Abstract
Species in the genus Ganoderma include several ecologically important and pathogenic fungal species whose medicinal and economic value is substantial. Due to the highly similar morphological features within the Ganoderma, identification of species has relied heavily on DNA sequencing using BLAST searches, which are only reliable if the GenBank submissions are accurately labeled. In this study, we examined 113 specimens collected from 1969 to 2016 from various regions in Korea using morphological features and multigene analysis (internal transcribed spacer, translation elongation factor 1-α, and the second largest subunit of RNA polymerase II). These specimens were identified as four Ganoderma species: G. sichuanense, G. cf. adspersum, G. cf. applanatum, and G. cf. gibbosum. With the exception of G. sichuanense, these species were difficult to distinguish based solely on morphological features. However, phylogenetic analysis at three different loci yielded concordant phylogenetic information, and supported the four species distinctions with high bootstrap support. A survey of over 600 Ganoderma sequences available on GenBank revealed that 65% of sequences were either misidentified or ambiguously labeled. Here, we suggest corrected annotations for GenBank sequences based on our phylogenetic validation and provide updated global distribution patterns for these Ganoderma species.
Highlights
Fungal species in the genus Ganoderma Karst. (Ganodermataceae, Polyporales) include ecologically important wood decay fungi of which some species are a well-known component of traditional Asian medicine
Laccate specimens initially identified as G. lucidum, G. lingzhi and G. neojaponicum were identified as G. sichuanense using molecular analysis based on internal transcribed spacer (ITS), tef-1, and rpb2
Among the four previously described Ganoderma species, G. neojaponicum and G. tsugae were not found in this study
Summary
Fungal species in the genus Ganoderma Karst. (Ganodermataceae, Polyporales) include ecologically important wood decay fungi of which some species are a well-known component of traditional Asian medicine. Fungal species in the genus Ganoderma Karst. (Ganodermataceae, Polyporales) include ecologically important wood decay fungi of which some species are a well-known component of traditional Asian medicine. Several species of Ganoderma have been reported to cause diseases associated with trees, including basal stem rot disease in oil palm caused by G. boninense (Susanto, Sudharto & Purba, 2005), and root-rot disease of Acacia trees caused by G. steyaertanum, G. mastoporum, and G. philippii (Glen et al, 2009). Ganoderma byproducts are increasingly being used in western medicine and related health industries, How to cite this article Jargalmaa et al (2017), Taxonomic evaluation of selected Ganoderma species and database sequence validation. As our understanding of the biochemistry and genetics of Ganoderma biocompounds increases in tandem with increasing medicinal and economic demand for these byproducts, accurate identification of Ganoderma species is critical
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