IMA Fungus 4(2): 229-241, doi: 10.5598/imafungus.2013.04.02.08
Xerochrysium gen. nov. and Bettsia, genera encompassing xerophilic species of Chrysosporium
John I. Pitt‡, Henrik Lantz, Olga Vinnere Pettersson§, Su-lin L. Leong§‡ CSIRO Animal, Food and Health Sciences, North Ryde, Australia§ Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala BioCenter, Dept of Microbiology, Uppsala, Sweden
© John Pitt, Henrik Lantz, Olga Vinnere Pettersson, Su-lin Leong. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY-NC 4.0), which permits to copy and distribute the article for non-commercial purposes, provided that the article is not altered or modified and the original author and source are credited. Citation:
Pitt JI, Lantz H, Vinnere Pettersson O, Leong S-linL (2013) Xerochrysium gen. nov. and Bettsia, genera encompassing xerophilic species of Chrysosporium. IMA Fungus 4(2): 229-241. https://doi.org/10.5598/imafungus.2013.04.02.08 |  |
Abstract
On the basis of a study of ITS sequences, Vidal et al. (Rev. Iber. Micol.17 : 22, 2000) recommended that the genus Chrysosporium be restricted to species belonging to Onygenales. Using nrLSU genes, we studied the majority of clades examined by Vidal et al. and showed that currently accepted species in Chrysosporium phylogenetically belong in six clades in three orders. Surprisingly, the xerophilic species of Chrysosporium, long thought to be a single grouping away from the majority of Chrysosporium species, occupy two clades, one in Leotiales, the other in Eurotiales. Species accepted in Leotiales are related to the sexual genus Bettsia. One is the type species B. alvei, and related asexual strains classified as C. farinicola, the second is C. fastidium transferred to Bettsia as B. fastidia. Species in the Eurotiales are transferred to Xerochrysium gen. nov., where the accepted species are X. xerophilum and X. dermatitidis, the correct name for C. inops on transfer to Xerochrysium. All accepted species are extreme xerophiles, found in dried and concentrated foods.
Keywords
Eurotiales, food spoilage, Leotiales, molecular systematics, Onygenales, Taxonomy