Three novel species of Alternaria (Pleosporales, Pleosporaceae) from cereal crops (Poaceae) in China

The genus Alternaria (Pleosporales, Pleosporaceae) comprises saprophytes and pathogens that are widespread around the world. Currently, more than 400 species are recognized within this genus and are classified into 29 sections. In this study, Alternaria strains were isolated from diseased leaves of two cereal crops, rice (Oryza sativa) and maize (Zea mays) in China.

These Alternaria spp. were characterized by morphological characterization and phylogenetic analysis using maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference with multiple loci (ITS, GAPDH, RPB 2, TEF 1, Alt a 1, EndoPG, and OPA 10-2). Based on the above analyses, three novel species of Alternaria section Alternaria were introduced, namely A. oryzicola sp. nov., A. poae sp. nov., and A. zeae sp. nov. This study expands the species diversity of Alternaria associated with Poaceae plants in China.