ARS | Publication request: A PHYLOGENY OF PENICILLIUM BASED ON RDNA SEQUENCES

Submitted to: International Workshop on Penicillium and Aspergillus
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: May 30, 1997
Publication Date: N/A

Technical Abstract: Taxonomic views in Penicillium have, to date, been largely based on morphological and physiological data. In order to test the value of penicillus complexity, colony form and color, and tolerance of species to media with low water potential as phylogenetic characters, I have generated rDNA sequence data for a set of Eupenicillium, Talaromyces, Geosmithia and Penicillium species. Penicillium splits into two major groups that center on the teleomorphic genera Eupenicillium and Talaromyces. Aspergillus crystallinus, A. malodoratus and H. paradoxus are closely related to Eupenicillium species. Strains from subgenus Penicillium are closely related to each other and to some species in subgenus Furcatum. Other monoverticillate species or species from section Furcatum form clades, often without regard to the complexity of the penicillus. Eupenicillium species are distributed among the anamorphic species from subgenera Penicillium, Furcatum and Aspergilloides. Talaromyces species and species from section Biverticillium form a distinct branch of the tree, not closely related to either Aspergillus or Penicillium species. Geosmithia species are quite divergent phylogenetically, with some species closely related to Talaromyces while other species form distinct clades elsewhere on the tree. Taxonomic groupings do not well reflect the phylogeny of species in Penicillium.