Morphological and molecular characterization of three new Fusarium species associated with inflorescence of wild grasses for Iran

In order to explore biodiversity of Fusarium species associated with the inflorescences of poaceous weeds, heads and inflorescences were collected from wild grasses in Ardabil province (Iran). Fusarium species were isolated using general and selective media. Pure cultures were established using a single spore technique. The isolates were identified based on morphological and molecular data. Sequence data were generated for TEF-1α gene, following PCR amplifciation. The results revealed that several species of Fusarium are present on inflorescences of wild grasses in Ardabil province. Among the identified species, F. brachygibbosum, F. torulosum and F. cf. reticulatum var. negundis represent new records to the mycobiota of Iran. There is no description available for these taxa in Persian literature and references to the original descriptions are not easily accesible. Here we provide detailed descriptions for these taxa and discuss their morphology, phylogeny and ecology. This is the first study on biodiversity of Fusarium spp. associated with the inflorescences of wild poaceous grasses by using a combination of morphology and DNA sequence data.