New species in Aspergillus section Terrei

Abstract

Section Terrei of Aspergillus was studied using a polyphasic approach including sequence analysis of parts of the β-tubulin and calmodulin genes and the ITS region, macro- and micromorphological analyses and examination of extrolite profiles to describe three new species in this section. Based on phylogenetic analysis of calmodulin and β-tubulin sequences seven lineages were observed among isolates that have previously been treated as A. terreus and its subspecies by Raper & Fennell (1965) and others. Aspergillus alabamensis, A. terreus var. floccosus, A. terreus var. africanus, A. terreus var. aureus, A. hortai and A. terreus NRRL 4017 all represent distinct lineages from the A. terreus clade. Among them, A. terreus var. floccosus, A. terreus NRRL 4017 and A. terreus var. aureus could also be distinguished from A. terreus by using ITS sequence data. New names are proposed for A. terreus var. floccosus, A. terreus var. africanus, A. terreus var. aureus, while Aspergillus hortai is recognised at species level. Aspergillus terreus NRRL 4017 is described as the new species A. pseudoterreus. Also included in section Terrei are some species formerly placed in sections Flavipedes and Versicolores. A. clade including the type isolate of A. niveus (CBS 115.27) constitutes a lineage closely related to A. carneus. Fennellia nivea, the hypothesized teleomorph is not related to this clade. Aspergillus allahabadii, A. niveus var. indicus, and two species originally placed in section Versicolores, A. ambiguus and A. microcysticus, also form well-defined lineages on all trees. Species in Aspergillus section Terrei are producers of a diverse array of secondary metabolites. However, many of the species in the section produce different combinations of the following metabolites: acetylaranotin, asperphenamate, aspochalamins, aspulvinones, asteltoxin, asterric acid, asterriquinones, aszonalenins, atrovenetins, butyrolactones, citreoisocoumarins, citreoviridins, citrinins, decaturins, fulvic acid, geodins, gregatins, mevinolins, serantrypinone, terreic acid (only the precursor 3,6-dihydroxytoluquinone found), terreins, terrequinones, terretonins and territrems. The cholesterol-lowering agent mevinolin was found in A. terreus and A. neoafricanus only. The hepatotoxic extrolite citrinin was found in eight species: A. alabamensis, A. allahabadii, A. carneus, A. floccosus, A. hortai, A. neoindicus, A. niveus and A. pseudoterreus. The neurotoxic extrolite citreoviridin was found in five species: A. neoafricanus, A. aureoterreus, A. pseudoterreus, A. terreus and A. neoniveus. Territrems, tremorgenic extrolites, were found in some strains of A. alabamensis and A. terreus.

Aspergilluscitrinoterreus, a New Species of Section Terrei Isolated from Samples of Patients with Nonhematological Predisposing Conditions

“…In addition, it was slightly more susceptible to azoles than A. terreus sensu stricto is. In recent years, with the aid of phylogenetic analyses, several new species belonging to Aspergillus section Terrei have been described (12,22). Samson et al (12) demonstrated that numerous taxa of section Terrei, which in the past were reduced to varietal status among A. terreus on the basis of phenotypic criteria, corresponded to distinct but closely related phylogenetic species, many of which were almost indistinguishable by morphological criteria.…”

“…Colony features and growth rates were determined for all of the isolates grown on creatine agar (CREA), Czapek yeast autolysate agar (CYA), malt extract agar (MEA), or oatmeal agar (OA) after 7 days of incubation at 25, 37, 40, or 45°C in darkness (12). The color notations used in the descriptions are those of Kornerup and Wanscher (20).…”

“…The number of newly described species within the section Terrei has grown during the last few years and includes A. (12). To date, most of these species, with the exception of A. terreus sensu stricto, have not been reported to cause invasive aspergillosis in humans.…”

Two novel Aspergillus species from hypersaline soils of The National Park of Lake Urmia, Iran

“…Currently, 15 species are accepted in this section: A. alabamensis, A. allahabadii, A. ambiguous, A. aureoterreus, A. carneus, A. citrinoterreus, A. floccosus, A. hortai, A. microcysticus, A. neoafricanus, A. neoindicus, A. neoniveus, A. niveus, A. pseudoterreus and A. terreus (Peterson 2008;Balajee et al 2009;Samson et al 2011;Guinea et al 2015). We describe the new species A. iranicus in this section based on the concordance between the BenA, CaM and RPB2 genes and the unique phylogenetic position of the isolates in section Terrei in the combined analyses.…”

A critical review of producers of small lactone mycotoxins: patulin, penicillic acid and moniliformin

“…It was the aim of this review to revise the lists of producers of patulin, penicillic acid and moniliformin according to the most recent taxonomic treatments of the genera Aspergillus (Chen et al, 2016a(Chen et al, ,b, 2017Frisvad, 2015;Frisvad and Larsen, 2015;Hubka et al, 2015Hubka et al, , 2016Jurjevics et al, 2015;Kocsubé et al, 2016;Samson et al, 2011aSamson et al, ,b, 2014Samson et al, , 2017Sklenář et al, 2017;Varga et al, 2007aVarga et al, ,b, 2011aVisagie et al, 2014aVisagie et al, , 2017, Penicillium Houbraken et al, 2016;Visagie et al, 2014b) and Fusarium (Aoki et al, 2014;Burgess, 2014;Gerlach and Nirenberg, 1982;Lesley and Summerell, 2016;Nelson et al, 1983), as correct species-mycotoxin relations are important for prevention of mycotoxin formation in foods, feeds and biotechnological products.…”