Phylogenetic and morphotaxonomic revision of Ramichloridium and allied genera

The phylogeny of the genera Periconiella, Ramichloridium, Rhinocladiella and Veronaea was explored by means of partial sequences of the 28S (LSU) rRNA gene and the ITS region (ITS1, 5.8S rDNA and ITS2). Based on the LSU sequence data, ramichloridium-like species segregate into eight distinct clusters. These include the Capnodiales (Mycosphaerellaceae and Teratosphaeriaceae), the Chaetothyriales (Herpotrichiellaceae), the Pleosporales, and five ascomycete clades with uncertain affinities. The type species of Ramichloridium, R. apiculatum, together with R. musae, R. biverticillatum, R. cerophilum, R. verrucosum, R. pini, and three new species isolated from Strelitzia, Musa and forest soil, respectively, reside in the Capnodiales clade. The human-pathogenic species R. mackenziei and R. basitonum, together with R. fasciculatum and R. anceps, cluster with Rhinocladiella (type species: Rh. atrovirens, Herpotrichiellaceae, Chaetothyriales), and are allocated to this genus. Veronaea botryosa, the type species of the genus Veronaea, also resides in the Chaetothyriales clade, whereas Veronaea simplex clusters as a sister taxon to the Venturiaceae (Pleosporales), and is placed in a new genus, Veronaeopsis. Ramichloridium obovoideum clusters with Carpoligna pleurothecii (anamorph: Pleurothecium sp., Chaetosphaeriales), and a new combination is proposed in Pleurothecium. Other ramichloridium-like clades include R. subulatum and R. epichloës (incertae sedis, Sordariomycetes), for which a new genus, Radulidium is erected. Ramichloridium schulzeri and its varieties are placed in a new genus, Myrmecridium (incertae sedis, Sordariomycetes). The genus Pseudovirgaria (incertae sedis) is introduced to accommodate ramichloridium-like isolates occurring on various species of rust fungi. A veronaea-like isolate from Bertia moriformis with phylogenetic affinity to the Annulatascaceae (Sordariomycetidae) is placed in a new genus, Rhodoveronaea. Besides Ramichloridium, Periconiella is also polyphyletic. Thysanorea is introduced to accommodate Periconiella papuana (Herpotrichiellaceae), which is unrelated to the type species, P. velutina (Mycosphaerellaceae).

Monilochaetes and allied genera of the Glomerellales, and a reconsideration of families in the Microascales

We examined the phylogenetic relationships of two species that mimic Chaetosphaeria in teleomorph and anamorph morphologies, Chaetosphaeriatulasneorum with a Cylindrotrichum anamorph and Australiasca queenslandica with a Dischloridium anamorph. Four data sets were analysed: a) the internal transcribed spacer region including ITS1, 5.8S rDNA and ITS2 (ITS), b) nc28S (ncLSU) rDNA, c) nc18S (ncSSU) rDNA, and d) a combined data set of ncLSU-ncSSU-RPB2 (ribosomal polymerase B2). The traditional placement of Ch. tulasneorum in the Microascales based on ncLSU sequences is unsupported and Australiasca does not belong to the Chaetosphaeriaceae. Both holomorph species are nested within the Glomerellales. A new genus, Reticulascus, is introduced for Ch. tulasneorum with associated Cylindrotrichum anamorph; another species of Reticulascus and its anamorph in Cylindrotrichum are described as new. The taxonomic structure of the Glomerellales is clarified and the name is validly published. As delimited here, it includes three families, the Glomerellaceae and the newly described Australiascaceae and Reticulascaceae. Based on ITS and ncLSU rDNA sequence analyses, we confirm the synonymy of the anamorph genera Dischloridium with Monilochaetes. Consequently Dischloridium laeënse, type species of the genus, and three related species are transferred to the older genus Monilochaetes. The teleomorph of D. laeënse is described in Australiasca as a new species. The Plectosphaerellaceae, to which the anamorph genus Stachylidium is added, is basal to the Glomerellales in the three-gene phylogeny. Stilbella annulata also belongs to this family and is newly combined in Acrostalagmus. Phylogenetic analyses based on ncLSU, ncSSU, and combined ncLSU-ncSSU-RPB2 sequences clarify family relationships within the Microascales. The family Ceratocystidaceae is validated as a strongly supported monophyletic group consisting of Ceratocystis, Cornuvesica, Thielaviopsis, and the type species of Ambrosiella. The new family Gondwanamycetaceae, a strongly supported sister clade to the Ceratocystidaceae, is introduced for the teleomorph genus Gondwanamyces and its Custingophora anamorphs. Four families are accepted in the Microascales, namely the Ceratocystidaceae, Gondwanamycetaceae, Halosphaeriaceae, and Microascaceae. Because of a suggested affinity of a Faurelina indica isolate to the Microascales, the phylogenetic position of the Chadefaudiellaceae is reevaluated. Based on the results from a separate ncLSU analysis of the Dothideomycetes, Faurelina is excluded from the Microascales and placed in the Pleosporales.

