Da Vinci’s yeast : Blastobotrys davincii f.a., sp. nov.

A new species of the yeast genus Blastobotrys was discovered during a worldwide survey of culturable xerophilic fungi in house dust. Several culture dependent and independent studies from around the world detected the same species from a wide range of substrates including indoor air, cave wall paintings, bats, mummies, and the iconic self-portrait of Leonardo da Vinci from ca 1512. However, none of these studies identified their strains, clones or OTUs as Blastobotrys. We introduce the new species as Blastobotrys davincii f.a., sp. nov. (holotype CBS H-24879) and delineate it from other species using morphological, phylogenetic, and physiological characters. The new species of asexually (anamorphic) budding yeast is classified in Trichomonascaceae and forms a clade along with its associated sexual state genus Trichomonascus. Despite the decade-old requirement to use a single generic name for fungi, both names are still used. Selection of the preferred name awaits a formal nomenclatural proposal. We present arguments for adopting Blastobotrys over Trichomonascus and introduce four new combinations as Blastobotrys allociferrii (≡ Candida allociferrii), B. fungorum (≡ Sporothrix fungorum), B. mucifer (≡ Candida mucifera) and Blastobotrys vanleenenianus (≡ Trichomonascus vanleenenianus). We provide a nomenclatural review and an accepted species list for the 37 accepted species in the Blastobotrys/Trichomonascus clade. Finally, we discuss the identity of the DNA clones detected on the da Vinci portrait, and the importance of using appropriate media to isolate xerophilic or halophilic fungi.The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Program on the Microbiology of the Built Environment.https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10970061hj2022BiochemistryForestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI)GeneticsMicrobiology and Plant Patholog

Taxonomy of Aspergillus series Versicolores : species reduction and lessons learned about intraspecific variability

Aspergillus series Versicolores members occur in a wide range of environments and substrates such as indoor environments, food, clinical materials, soil, caves, marine or hypersaline ecosystems. The taxonomy of the series has undergone numerous re-arrangements including a drastic reduction in the number of species and subsequent recovery to 17 species in the last decade. The identification to species level is however problematic or impossible in some isolates even using DNA sequencing or MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry indicating a problem in the definition of species boundaries. To revise the species limits, we assembled a large dataset of 518 strains. From these, a total of 213 strains were selected for the final analysis according to their calmodulin (CaM) genotype, substrate and geography. This set was used for phylogenetic analysis based on five loci (benA, CaM, RPB2, Mcm7, Tsr1). Apart from the classical phylogenetic methods, we used multispecies coalescence (MSC) model-based methods, including one multilocus method (STACEY) and five single-locus methods (GMYC, bGMYC, PTP, bPTP, ABGD). Almost all species delimitation methods suggested a broad species concept with only four species consistently supported. We also demonstrated that the currently applied concept of species is not sustainable as there are incongruences between single-gene phylogenies resulting in different species identifications when using different gene regions. Morphological and physiological data showed overall lack of good, taxonomically informative characters, which could be used for identification of such a large number of existing species. The characters expressed either low variability across species or significant intraspecific variability exceeding interspecific variability. Based on the above-mentioned results, we reduce series Versicolores to four species, namely A. versicolor, A. creber, A. sydowii and A. subversicolor, and the remaining species are synonymized with either A. versicolor or A. creber. The revised descriptions of the four accepted species are provided. They can all be identified by any of the five genes used in this study. Despite the large reduction in species number, identification based on phenotypic characters remains challenging, because the variation in phenotypic characters is high and overlapping among species, especially between A. versicolor and A. creber. Similar to the 17 narrowly defined species, the four broadly defined species do not have a specific ecology and are distributed worldwide. We expect that the application of comparable methodology with extensive sampling could lead to a similar reduction in the number of cryptic species in other extensively studied Aspergillus species complexes and other fungal genera.The project of Charles University Grant Agency, the project of Charles University Grant Agency, the Charles University Research Centre program, Czech Academy of Sciences Long-term Research Development Project, the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Postdoctoral Fellowships for Research in Japan, the Grant-inaid for JSPS research fellows, the Future Leaders - African Independent Research fellowship programme funded by the UK Government’s Global Challenges Research Fund.https://www.journals.elsevier.com/studies-in-mycologyam2023BiochemistryGeneticsMicrobiology and Plant Patholog

