A new mycoparasite, Pythium lycopersicum, isolated in Isparta, Turkey: morphology, molecular characteristics, and its antagonism with phytopathogenic fungi.

Pythium lycopersicum sp. nov. has been isolated from soil samples taken in an agricultural land in the Isparta region of Southern Turkey. This oomycete is characterized by its contiguous sporangia having globose to elongated elements linked with hyphal filaments, ornamented oogonia, and monoclinous antheridia with large antheridial cells. The oomycete is reminiscent of Pythium ornamentatum described by the corresponding author in 1987 from soil samples taken in Algeria. Sequence analyses of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions of rRNA show a close relationship with Pythium oligandrum and other mycoparasites possessing ornamented oogonia. Morphological and molecular features of this…