Epitypification of Fusisporium (Fusarium) solani and its assignment to a common phylogenetic species in the Fusarium solani species complex

Abstract

Fusisporium solani was described as the causal agent of a dry rot of potato in Germany in the mid 19th century. As Fusarium solani, the species became known as a plurivorous plant pathogen, endophyte, decomposer, and opportunistic pathogen of humans and nutritional symbiont of insects. In parallel, it became evident that the morphologically defined species F. solani represents a phylogenetically and biologically complex group of often morphologically cryptic species that has come to be known in part as the F. solani species complex (FSSC), accommodating several formae speciales and mating populations/biological species. The FSSC currently includes more than 60 phylogenetic species. Several of these have been named, but the majority remains unnamed and the identity of F. solani sensu stricto is unclear. To promote further taxonomic developments in the FSSC, lectoand epitypification is proposed for Fusisporium solani. Although no type material for F. solani is known to exist, the species was abundantly illustrated in the protologue. Thus, a relevant illustration provided by von Martius is selected as the lectotype. The epitype selected here originates from a rotting potato collected in a field in Slovenia. This strain causes a dry rot of artificially inoculated potatoes. It groups in the heretofore unnamed phylogenetic species 5, which is nested within clade 3 of the FSSC (FSSC 5). Members of this phylogenetic species have a wide geographic distribution and include soil saprotrophs and plant and opportunistic human pathogens. This typification is consistent with the original description of Fusisporium solani and the concept of F. solani as a widely distributed soil inhabitant and pathogen.

• FSSC
• Hypocreales
• Nectriaceae
• potato dry rot
• taxonomy
• translation elongation factor 1-α gene
• von Martius

Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the curators and staff of the herbaria BR (National Botanic Garden of Belgium, Meise), G (Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques de la Ville de Genève, Switzerland), M (Botanische Staatssammlung München, Germany), MEL (Royal Botanic Gardens, Australia, Victoria, Melbourne), TO (University of Turin, Italy) and W (Naturhistorisches Museum Wien, Austria). We thank Mrs. M. Kralj Kunčič for collecting potatoes from Begunje and Stacy Sink at the United States Department of Agriculture National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research Mycotoxin Prevention and Applied Microbiology Research Unit for the species and haplotype assignments. This work was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, NSF PEET grant 07-31510 to Priscila Chaverri, Amy Rossman and GJS, and NSF DEB 0089474 to DMG and GJS. This work was supported in part by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture Project PEN 04527 at the Pennsylvania State Agricultural Experiment Station. DPGS was supported by NIFA grant 2010-65110-20488, Education in Genomics-Based Microbial Forensics. The Slovenian Research Agency (ARRS) supported the study through financing the research program Agrobiodiversity P4-0072.