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Melampsora pakistanica sp. nov., a new rust fungus on Euphorbia helioscopia (Sun spurge) from Pakistan

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Abstract

A rust fungus was found on the leaves of Euphorbia helioscopia during a field study in Pakistan. Previously, Melampsora euphorbiae, M. euphorbiae-gerardianae and M. helioscopiae have been reported on E. helioscopia, the first two of which are also known from Pakistan. Morphological observations of the newly collected rust samples detected some differences from the previously described Melampsora species on E. helioscopia. The molecular analysis of the ITS and LSU sequences also detected that the rust is different from the previously reported rusts described from E. helioscopia. Based on both morphological comparisons and sequence analysis, the rust is described here as M. pakistanica sp. nov. This species could have potential as a bio-control agent against its host plant—E. helioscopia—which is a weed of wheat fields in Pakistan and elsewhere in the world.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge Mrs. Tasmia (Department of Plant Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam University, Pakistan) for her help in experimental work. We are very grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their valuable suggestions to improve the manuscript and acting as reviewers. We sincerely thank Dr. Reinhard Berndt (Plant Ecological Genetics, Universitätstr, Zürich, Switzerland) for his agreement to deposit subsamples of the new rust species in an international herbarium (ETH Zurich).

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Correspondence to Abdul Samad Mumtaz.

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Section Editor: Franz Oberwinkler

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Online resource 1

Morphological spore characters of the examined Melampsora pakistanica specimens. Spore dimensions represent minimum and maximum length × width followed by (/) wall thickness, then followed by (/) mean and apical thickness. The (NA) represents teliospores not found. (DOCX 26 kb)

Online resource 2

Phylogram obtained through Neighbor-joining analysis of the partial LSU sequences, demonstrating phylogenetic relationships between M. pakistanica, other Melampsora spp. on Euphorbia spp., and related rust fungi. Bootstrap values are shown above branches; M. occidentalis was used as outgroup. (DOCX 101 kb)

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Ali, B., Sohail, Y., Toome-Heller, M. et al. Melampsora pakistanica sp. nov., a new rust fungus on Euphorbia helioscopia (Sun spurge) from Pakistan. Mycol Progress 15, 1285–1292 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11557-016-1244-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11557-016-1244-2

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