Phlebiopsis xuefengensis sp. nov. from Gastrodia elata (Orchidaceae) in Hunan Province, Southern China.

• Phlebiopsis xuefengensis J. Zou, sp. nov. the first record of Phlebiopsis Jülich fungi from plant endophytes. • The first novel fungal species isolated from Gastrodia elata Blume. Phlebiopsis is a genus of poroid crust fungi belong to the family Phanerochaetaceae. The genus contains 19 species, which show a widespread distribution. In this paper, a strain of Phlebiopsis sp., named WS01, was isolated from tubers of Gastrodia elata collected in southern China. The endophytic fungus WS01 bearing fruiting-body was cultivated successfully in the fruiting body media. The characterized strain, in hyphae of the hymenium with colorless walls and cystidia lacking revealed that it morphologically differs from other Phlebiopsis species. A combined dataset of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS), the large subunit regions of nuclear ribosomal RNA gene (LSU) and RNA polymerase II largest subunit gene (rpb 1) was used to confirm the phylogenetic placement of this species, and phylogenetic analyses were carried out with maximum likelihood and bayesian inference methods. The results provide evidence that the species represents a new member of the Phlebiopsis clade in the family Phanerochaetaceae, in which the new species formed a monophyletic lineage with a strong support (100% ML, 1.00 BPP) and then grouped with P. pilatii. According to a signature sequence for a new species, the strain is, therefore, proposed as Phlebiopsis xuefengensis sp. nov. It is the first record of Phlebiopsis fungi from the plant endophytes and the first novel fungal species isolated from Gastrodia elata. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]