Journal of Fungi Article Molecular and Morphological Assessment of Septoria Species Associated with Ornamental Plants in Yunnan Province, China Yuan-Yan An 1, Monika C. Dayarathne 1, Xiang-Yu Zeng 1,2, Alan J. L. Phillips 3 , Kevin D. Hyde 2,4 and Yong Wang 1,* 1 Department of Plant Pathology, College of Agriculture, Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, China;
[email protected] (Y.-Y.A.);
[email protected] (M.C.D.);
[email protected] (X.-Y.Z.) 2 Center of Excellence in Fungal Research, Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai 57100, Thailand;
[email protected] 3 Faculdade de Ciências, Biosystems and Integrative Sciences Institute (BioISI), Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande, 1749-016 Lisbon, Portugal;
[email protected] 4 Institute of Plant Health, Zhongkai, University of Agriculture and Engineering, Haizhu District, Guangzhou 510225, China * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +86-0187-9889-9302 Abstract: The Karst landform is the main geographic characteristic in South China. Such areas are rich in vegetation and especially suitable for growth of shrubs and herbaceous plants. In this study, 11 Septoria strains were obtained from different plants’ leaves collected in the Kunming Botanical Garden, Yunnan Province, China. Based on single-gene and multi-gene analyses of five gene loci (tef1, rpb2, tub2, ITS, and LSU) and four gene regions (without LSU), these strains were found to belong to three independent phylogenetic lineages representing five species, including four novel taxa, and one new record for China. Five single gene trees were also provided to evaluate the Citation: An, Y.-Y.; Dayarathne, effectiveness of each gene for discriminating the species, as a result of which tub2 was found to have M.C.; Zeng, X.-Y.; Phillips, A.J.L.; the most suitable DNA barcode for rapid identification.