Phylogenetic relationships between European and Chinese truffles based on parsimony and distance analysis of ITS sequences

Phylogenetic relationships among truffle species from Europe and China were investigated through parsimony analysis of the ITS sequences. Three major clades were obtained among the species analysed. The so-called white truffl es appeared polyphyletic since Tuber magnatum was grouped with brown truffl es and not with the other while species (T. maculatum, T. borchii, T. dryop hilum, T. puberulum). The black truffles investigated in this study, T. bru male, T. melanosporum, T. indicum and T. himalayense, were grouped in an in dependent clade. The Perigord black truffle T. melanosporum and the Chinese black truffles T. indicum and T. himalayense, were very closely related. T he delimitation of these species was estimated by a distance analysis on se veral isolates collected from different geographic areas. In spite of intra specific variations of the internal transcribed spacers (ITS) sequences, T. melanosporum and the Chinese black truffles can be unambiguously attribute d to distinct taxa. (C) 1999 Federation of European Microbiological Societi es. Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.