Phylogeny, identification and nomenclature of the genus<i>Aspergillus</i>

TLDR

Aspergillus is a diverse genus whose species, defined by morphological, physiological and phylogenetic traits, impact biotechnology, food production, indoor environments and human health, and phylogenetic analyses place it in a monophyletic clade with Penicillium, prompting a nomenclatural shift to a single name per species that required deciding whether to retain a single large genus or split it into smaller ones. The paper argues for retaining Aspergillus as a single genus, introduces new combinations for species lacking an Aspergillus name, updates the accepted species list to 339 species, and recommends a standard working technique with calmodulin as a secondary marker. The authors compiled an updated list of 339 accepted Aspergillus species, added new combinations for species lacking an Aspergillus name, provided ex‑type culture collection numbers and GenBank accession numbers for ITS, calmodulin, β‑tubulin and RPB2 sequences, and proposed a standard working technique using calmodulin as a secondary marker. The International Commission of Penicillium and Aspergillus decided to retain Aspergillus as a single genus rather than split it into smaller genera.

Abstract

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.