Molecular identification and relative abundance of cryptic Lophodermium species in natural populations of Scots pine, Pinus sylvestris L.

The multi-locus phylogenetic species recognition approach and population genetic analysis of Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP) markers were used to delineate Lophodermium taxa inhabiting needles of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) in native pinewoods within Scotland. These analyses revealed three major lineages corresponding to the morphological species Lophodermium seditiosum and Lophodermium conigenum, fruiting on broken branches, and Lophodermium pinastri, fruiting on naturally fallen needles. Within L. pinastri three well supported sister clades were found representing cryptic taxa designated L. pinastri I, L. pinastri II, and L. pinastri III. Significant differences in mean growth rate in culture were found among the cryptic taxa. Taxon-specific primers based on ITS sequences were designed and used to classify over 500 Lophodermium isolates, derived from fallen needles of P. sylvestris in three Scottish and one French pinewood site, into the three L. pinastri cryptic taxa. Highly significant differences in the relative abundance of the three taxa were found among the Scottish pinewood sites, and between the French and all of the Scottish sites.