Phylogeny, identification and nomenclature of the genus Aspergillus

• Published in: Studies in mycology Vol. 78; no. 1; pp. 141 - 173
• Main Authors: Samson, R.A., Visagie, C.M., Houbraken, J., Hong, S.-B., Hubka, V., Klaassen, C.H.W., Perrone, G., Seifert, K.A., Susca, A., Tanney, J.B., Varga, J., Kocsubé, S., Szigeti, G., Yaguchi, T., Frisvad, J.C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 01.06.2014; Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute; Centraalbureau voor Schimmelcultures; CBS Fungal Biodiversity Centre
• Subjects: Aspergillus; Fungal Identification; Identification and classification; Media; Nomenclature; Phylogeny; Aspergillus australensis (Samson, S.B. Hong & Varga) Houbraken, Visagie & Samson; Aspergillus pluriseminatus (Stchigel & Guarro) Samson, Visagie & Houbraken; Aspergillus astellatus (Fennell & Raper) Houbraken, Visagie & Samson; Aspergillus capsici (J.F.H. Beyma) Houbraken, Visagie & Samson; Phylogeny; Aspergillus sclerotialis (W. Gams & Breton) Houbraken, Tanney, Visagie & Samson; Aspergillus denticulatus (Samson, S.B. Hong & Frisvad) Samson, S.B. Hong, Visagie & Houbraken; Aspergillus jaipurensis Samson, Visagie & Houbraken; Aspergillus papuensis (Samson, S.B. Hong & Varga) Samson, S.B. Hong & Varga; Udagawa, Abdullah & Al-Bader) Samson, Visagie & Houbraken; Aspergillus insolitus (G. Sm.) Houbraken, Visagie & Samson; Aspergillus chinensis Samson, Visagie & Houbraken; Fungal identification; Aspergillus delacroxii Samson, Visagie & Houbraken; Aspergillus cejpii (Milko) Samson, Varga, Visagie & Houbraken; Aspergillus solicola Samson, Visagie & Houbraken; Aspergillus desertorum (Samson & Mouch.) Samson, Visagie & Houbraken; Aspergillus chlamydosporus (Gené & Guarro) Houbraken, Tanney, Visagie & Samson; Aspergillus ferenczii (Varga & Samson) Samson, Varga, Visagie & Houbraken; Aspergillus galapagensis (Frisvad, S.B. Hong & Samson) Samson, Frisvad & Houbraken; Nomenclature; Media; Aspergillus shendaweii (Yaguchi, Abliz & Y. Horie) Samson, Visagie & Houbraken; Aspergillus arxii (Fort & Guarro) Houbraken, Visagie & Samson; Aspergillus inflatus (Stolk & Malla) Samson, Frisvad, Varga, Visagie & Houbraken; Aspergillus pisci (A.D. Hocking & Pitt) Houbraken, Visagie & Samson; Aspergillus similis (Y. Horie; Aspergillus assulatus (S.B. Hong, Frisvad & Samson) Houbraken, Visagie & Samson; Aspergillus tsunodae (Yaguchi, Abliz & Y. Horie) Samson, Visagie & Houbraken; Aspergillus baarnensis Samson, Visagie & Houbraken; Aspergillus caninus (Sigler, Deanna A. Sutton, Gibas, Summerb. & Iwen) Houbraken, Tanney, Visagie & Samson
• ISSN: 0166-0616; 1872-9797
• DOI: 10.1016/j.simyco.2014.07.004

Aspergillus comprises a diverse group of species based on morphological, physiological and phylogenetic characters, which significantly impact biotechnology, food production, indoor environments and human health. Aspergillus was traditionally associated with nine teleomorph genera, but phylogenetic data suggest that together with genera such as Polypaecilum, Phialosimplex, Dichotomomyces and Cristaspora, Aspergillus forms a monophyletic clade closely related to Penicillium. Changes in the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi and plants resulted in the move to one name per species, meaning that a decision had to be made whether to keep Aspergillus as one big genus or to split it into several smaller genera. The International Commission of Penicillium and Aspergillus decided to keep Aspergillus instead of using smaller genera. In this paper, we present the arguments for this decision. We introduce new combinations for accepted species presently lacking an Aspergillus name and provide an updated accepted species list for the genus, now containing 339 species. To add to the scientific value of the list, we include information about living ex-type culture collection numbers and GenBank accession numbers for available representative ITS, calmodulin, β-tubulin and RPB2 sequences. In addition, we recommend a standard working technique for Aspergillus and propose calmodulin as a secondary identification marker.