molecular Ecology 13: 2995–3005. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-294X.2004.02312.x
  8. Fourie, A., Wingfield, M.J., Wingfield, B.D. & Barnes, I. (2015) Molecular markers delimit cryptic species in Ceratocystis sensu stricto. Mycological Progress 14: 1020. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11557-014-1020-0
  9. Gardes, M. & Bruns, T.D. (1993) ITS primers with enhanced specificity for basidiomycetes‐application to the identification of mycorrehizae and rusts. Molecular Ecology 2: 113–118. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-294X.1993.tb00005.x
  10. Glass, N.L. & Donaldson, G.C. (1995) Development of primer sets designed for use with the PCR to amplify conserved genes from filamentous ascomycetes. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 61: 1323–1330. https://doi.org/10.1128/aem.61.4.1323-1330.1995
  11. Guindon, S. & Gascuel, O. (2003) A simple, fast and accurate method to estimate large phylogenies by maximum-likelihood. Systematic Biology 52: 696–704. https://doi.org/10.1080/10635150390235520
  12. Guindon, S., Dufayard, J.F., Lefort, V., Anisimova, M., Hordijk, W. & Gascuel, O. (2010) New algorithms and methods to estimate maximum-likelihood phylogenies: assessing the performance of PhyML 3.0. Systematic Biology 59: 307–321. https://doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/syq010
  13. Halsted, B.D. (1890) Some fungous diseases of the sweet potato. Bulletin New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station 76: 7–14.
  14. Heath, R.N., Wingfield, M.J., Van Wyk, M. & Roux, J. (2009) Insect associates of Ceratocystis albifundus and patterns of association in a native savanna ecosystem in South Africa. Environmental Entomology 38: 356–364. https://doi.org/10.1603/022.038.0207
  15. Holland, L.A., Lawrence, D.P., Nouri, M.T., Travadon, R., Harrington, T.C. & Trouillas, F.P. (2019) Taxonomic revision and multi-locus phylogeny of the North American clade of Ceratocystis. Fungal Systematics and Evolution 3: 135–156. https://doi.org/10.3114/fuse.2019.03.07
  16. Jacobs, K., Bergdahl, D.R., Wingfield, M.J., Halik, S., Seifert, K.A., Bright, D.E. & Wingfield, B.D. (2004) Leptographium wingfieldii introduced into North America and found associated with exotic Tomicus piniperda and native bark beetles. Mycological Research 108: 411–418. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0953756204009748
  17. Juzwik, J. & French, D.W. (1983) Ceratocystis fagacearum and C. piceae on the surfaces of free-flying and fungus-mat-inhabiting nitidulids. Phytopathology 73: 1164–1168. https://doi.org/10.1094/phyto-73-1164
  18. Juzwik, J., Skalbeck, T.C. & Neuman, M.F. (2004) Sap beetle species (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae) visiting fresh wounds on healthy oaks during spring in Minnesota. Forest Science 50: 757–764. https://doi.org/10.1093/forestscience/50.6.757
  19. Katoh, K., Kuma, K.I., Toh, H. & Miyata, T. (2005) MAFFT version 5: improvement in accuracy of multiple sequence alignment. Nucleic Acids Research 33: 511–518. https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gki198
  20. Katoh, K., Rozewicki, J. & Yamada, K.D. (2019) MAFFT online service: multiple sequence alignment, interactive sequence choice and visualization. Briefings in Bioinformatics 20: 1160–1166. https://doi.org/10.1093/bib/bbx108
  21. Kumar, S., Stecher, G. & Tamura, K. (2016) MEGA7: molecular evolutionary genetics analysis version 7.0 for bigger datasets. Molecular Biology and Evolution 33: 1870–1874. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msw054
  22. Li, Q., Harrington, T.C., McNew, D., Li, J., Huang, Q., Somasekhara, Y.M. & Alfenas, A.C. (2016) Genetic bottlenecks for two populations of Ceratocystis fimbriata on sweet potato and pomegranate in China. Plant Disease 100: 2266–2274. https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-03-16-0409-RE
  23. Moller, W.J. & DeVay, J.E. (1968) Insect transmission of Ceratocystis fimbriata in deciduous fruit orchards. Phytopathology 58: 1499–1508.
  24. Ploetz, R.C., Hulcr, J., Wingfield, M.J. & De Beer, Z.W. (2013) Destructive tree diseases associated with ambrosia and bark beetles: black swan events in tree pathology? Plant Disease 97: 856–872. https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-01-13-0056-FE
  25. Tarigan, M., Roux, J., Van Wyk, M., Tjahjono, B. & Wingfield, M.J. (2011) A new wilt and die-back disease of Acacia mangium associated with Ceratocystis manginecans and C. acaciivora sp. nov. in Indonesia. South African Journal of Botany 77: 292–304. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sajb.2010.08.006
  26. Teviotdale, B.L. & Harper, D.H. (1991) Infection of pruning and small bark wounds in almond by Ceratocystis fimbriata. Plant Disease 75: 1026–1030. https://doi.org/10.1094/pd-75-1026
  27. Tsopelas, P., Santini, A., Wingfield, M.J. & de Beer, Z.W. (2017) Canker stain: a lethal disease destroying iconic plane trees. Plant Disease 101: 645–646. https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-09-16-1235-FE
  28. White, T.J., Bruns, T., Lee, S. & Taylor, J. (1990) Amplification and direct sequencing of fungal ribosomal RNA genes for phylogenetics. In: Innis, M.A., Gelfand, D.H., Sninsky, J.J. & White, T.J. (Eds.) PCR protocols: a guide to methods and application. Academic Press, San Diego, pp. 315–322. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-372180-8.50042-1
  29. Wingfield, M.J., Roux, J. & Wingfield, B.D. (2013) Ceratocystis and Ophiostoma: international spread, new associations and plant health. In: Seifert, K.A., de Beer, Z.W. & Wingfield, M.J. (Eds.) The Ophiostomatoid fungi: Expanding frontiers, CBS Biodiversity Series 12. CBS-KNAW Fungal Biodiversity Centre, Utrecht, pp. 191–200.
  30. Wingfield, M.J., Barnes, I., de Beer, Z.W., Roux, J., Wingfield, B.D. & Taerum, S.J. (2017a) Novel associations between ophiostomatoid fungi, insects and tree hosts: current status—future prospects. Biological Invasions 19: 3215–3228. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-017-1468-3
  31. Wingfield, M.J., Slippers, B., Wingfield, B.D. & Barnes, I. (2017b) The unified framework for biological invasions: a forest fungal pathogen perspective. Biological Invasions 19: 3201–3214. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-017-1450-0

How to Cite

Woo, H.-G., Cho, S.-E., Kim, Y.-H. & Lee, D.-H. (2026) Ceratocystis quercina sp. nov. (Ceratocystidaceae) from Quercus mongolica in South Korea. Phytotaxa 772 (3): 226–234. https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.772.3.2