Phylogeny of Some Melanoleuca Species (Fungi: Basidiomycota) in Turkey and Identification of Melanoleuca angelesiana A.H. Sm. As a First Record

Aim of Study: The purposes of the present study are to describe and identify all collected Melanoleuca samples using morphological characters, determine phylogenetic relationships among species using DNA sequences of ITS and LSU regions and check the number of subgenera of Melanoleuca genus. Area of Study: Samples were collected from different parts of Turkey and the study was conducted at the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics in Van Yüzüncü Y？l University. Material and Methods: Twenty-two samples, representatives of fourteen species, were used. Structures of pileus, stipe, lamellae and basidia, cystidia, spores were used as macroscopic and microscopic features, respectively. The nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer region (nrITS) and largest subunit (LSU) were amplified for molecular analyses. Main results: Taxonomic positions of some Melanoleuca species from Turkey were evaluated based on both morphological characters and sequences of two different nuclear DNA regions. nrITS region was more informative (112 variable sites in ITS1, 1 in 5.8S and 95 in ITS2 subregions) compared to LSU (46 variable sites). Analyses of ITS region revealed that the genus Melanoleuca was monophyletic and divided into two subgenera as Melanoleuca and Urticocystis. Research highlights: Within studied species, Melanoleuca angelesiana was firstly reported for mycobiota of Turke