Phylogeny and subgeneric taxonomy of Aspergillus

The phylogeny of the genus Aspergillus and its teleomorphs is discussed based on multilocus sequence data. DNA sequence analysis was used to formulate a nucleotide sequence framework of the genus and to analyze character changes in relationship to the phylogeny hypothesized from the DNA sequence analysis.

The sequence data used to delimitate subgeneric taxa included partial calmodulin, rDNA and RNA polymerase gene sequences. In our phylogenic structure of Aspergillus extrolite data of the various Aspergillus taxa collected from ex-type cultures and numerous other isolates are also discussed. A new subgeneric classification is proposed which includes 8 subgenera and 22 sections within the Aspergillus genus.

Characteristics of these taxa are shortly discussed in this chapter.