Taxonomy and biology of <i>Cladosporium endophyticum</i> as the first record in Iraq

Abstract

<italic>Cladosporium</italic> species are cosmopolitan organisms. Conidiogenous loci distinguish this genus. Their spores can be isolated from different sources. The morphological analysis and ITS sequence were used to identify <italic>Cladosporium endophyticum</italic> isolated from air. The findings demonstrate that <italic>C. endophyticum</italic> S1 and <italic>C. endophyticum</italic> Thailand strain were almost identical in this investigation. The <italic>C. endophyticum</italic> strain is isolated from Thailand, and it has a distinctive phylogenetic clade. This clade resided in the vicinity of <italic>Cladosporium sphaerospermum</italic> and <italic>Cladosporium halotolerans,</italic> respectively. In order to study the physiological factor effect on <italic>C. endophyticum</italic> on solid media, different temperatures were used (5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40), pH (4, 5, 6, 7), media malt extract agar (MEA), potato dextrose agar (PDA), oatmeal agar (OA), synthetic nutrient-deficient agar (SNA), carbon (sucrose, glucose, sorbitol, xylose, manitol), nitrogen (ammonium nitrate, ammonium sulphat, urea, ammonium phosphate, potassium nitrate). The results showed all factors' highly significant (p ≤ 0.05) effect. The faster growth was found at 25 °C, pH suitable for growth 5 and 6. The maximum radial growth was found on PDA and MEA. The fungus <italic>C. endophyticum</italic> can utilize all carbon sources, and faster growth was recorded on sucrose, then glucose, xylose, sorbitol, and manitol. The fungus grows on all nitrogen sources, and mycelium growth was good on ammonium nitrate, ammonium phosphate, ammonium sulfate, urea, and potassium nitrate. <italic>Cladosporium endophyticum</italic> is newly recorded from Basrah, Iraq, and it has been deposited in GenBank with accession numbers for nucleotide sequence (MW298524).