Along the footpath of Penicillium discovery : six new species from the Woodville Big Tree Forest Trail

In this study, we studied the diversity of Penicillium occurring in soil collected along the Woodville Big Tree Forest Trail situated close to the coastal town of Wilderness in South Africa. Strains were accessioned into a collection and then identified to species based on β-tubulin DNA sequences, which is the recommended DNA barcode for the genus. The 74 strains were found to represent 18 species, including six we consider undescribed. Here, we introduce them as Penicillium claroviride, P. kalander, P. mattheeae, P. outeniquaense, P. subfuscum, and P. umkhoba. Phylogenetic comparisons were made, and genealogical concordance was demonstrated for these new species using DNA sequences from nuc rDNA internal transcribed spacer region ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 (ITS barcode), β-tubulin, calmodulin, and RNA polymerase II second largest subunit. Notes on morphological characters distinguishing the new species from their close relatives are provided.The National Research Foundation (NRF) in South Africa and the Future Leaders—African Independent Research fellowship program (FLAIR). The FLAIR fellowship program is a partnership between the African Academy of Sciences and the Royal Society funded by the UK Government’s Global Challenges Research Fund.https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/umyc202023-11-28hj2023BiochemistryForestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI)GeneticsMicrobiology and Plant Patholog

A new Penicillium section Citrina species and series from India

This study introduces a new Penicillium species isolated from soil in Yavatmal, India. Penicillium sanjayi sp. nov. is classified in Penicillium section Citrina. The new species is delimited using phenotypic characters and sequences of the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) rDNA regions, partial beta-tubulin (BenA), calmodulin (CaM), and RNA polymerase II second largest subunit (RPB2) region. Phylogenetic analyses consistently resolved the new species in a well-delineated clade with its close relative P. vascosobrinhoanum (originally published as P. vascosobrinhous), distinct from all other series of section Citrina. As a result, we introduce the series Vascosobrinhoana for this unique lineage. Key distinguishing characteristics such as greyish ruby to ruby centre of colonies (obverse) on malt extract agar (MEA), presence of cream colour sclerotia on oatmeal agar (OA), growth rates on standardised media, growth at 30 °C but lack of growth at 37 °C, additional microscopic characters such as solitary or rarely with a subterminal branch other than predominant monoverticillate penicilli, and conspicuously roughened to verruculose conidial ornamentation distinguish the new species P. sanjayi from other monoverticillate section Citrina species.DATA AVAILABILITY : All sequence data generated for this study can be accessed via GenBank. Taxonomy details are deposited in MycoBank (nomenclature is verified with Curator).The SERB, Department of Science and Technology, Government of India and CSIR-HRDG, India.https://link.springer.com/journal/115572023-03-11hj2023BiochemistryForestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI)GeneticsMicrobiology and Plant Patholog

A taxonomic review of Penicillium section Charlesia

Penicillium section Charlesia was established based on a multigene phylogeny of P. charlesii, P. coffeae, P. fellutanum, P. georgiense, P. indicum and P. phoeniceum. Since then, three additional species were described in the section. Species can occur on a wide range of substrata including soil, corn, coffee, water, air, deteriorating cloth and clinical samples. The majority of species in section Charlesia grow restricted on Czapek yeast extract agar and produce smooth-walled, vesiculate, monoverticillate conidiophores. A limited number of studies have reviewed the taxonomy of this section. In the present study, available strains belonging to section Charlesia were evaluated in a multilocus phylogenetic analysis using the ITS rDNA region, partial β-tubulin (BenA), calmodulin (CaM) and RNA polymerase II second largest subunit (RPB2) sequences. This analysis revealed 12 distinct species, including three that are newly described here as Penicillium aspericonidium, P. fusiforme and P. longiconidiophorum. The macromorphology on different media, vesicle width, stipe length and ornamentation, and conidial shape and size are important morphological characters for distinguishing species of section Charlesia.The Open Funding Project of the State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines.http://link.springer.com/journal/115572022-11-08hj2022BiochemistryForestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI)GeneticsMicrobiology and Plant Patholog

