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Title: Proposal to conserve the name Helminthosporium maydis Y. Nisik. & C. Miyake (Bipolaris maydis) against H. maydis Brond. and Ophiobolus heterostrophus (Ascomycota: Pleosporales: Pleosporaceae)

Author
item Rossman, Amy
item MANAMGODA, DIMUTHU - Mae Fah Luan University
item HYDE, KEVIN - Mae Fah Luan University

Submitted to: Taxon
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/13/2013
Publication Date: 12/20/2013
Citation: Rossman, A.Y., Manamgoda, D.S., Hyde, K. 2013. Proposal to conserve the name Helminthosporium maydis Y. Nisik. & C. Miyake (Bipolaris maydis) against H. maydis Brond. and Ophiobolus heterostrophus (Ascomycota: Pleosporales: Pleosporaceae). Taxon. 62(6):1332-1333.

Interpretive Summary: Everything needs a name in order to communicate about it including fungi that cause diseases. If two scientific names of fungi are confused, there is a set of rules that dictate which name should be used. Usually the oldest name, that is, the first name applied to a species, is the correct name. Until recently fungi were allowed to have two names, however, changes in the rules for naming fungi allow for the use of only one name. For many years the fungus that causes southern corn leaf blight, a disease that devastated corn in the late 1970’s, has had two names. When studied by geneticists one name was used while plant pathologists have used another name for the same fungus. This proposal suggests which scientific name for this fungus should be used, specifically because its use would prevent the need to change many other names. In five years scientists at the International Botanical Congress will make the final decision about the use of this name. This research will be used by plant pathologists and geneticists in applying one scientific name for this fungus in order to communicate about their research and the disease caused by this fungus.

Technical Abstract: The name Bipolaris maydis (Y. Nisik. & C. Miyake) Shoemaker is the type of the genus Bipolaris Shoemaker, while Cochliobolus heterostrophus (Drechsler) Drechsler is the type of the genus Cochliobolus Drechsler. Initially described as Helminthosporium maydis Y. Nisik. & C. Miyake, Bipolaris maydis is the asexual state of Cochliobolus heterostrophus, a name based on Ophiobolus heterostrophus Drechsler. Bipolaris maydis and Cochliobolus heterostrophus are synonyms as are the genera Bipolaris and Cochliobolus. Bipolaris maydis (Cochliobolus heterostrophus) causes southern corn leaf blight, a disease that was extremely damaging in the midwestern United States in the late 1970’s, but is now considered a minor disease because corn or maize is bred for resistance to this disease. Plant pathologists tend to use the name Bipolaris maydis for the disease caused by this fungus. Scientists have studied the genetics and genome of this species using the name Cochliobolus heterostrophus.In the course of developing this proposal the generic name Helmisporium Brond. was discovered in which the name H. maydis was described. This generic name was recognized as an orthographic variant of Helminthosporium Link as listed in the ICBN. However, none of the names listed by Brondeau (1856) have appeared in the literature dealing with Helminthosporium. We propose that the name Helminthosporium maydis Y. Nisik. & C. Miyake 1926 also be conserved over Helmisporium maydis Brond. 1856.Given the widespread use of the name Bipolaris maydis for southern corn leaf blight and the proposal to conserve the generic name Bipolaris, it seems expedient to also conserve the basionym Helminthosporium maydis for this species in Bipolaris.