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. 2020 Nov 25:75:51-69.
doi: 10.3897/mycokeys.75.55968. eCollection 2020.

The taxonomy of the model filamentous fungus Podospora anserina

S Lorena Ament-Velásquez  1 , Hanna Johannesson  1 , Tatiana Giraud  2 , Robert Debuchy  3 , Sven J Saupe  4 , Alfons J M Debets  5 , Eric Bastiaans  5 , Fabienne Malagnac  3 , Pierre Grognet  3 , Leonardo Peraza-Reyes  6 , Pierre Gladieux  7 , Åsa Kruys  8 , Philippe Silar  9 , Sabine M Huhndorf  10 , Andrew N Miller  11 , Aaron A Vogan  1
Affiliations

The taxonomy of the model filamentous fungus Podospora anserina

S Lorena Ament-Velásquez et al. MycoKeys. .

Abstract

The filamentous fungus Podospora anserina has been used as a model organism for more than 100 years and has proved to be an invaluable resource in numerous areas of research. Throughout this period, P. anserina has been embroiled in a number of taxonomic controversies regarding the proper name under which it should be called. The most recent taxonomic treatment proposed to change the name of this important species to Triangularia anserina. The results of past name changes of this species indicate that the broader research community is unlikely to accept this change, which will lead to nomenclatural instability and confusion in literature. Here, we review the phylogeny of the species closely related to P. anserina and provide evidence that currently available marker information is insufficient to resolve the relationships amongst many of the lineages. We argue that it is not only premature to propose a new name for P. anserina based on current data, but also that every effort should be made to retain P. anserina as the current name to ensure stability and to minimise confusion in scientific literature. Therefore, we synonymise Triangularia with Podospora and suggest that either the type species of Podospora be moved to P. anserina from P. fimiseda or that all species within the Podosporaceae be placed in the genus Podospora.

Keywords: Podospora; Podosporaceae; phylogenetics; taxonomy.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Schematic phylogenetic relationships of the main clades within the Podosporaceae based on Maximum Likelihood analyses of concatenated markers. The three main clades (A, B and C) are strongly supported (bootstrap support values next to relevant branches), but their particular relationship changes depending on the presence of the rpb2 marker. Branches proportional to the scale bar (nucleotide substitutions per site).
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Maximum Likelihood phylogeny of the concatenated analysis of ITS, LSU, Btub and rpb2 for the Podosporaceae, with an emphasis on Clade A. Type strains are indicated with a bold T and those of the focal species Podospora anserina and Triangularia bambusae are highlighted with coloured boxes. Bootstrap support values are depicted next to their respective branches, but values corresponding to nearly identical sequences are removed for clarity. Branches are proportional to the scale bar (nucleotide substitutions per site).
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Maximum Likelihood phylogeny of the concatenated analysis of ITS, LSU, Btub and rpb2 for the Podosporaceae, with an emphasis on the clades B and C. Type strains are indicated with a bold T and that of the focal species Podospora fimiseda is highlighted with a coloured box. Bootstrap support values are depicted next to their respective branches, but values corresponding to nearly identical sequences are removed for clarity. Branches are proportional to the scale bar (nucleotide substitutions per site).
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Phylogenetic signal in the available molecular markers for the relationship between clade A and either clade B or C of the PodosporaceaeA differences in the gene-wise log-likelihood scores (ΔGLS) for each marker, where 0 implies equal support for either of the two alternative sister relationships (A and B or A and C), positive values mean higher support for A and B and negative values higher support for A and C B proportion of sites that support each of the two sister relationships within each marker.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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