Blastobotrys nigripullensis, a new yeast species isolated from a fungal outbreak on an ancient Roman shipwreck in the Netherlands

A new species of the yeast genus Blastobotrys was discovered on ancient ship timbers in the Netherlands. The species had developed on the wood of a river barge dating to the Roman period. The growth occurred after the preservative polyethylene glycol (PEG 4000) was washed out of some of the timbers due to an undetected leak in the storage unit. Mycological analysis of various timber samples revealed the presence of Microascus melanosporus (predominant), Microascus paisii, a member of the Acremonium chrysogenum-clade, and a new Blastrobotrys species. The new species produced sporothrix-like conidiophores with clavate blastoconidia (3–7 × 1–3.5 μm) and was found to be osmotolerant, capable of growth on low water activity media like malt yeast 50% glucose agar (MY50G). In this article we formally describe and introduce Blastrobotrys nigripullensis (CBS 17879 T) based on its morphology, physiology and phylogenetic placement.The restoration project in Museumpark Archeon is made possible by financial support of Province of South Holland, Municipality of Alphen aan den Rijn, Mondriaan Fund, VSB Fund, EDBA, Fund Alphen aan den Rijn and the Friends Lottery. Funding from the Distinguished Scientist Fellow Programme of King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (RISE) under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 101008129, project acronym “Mycobiomics”.http://link.springer.com/journal/104822025-01-13hj2024BiochemistryForestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI)GeneticsMicrobiology and Plant PathologyNon

Response to pitt & taylor 2016: Conservation of Aspergillus with a. Niger as the conserved type is unnecessary and potentially disruptive

Aspergillus is a diverse fungal genus containing many species of great agricultural, biotechnological and medical relevance. Because of the broad use of the genus name in diverse disciplines, and the importance of individual species names in these areas, the taxonomy and nomenclature of Aspergillus should remain stable. A formal proposal to change the generic type from A. glaucus to A. niger was recently published. Here we present arguments against this proposal. We assert that it should be rejected because it will not ensure nomenclatural stability for Aspergillus, and will put the names of several important species, such as A. flavus, A. fumigatus and A. oryzae at risk of being classified in different genera and being lost

New and Interesting Fungi. 7.

