Comprehensive phylogenetic analysis of the genus Golovinomyces (Ascomycota: Erysiphales) reveals close evolutionary relationships with its host plants.

The Erysiphaceae were originally parasitic to trees, and host shift from trees to herbs might have occurred many times independently in the tribes and genera. To investigate the evolutionary relationships between Golovinomyces species and their host plants, we conducted a comprehensive molecular phylogenetic analysis of this genus with 183 nucleotide sequences of ITS and 28S rDNA regions from samples collected worldwide. These sequences were divided into 11 distinct lineages. Ten of these lineages consist in each case of sequences from a single plant family or tribe, which suggests close evolutionary relationships of Golovinomyces species and their host plants. The basal five clades were composed of sequences each from a single tribe of the Asteraceae. This result supports speculation that co-speciation occurred between asteraceous hosts and Golovinomyces in the early evolution stage of this genus. Lineage XI at the most derived position of the tree includes sequences from a wide range of host families and is divided into many species with close genetic affinity. Sequences from the putative G. orontii group were separated into three groups, suggesting that G. orontii is a species complex.