Alternaria Tomentosae (pleosporaceae, Dothideomycetes); Novel Endophytic Species from Citrus Grandis Cv. 'tomentosa' Fruits in China

Alternaria species show a wide range of life modes, viz. pathogens in plants, animals and human, saprobes and rarely endophytes. In the present study, three Alternaria isolates were obtained from healthy fruits of Citrus grandis cv. 'Tomentosa' in an industrial planting area in Guigang City, Guangxi Province, China. The nuclear internal transcribed spacer of the rDNA region (ITS), 28S large subunit rDNA (LSU), 18S small subunit rDNA (SSU), glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (gapdh), translation elongation factor 1 alpha (tef1-alpha), RNA polymerase second largest subunit (rpb2) and Alternaria major allergen (alt-a1) gene regions were sequenced and employed to construct phylogenetic trees. Based on the morphology and combined multi-genes phylogeny, our isolates were identified as a novel species, Alternaria tomentosae.