Phylogenetic relationships of Meliola and Meliolina inferred from nuclear small subunit rRNA sequences

¹ Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87313
² Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720-3102

The phylogenetic relationships of two Meliola spp., one Meliolina sp., and 36 other ascomycetes were inferred from sequences of the nuclear small subunit ribosomal RNA gene. Phylogenetic analyses revealed that the Meliolaceae are members of the unitunicate Pyrenomycetes, and are not closely related to the bitunicate ascomycetes. The Meliolaceae have been hypothesised to be closely related to the Erysiphaceae, but the cladistic analyses showed that the two families are not closely related. The phylogenetic position of Meliolina is found amongst the bitunicate ascomycetes making it distantly related to the Meliolaceae.