Pleurotus opuntiae revisited – An insight to the phylogeny of dimitic Pleurotus species with emphasis on the P. djamor complex. Issue 3 (March 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zervakis, Georgios I.; Venturella, Giuseppe; Fryssouli, Vassiliki; Inglese, Paolo; Polemis, Elias; Gargano, Maria Letizia
• Is Part Of: Fungal biology. Volume 123:Issue 3(2019)
• Page Start: 188
• Page End: 199
• Publication Date: 2019-03
• Subjects: Fungal taxonomy -- ITS -- Multi-gene phylogeny -- Opuntia ficus-indica -- Oyster mushroom -- Pleurotus opuntiae epitype; Mycology -- Periodicals; Fungi -- Periodicals; 579.505
• DOI: 10.1016/j.funbio.2018.12.005
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1878-6146

Abstract

Abstract: The name Pleurotus opuntiae is indiscriminately used for describing mushrooms with white to off-white to white-grey pilei with short or absent stipe and dimitic hyphal system, which grow on plants of the genera Opuntia, Yucca, Agave, Phytolacca etc. However, the outcome of the present study evidences that this name should be reserved for specimens deriving from the Mediterranean area only; an epitype originating from Italy on Opuntia ficus-indica is designated. Pertinent material was sequenced by using the internal transcribed spacer region (ITS) and found to be phylogenetically related to P. djamor from Kenya and Nigeria, while members of the P. djamor complex from other continents were clearly more distant. Results were further corroborated by examining the large subunit of nuclear ribosomal DNA (LSU) and the second subunit of RNA polymerase II (RPB2). The P. djamor complex shows high intraspecific polymorphism evidenced by sequence divergence and genetic distance values, presents a cosmopolitan distribution and also comprises material initially identified as P. flabellatus, P. opuntiae, P. ostreatoroseus, P. parsonsiae and P. salmoneostramineus . An ITS tree including representative specimens from all major Pleurotus species is provided for the first time and ambiguous taxa are discussed in the context of new findings. Highlights: Pleurotus opuntiae is studied within the context of dimitic Pleurotus taxa. An epitype is designated on the basis of Italian material from Opuntia ficus-indica . P. opuntiae should be used for specimens from the Mediterranean area only. P leurotus djamor complex presents high ITS sequence divergence and genetic distance values. ITS, LSU and RPB2 trees with specimens from representative Pleurotus taxa are provided.