The polyphasic re-identification of a Brazilian Aspergillus section Terrei collection led to the discovery of two new species

Abstract

Species belonging to Aspergillus section Terrei have a worldwide distribution and are phenotypically similar. Most species grow either moderately or fast on agar media, and their conidial colors are often in shades of cinnamon brown. In the present study, 79 section Terrei strains stored at the University Recife Mycologia (URM) Culture Collection (Micoteca URM) in Brazil were re-identified using a polyphasic approach, combining partial β-tubulin (BenA) and calmodulin (CaM) gene sequences and morphological data. Seven known (A. terreus, A. pseudoterreus, A. alabamensis, A. citrinoterreus, A. hortai, A. neoafricanus, and A. niveus) and two new species, A. barbosae and A. recifensis, were present among the studied strains. The new species were described based on internal transcribed spacer (ITS), BenA, CaM, and RNA polymerase II second largest subunit (RPB2) sequences in combination with morphological features and extrolite profiles; the most important characteristics for distinguishing the new from the accepted section Terrei species are given. Aspergillus recifensis produces the mycotoxin citreoviridin and A. barbosae citrinin.