First report of Coniothyrium ferrarisianum from Iran

Coniothyrium Corda belonges to the family Coniothyriaceae, and contains several species mainly pathogenic on plants and immunocompromised patients (Verkley 2014). Members of this genus are characterised by pycnidial conidiomata that mostly produce relatively small, subhyaline to pigmented, 1- or 2-celled conidia. During winter 2020, while conducting a survey on pathogenic and non-pathogenic fungi from Zagrosian forest trees in Dezful (Khuzestan province, Iran), two strains of Coniothyrium were isolated from leaves of Daphne mucronata Royle showing some leaf spots. To isolate fungi, small pieces from the interface between healthy and diseased leaves tissue (3–7 mm) were excised and surface-sterilised in 2% sodium hypochlorite (1–1.5 min), followed by rinsing three times in sterile distilled water (2 min), and finally dried up on sterile filter paper. The plant pieces were placed on potato-dextrose-agar medium (PDA) supplemented with 30 mgL−1 of streptomycin. After 10 days of incubation at 25 °C, two identical isolates were recovered and purified using single hyphal tip method. One isolate (SCUA-Ar-S9D) was selected for further morphological and molecular analyses. This isolate is preserved at the Iranian Fungal Culture Collection (IRAN 4783C), located at the Iranian Research Institute of Plant Protection (Tehran, Iran).