Identification and nomenclature of the genus Penicillium

Abstract

Penicillium is a diverse genus occurring worldwide and its species play important roles as decomposers of organic materials and cause destructive rots in the food industry where they produce a wide range of mycotoxins. Other species are considered enzyme factories or are common indoor air allergens. Although DNA sequences are essential for robust identification of Penicillium species, there is currently no comprehensive, verified reference database for the genus. To coincide with the move to one fungus one name in the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi and plants, the generic concept of Penicillium was re-defined to accommodate species from other genera, such as Chromocleista, Eladia, Eupenicillium, Torulomyces and Thysanophora, which together comprise a large monophyletic clade. As a result of this, and the many new species described in recent years, it was necessary to update the list of accepted species in Penicillium. The genus currently contains 354 accepted species, including new combinations for Aspergillus crystallinus, A. malodoratus and A. paradoxus, which belong to Penicillium section Paradoxa. To add to the taxonomic value of the list, we also provide information on each accepted species MycoBank number, living ex-type strains and provide GenBank accession numbers to ITS, β-tubulin, calmodulin and RPB2 sequences, thereby supplying a verified set of sequences for each species of the genus. In addition to the nomenclatural list, we recommend a standard working method for species descriptions and identifications to be adopted by laboratories working on this genus.

The genome sequence of the soft-rot fungus Penicillium purpurogenum reveals a high gene dosage for lignocellulolytic enzymes

“…It has been previously suggested that these genes are well suited as markers for the identification of Penicillium species (Visagie et al 2014). We found that for these three markers, P. purpurogenum MYA-38 had the highest identity with sequences from Penicillium species, although no exact match was found.…”

Two novel Aspergillus species from hypersaline soils of The National Park of Lake Urmia, Iran

“…A. neoflavipes produces bright yellow colonies on CYA and MEA, and has a sexual state; both features are not observed in A. urmiensis. A. micronesiensis and A. iizukae generally produce Hülle cells and these structures were not detected in A. urmiensis Visagie et al 2014). …”

“…These sections are phylogenetically related and belong to subgenus Circumdati (Houbraken and Samson 2011;Jurjević et al 2015). The taxonomy of these sections has been studied in detail; however, there is confusion in section Flavipedes because two studies describing new, similar species were published online around the same time Visagie et al 2014).…”

In vitro Antifungal Potency of Plant Extracts against Post-Harvest Storage Fungal Pathogens of Zea mays L.

“…The seed mycoflora were identified with the help of literature (Thom and Raper, 1945;Raper and Thom, 1949;Barnett, 1962;Klich, 2002;Leslie and Summerell, 2008;Visagie et al, 2014; URL 1 and 2). Based on the individuals fungi recorded in the distinct seed samples were analysed for density, frequency, abundance, relative density, relative frequency, relative abundance, importance value index, Simpson index of Dominance, Shannon-Weaver Index of Diversity and evenness.…”