Morphological and Phylogenetic Analysis of a New Record ofParaconiothyrium kelleni from Soil in Korea

A fungal strain designated KNUF-21-66Q1 was isolated from soil in Chungcheongbuk Province, Korea. Moderate growth of colonies was observed on potato dextrose agar, oatmeal agar (OA), malt extract agar, and cornmeal agar media at 25℃, and the detailed morphology was examined on OA medium. The colonies on OA medium were flat, had entire margin, hyaline, and yellow concentric rings in 3-4 weeks. Conidiomata were pycnidial, solitary or clustered, globose to subglobose, black-brown, and 300-500 µm in diameter. Conidiogenous cells were smooth, hyaline, globose to ampulliform, and 6.0-9.0×3.0-6.0 µm in size (n=15). Conidia were hyaline to pale brown, slightly golden, obovoid to slightly ellipsoidal, smooth, guttulate, and 3.0-4.7×2.1-3.3 µm in size (n=100). The strain was confirmed based on phylogenetic analysis using internal transcribed spacer regions, the partial 28S rDNA of large subunit, and β-tubulin gene sequences. The morphological observations and phylogenetic analysis revealed that the strain KNUF-21-66Q1 was similar to the previously described Paraconiothyrium kelleni. To our knowledge, this is the first report of P. kelleni in Korea.