Morphological and Phylogenetic Analysis of Fusarium solani Species Complex in Malaysia

Abstract

Members of Fusarium solani species complex (FSSC) have been known as plant, animal, and human pathogens. Nevertheless, the taxonomic status of such an important group of fungi is still very confusing and many new species as well as lineages have been elucidated recently. Unfortunately, most of the new taxa came from temperate and subtropical regions. Therefore, the objectives of the present study were to identify strains of FSSC recovered from different sources in Malaysia. In the present study, 55 strains belonging to the FSSC were examined and phylogenetically analyzed on the basis of internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions and partial translation elongation factor-1 (TEF-1α) sequences. Based on morphological features, a total of 55 strains were selected for molecular studies. Based on morphological features, the strains were classified into four described Fusarium species, namely Fusarium keratoplasticum, Fusarium falciforme, FSSC 5, and Fusarium cf. ensiforme, and one unknown phylogenetic species was introduced. Although the data obtained from morphological and molecular studies sufficiently supported each other, the phylogenetic trees based on ITS and TEF-1α dataset clearly distinguished closely related species and distinctly separated all morphological taxa. All members of FSSC in this research were reported for the first time for Malaysian mycoflora.

Cryptic Risks to Forest Biosecurity Associated with the Global Movement of Commercial Seed

“…In addition, the 97% sequence similarity threshold for the ITS marker gene can be too conservative for species-level identification of some fungal taxa [32]. Specifically, the genera Fusarium and Diaporthe are known to contain species complexes [52,53]. At least ten putative Fusarium taxa were detected in this study using ITS sequencing ( Supplementary File 1), though further work would be needed using additional and specific markers [54] to resolve the Fusarium species identification.…”

Fusarium species causing eumycetoma: Report of two cases and comprehensive review of the literature

“…The genus Fusarium lists among the hyaline fungi but is a rare cause of mycetoma. Of the approximately 300 described species in the genus Fusarium , about a quarter have been involved in human infections, with F. solani as the most frequently identified species. Phylogenetic analyses have shown that F. solani represents a series of species known as the F. solani species complex (FSSC), which consists of three major clades encompassing more than 60 phylogenetic lineages, some carrying names but the majority remaining unnamed .…”

Removing chaos from confusion: assigning names to common human and animal pathogens in Neocosmospora

“…Molecular data, however, showed this species to cluster within the ‘ Fusarium ’ solani species complex, now Neocosmospora (Summerbell & Schroers 2002). Many fresh isolations of this species have later evidenced the production of distinctive multiseptate conidia, confirming its affinity with Neocosmospora (Edupuganti et al 2011, Short et al 2013, Chehri et al 2015). Similarly, the recently described N. metavorans was characterised as lacking sporodochial conidia (Al-Hatmi et al 2018).…”

“…Notes — This cosmopolitan species is known almost exclusively from infected animals and from biofilms occurring in plumbing systems, including hospital water supplies (Short et al 2013, 2014), but is also occasionally found in plant material and soil (Chehri et al 2015, Shaffer et al 2017). It is regarded as one of the most prevalent fusaria isolated from human disease worldwide, causing mostly corneal infections, but also isolated from blood, nails and skin (O’Donnell et al 2008, Short et al 2013).…”