Molecular identification of noteworthy lignicolous fungus, Neolentinus lepedius (Fr.) Redhead & Ginns: a new genus for Pakistan using phenotypical and phylogenetic approaches

摘要

Neolentinus lepedius (Fr.) Redhead & Ginns is a lignicolous/saprophytic macrofungus found on the dead logs of pine vegetation of Himalayan forests, not previously reported from Pakistan. The purpose of this work is to report the occurrence of a European genus from pine forests of Pakistan, using morphological and molecular characterization. For species recognition, the phenotypic features like size, shape, colour of basidiocarps and scales on pileus, length, width and texture of stipe and spores have been compared with available literature. Internal Transcribed Spacers (ITS) region of ribosomal DNA of all local collections has been amplified using universal fungal primers. Local species sequences were confirmed by using BLAST analysis and construction of Phylogenetic tree. All the data analysed was found consistent with morpho-anatomical and molecular characters of N. lepideus. Morphological description, photographs, line drawings and phylogenetic tree of Pakistani collections have also been provided.