PHYLOGENETIC STUDY OF TWO UNREPORTED EDIBLE POLYPORES FROM PAKISTAN: SPARASSIS LATIFOLIA AND GRIFOLA FRONDOSA

Grifola Gray and Sparassis Fr. are among the most well-known Polyporales genera due to their immense mycogastronomic significance. Despite their economic importance and widespread distribution, they have been largely overlooked in taxonomic studies across different regions. Our analysis of morphological features and nuclear rDNA regions (ITS and nrLSU) from the voucher specimens, has led to the identification of two previously unreported species in Pakistan i.e., G. frondosa and S. latifolia. To reconstruct phylogenetic relationships of the species, the current study used three methods: maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian analyses on the concatenated dataset (ITS + nrLSU). Phylogenetically, our specimen sequence from Grifola grouped together with G. frondosa, showing a robust support (100% MP, 100% ML and 1.00 BPP). However, it differed from G. frondosa in many distinct characteristics such a thin, non -fleshy pileoli, shallow, radially elongated pores, distinctly largest generative hyphae, lack of skeletal hyphae (monomitic hyphal system) and highest Q value, short sterigma, and spore size. Similarly, the morpho-anatomical characteristics of the Sparassis specimens closely resembled those of S. latifolia, S. crispa, and S. radicata, and were hardly distinguishable. The result of the phylogenetic analysis showed a strong association with S. latifolia, forming a single clade with high support (96% MP, 93% ML, and 0.98 BPP). This taxonomic study is a vital contribution to the list of polypores in the country and provides useful data about the biogeographic distribution worldwide.