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: FigShare doi: 10.25403/UPre- searchdata.26176783. FIG. S1. Single gene phylogenies of Penicillium sect. Fasciculata ser. Camembertiorum based on BenA, CaM, RPB1, RPB2, Cct8 and Tsr1. Datasets were aligned using MAFFT v. 7.520 (Katoh & Standley 2013) and a Maximum Likelihood tree was calculated in IQ-TREE v. 2.2.2.6 (Minh et al. 2020). The the most appropriate nucleotide substitution model based on the Akaike information criterion was applied to each region and its exons and introns using PartitionFinder v. 2 (Lanfear et al. 2017). The trees were rooted to P. expansum. Penicillium dabashanicum strains are shown in coloured bold text. Branch support in nodes higher than 80 % bootstrap are indicated above branches (T = ex-type). FIG. S2. Single gene phylogenies of Penicillium subg. Penicillium based on ITS, BenA, CaM and RPB2. Datasets were aligned using MAFFT v. 7.520 (Katoh & Standley 2013) and a Maximum Likelihood tree was calculated in IQ-TREE v. 2.2.2.6 (Minh et al. 2020). The nucleotide substitution model GTR+I+G was applied to each region and its exons and introns (Abadi et al. 2019). The trees were rooted to P. glabrum. Penicillium pascuigraminis is shown in coloured bold text. Branch support in nodes higher than 80 % bootstrap are indicated above branches (T = ex-type). FIG. S3. Single gene phylogenies of Penicillium sect. Canescentia ser. Atroveneta based on BenA, CaM and RPB2. Datasets were aligned using MAFFT v. 7.520 (Katoh & Standley 2013) and a Maximum Likelihood tree was calculated in IQ-TREE v. 2.2.2.6 (Minh et al. 2020). The nucleotide substitution model GTR+I+G was applied to each region and its exons and introns (Abadi et al. 2019). The trees were rooted to P. canescens. Penicillium viridipigmentum is shown in coloured bold text. Branch support in nodes higher than 80 % bootstrap are indicated above branches (T = ex-type). FIG. S4. Single gene phylogenies of Talaromyces sect. Islandici based on ITS, BenA, CaM and RPB2. Datasets were aligned using MAFFT v. 7.520 (Katoh & Standley 2013) and a Maximum Likelihood tree was calculated in IQ-TREE v. 2.2.2.6 (Minh et al. 2020). The nucleotide substitution model GTR+I+G was applied to each region and its exons and introns (Abadi et al. 2019). The trees were rooted to T. subinflatus. Talaromyces podocarpi is shown in coloured bold text. Branch support in nodes higher than 80 % bootstrap are indicated above branches (T = ex-type). TABLE S1. List of species, vouchers and GenBank accession numbers of sequences used in this study. TABLE S2. Strains used for phylogenetic comparisons of Anthracocystis. TABLE S3. GenBank accession numbers of additional isolates included in phylogenetic analyses of the genus Bisifusarium. TABLE S4. Strains used for phylogenetic comparisons of Devriesia and related genera. TABLE S5. Strains used for phylogenetic comparisons of Ericboehmia thailandica and related species. TABLE S6. GenBank accession numbers of additional isolates included in phylogenetic analyses of the Fusarium redolens species complex. TABLE S7. GenBank accession numbers of additional isolates included in phylogenetic analyses of the genus Macroconia. TABLE S8. Strains used for phylogenetic comparisons of Penicillium cederbergense and related species. TABLE S9. Strains used for phylogenetic comparisons of Penicillium dabashanicum and related species. TABLE S10. Strains used for phylogenetic comparisons of Penicillium pascuigraminis and related species. TABLE S11. Strains used for phylogenetic comparisons of Penicillium viridipigmentum and related species. TABLE S12. Strains used for phylogenetic comparisons of Talaromyces podocarpi and related species.Two new genera, 17 new species, two epitypes, and six interesting new host and / or geographical records are introduced in this study. New genera include: Cadophorella (based on Cadophorella faginea) and Neosatchmopsis (based on Neosatchmopsis ogrovei). New species include: Alternaria halotolerans (from hypersaline sea water, Qatar), Amylostereum stillwellii (from mycangia of Sirex areolatus, USA), Angiopsora anthurii (on leaves of Anthurium andraeanum, Brazil), Anthracocystis zeae-maydis (from pre-stored Zea mays, South Africa), Bisifusarium solicola (from soil, South Africa), Cadophorella faginea (from dead capsule of Fagus sylvatica, Germany), Devriesia mallochii (from house dust, Canada), Fusarium kirstenboschense (from soil, South Africa), Macroconia podocarpi (on ascomata of ascomycete on twigs of Podocarpus falcatus, South Africa), Neosatchmopsis ogrovei (on Eucalyptus leaf litter, Spain), Ophiocordyceps kuchinaraiensis (on Coleoptera larva, Thailand), Penicillium cederbergense (from soil, South Africa), Penicillium pascuigraminis (from pasture mulch, South Africa), Penicillium viridipigmentum (from soil, South Africa), Pleurotheciella acericola (on stem, bark of living tree of Acer sp., Germany), Protocreopsis physciae (on Physcia caesia, Netherlands), and Talaromyces podocarpi (from soil, South Africa).The European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (RISE) under the Marie Skłodowska- Curie grant agreement No. 101008129, the Dutch NWO Roadmap grant agreement No. 2020/ENW/00901156, the Tree Protection Co-operative Programme and Natural Resources Canada, he National Research Foundation of South Africa, the Maize Trust, and the Future Leaders - African Independent Research fellowship program.https://fuse-journal.orghj2024BiochemistryForestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI)GeneticsMicrobiology and Plant PathologySDG-15:Life on lan