Morphological and Molecular Characterization of Fusarium pseudograminearum sp. nov., Formerly Recognized as the Group 1 Population of F. graminearum

Fusarium pseudograminearum sp. nov., formally known as F. graminearum Group 1, is described and illustrated. Fusarium pseudograminearum can be distinguished from F. graminearum based on difference in colony growth rates, region of conidia with greatest width, different reactions to near-ultraviolet black-light-blue light concerning the length of 3-and 5-septate conidia, and absence of homothallic production of perithecia. Maximum parsimony analysis of DNA sequences from the β-tubulin gene introns and exons indicate that F. pseudograminearum represents a phylogenetically distinct species that is a sister group to a F. graminearum-F. lunulosporum-F. culmorum clade. DNA sequence data from the translation elongation factor gene were used to develop a polymerase chain reaction primer pair which specifically amplified DNA from all isolates of Fusarium pseudograminearum tested.