Parvodontia relampaga sp. nov.: A Cystostereaceae fungal pathogen that is the causal agent of relampago blight of woody plants in Florida, USA.

Starting in the fall of 2019, mortality, blight symptoms, and signs of white fungal mycelia were observed on external host tissues of non-native landscape trees as well as numerous native trees, understory shrubs, and vines throughout northern and central Florida, USA. We determined that the fungus is an undescribed species of Basidiomycota based on morphological characteristics and DNA sequence analysis. Phylogenetic analyses of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS), large subunit (LSU), and translation elongation factor 1-alpha (tef1) regions revealed that this novel plant pathogen is an undescribed taxon of the genus Parvodontia (Cystostereaceae, Agaricales).

Draft Genome Sequences of Plant-Pathogenic Klebsiella variicola Strains Isolated from Plantain in Haiti.

The genus includes pathogenic and nonpathogenic species. We report the 5.57-Mb genome sequences of two strains, G18-1365 and G18-1376, isolated from symptomatic plantain plants in Haiti.

The epichloae: alkaloid diversity and roles in symbiosis with grasses.

Epichloae (Epichloë and Neotyphodium species; Clavicipitaceae) are fungi that live in systemic symbioses with cool-season grasses, and many produce alkaloids that are deterrent or toxic to herbivores. The epichloae colonize much of the aerial plant tissues, and most benignly colonize host seeds to transmit vertically. Of their four chemical classes of alkaloids, the ergot alkaloids and indole-diterpenes are active against mammals and insects, whereas peramine and lolines specifically affect insects.