No to Neocosmospora : Phylogenomic and Practical Reasons for Continued Inclusion of the Fusarium solani Species Complex in the Genus Fusarium

Abstract

This article is to alert medical mycologists and infectious disease specialists of recent name changes of medically important species of the filamentous mold Fusarium. Fusarium species can cause localized and life-threating infections in humans. Of the 70 Fusarium species that have been reported to cause infections, close to one-third are members of the Fusarium solani species complex (FSSC), and they collectively account for approximately two-thirds of all reported Fusarium infections. Many of these species were recently given scientific names for the first time by a research group in the Netherlands, but they were misplaced in the genus Neocosmospora. In this paper, we present genetic arguments that strongly support inclusion of the FSSC in Fusarium. There are potentially serious consequences associated with using the name Neocosmospora for Fusarium species because clinicians need to be aware that fusaria are broadly resistant to the spectrum of antifungals that are currently available.

A One Health Perspective to Recognize Fusarium as Important in Clinical Practice

“…This includes the species N. petroliphila ( F. petroliphilum ), N. keratoplastica ( F. keratoplasticum ), N. falciformis ( F. falciforme ), and N. solani ( F. solani ), along with the new species N. gamsii (haplotype 7), N. suttoniana (haplotype 20), and N. catenata (haplotype 43) [ 14 ]. However, a recent phylogenomic analysis supports FSSC as Fusarium [ 15 ] and the genus name Fusarium for human pathogens in the FSSC [ 16 ]. Taking into account that the continuous change of names of these fungi can create some confusion, it has been suggested to refer to these taxa as Fusarium -like [ 17 ].…”

Seed Banks as Incidental Fungi Banks: Fungal Endophyte Diversity in Stored Seeds of Banana Wild Relatives

“…Species complex and genus names are shown in bold. Red circles indicate generic limits of Fusarium proposed by Lombard et al (2015) and O’Donnell et al (2020) .…”

“…We should highlight that the taxonomy of Fusarium is highly contested ( Summerell, 2019 ). Recent dismantling and splitting of certain Fusarium species complexes into several distinct genera ( Lombard et al, 2015 ), including reassigning species in the FSSC to the genus Neocosmospora ( Sandoval-Denis et al, 2019 ), has received pushback, the main opposing argument being that a broader generic concept benefits practitioners dealing with human and plant pathogens ( O’Donnell et al, 2020 ). Different perspectives on the limits of the generic concept of Fusarium (illustrated in Figure 5 ) will no doubt continue to be debated.…”

Insights into the genome and secretome of Fusarium metavorans DSM105788 by cultivation on agro-residual biomass and synthetic nutrient sources

“…The FSSC is thought to contain at least 60 phylogenetically distinct but closely related and morphologically similar species [ 36 ], and is allied with the sexual species Nectria haematococca . Robust classification within the FSSC and the genus Fusarium is achieved by analyzing polymorphisms in the genes encoding translation elongation factor 1α (TEF1) and the second largest subunit of RNA polymerase II (RPB2) as well as the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) together with 28S ribosomal RNA (ITS + 28S) [ 36 – 38 ] . Members of the FSSC collectively have a broad host range and can be found as soil-dwelling saprophytes, rhizosphere colonizers, or pathogens of pea, bean, potato, soybean, maize and many cucurbit plants, as well as animals including humans [ 39 ].…”