Leveillula on Helichrysum in Iran: Unravelling a new Leveillula haplotype

Document Type : Short Article

Authors

Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran

10.22034/IJPP.2024.2021790.445

Abstract

Within the framework of the Mycology research laboratory's program at the University of Guilan focusing 
on the identification and DNA barcoding of powdery mildew fungi (Erysiphaceae, Ascomycota) from Iran, a 
powdery mildew specimen on Helichrysum was collected from Zanjan-Tarom road and subjected for 
morphological and molecular identification. Although this species morphologically resembles Leveillula 
helichrysi, and some other closely related species such as L. taurica complex, the ITS sequence differentiates 
this fungus from the sequences of L. helichrysi and L. taurica available in GenBank. We suggest this 
collection may represent a new species or new haplotype within L. helichrysi. Therefore, until we obtain 
more samples and sequence the type material, we report this fungus as Leveillula cf. helichrysi from Iran.

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