The hyphomycete Teberdinia hygrophila gen. nov., sp. nov. and related anamorphs of Pseudeurotium species

A hyphomycetous fungus isolated from montane fen soil in the Caucasus Mountains, Russia, had obscurely sympodial conidiogenous cells that suggested a link to the heterogeneous genus Leptodontidium. Sequence analysis of the nuclear ribosomal small subunit and internal transcribed spacer region, however, disclosed that the fungus was an anamorphic member of a clade containing the cleistothecial ascomycetous genus Pseudeurotium. Teberdinia, gen. nov., is proposed for the blastic, generally sympodially proliferating anamorphs in this group, and Teberdinia hygrophila, sp. nov., is proposed for the species from upland fens. Binomials are not proposed for the remaining Teberdinia anamorphs of Pseudeurotium species. Purely anamorphic isolates in this clade are difficult to recognize using current morphological keys and might be more widely distributed and ecologically significant than is currently evident.

Isolation of Acremonium sclerotigenum from an ostrich's egg

An Acremonium sp. was isolated from an unhatched ostrich's egg. The inside of the egg showed the presence of black spots around the air cell and a creamy material. According to its microscopic features, the isolate was identified as Acremonium sclerotigenum .

Generic classification of some more hyphomycetes with solitary conidia borne on phialides

Unlike most phialide-producing fungi that liberate a multiplicity of conidia from each conidiogenous cell, only single conidia are formed on phialide-like conidiogenous cells in Aphanocladium, Verticimonosporium, and some species of Sibirina. A group of isolates obtained from soil of native Artemisia tridentata (sagebrush) grassland in Wyoming and from desert soil in Iraq is compared with these genera and classified as a fourth genus, Stanjemonium, honouring Stanley J. Hughes. Phylogenetic analyses of partial nuclear small- (18S) and large-subunit (28S) rDNA sequences indicate that Stanjemonium spp. form a monophyletic group with Emericellopsis. Sequences from the nuclear 18S and 28S rDNA were too conserved to resolve morphological species of Stanjemonium; however, phylogenetic analysis of b-tubulin and translation elongation factor 1a gene exons and introns resolved all species distinguished morphologically. Numerous conidiogenous cells or denticles are scattered along the cells of aerial hyphae in Aphanocladium and Stanjemonium spp., very rapidly collapsing into denticles in the former, somewhat more persistent and leaving broad scars in the latter. In Cladobotryum-Sibirina and Verticimonosporium spp., conidiogenous cells are discrete in terminal and intercalary whorls; phialides of the latter taxon are particularly swollen. The taxonomy of Aphanocladium is not yet resolved. Two species are recognized in Verticimonosporium. Three new species of Stanjemonium are described, and one new combination from Aphanocladium is proposed, along with one new species of Cladobotryum.Key words: Aphanocladium, Cladobotryum, conidiogenesis, hyphomycetes, molecular phylogeny, phialide, Stanjemonium, systematics, Verticimonosporium.

Acremonium species: new emerging fungal opportunists--in vitro antifungal susceptibilities and review

We provide an overview of opportunistic fungal infections caused by Acremonium (Cephalosporium) species and discuss the classification of these species as well as the diagnosis and treatment of acremonium infections. We used a microdilution broth method to compare in vitro susceptibilities and minimum inhibitory concentrations and minimum fungicidal concentrations of amphotericin B, miconazole, itraconazole, 5-fluorocytosine, fluconazole, and ketoconazole for 33 clinical and environmental isolates of Acremonium. In general, the isolates tested displayed little susceptibility to the antifungals tested. Fluconazole and 5-fluorocytosine were ineffective in all cases. The efficacy of the remaining drugs was dependent on the strain. Amphotericin B showed the best results.

Molecular evidence that the asexual industrial fungus Trichoderma reesei is a clonal derivative of the ascomycete Hypocrea jecorina

The relationship of the important cellulase producing asexual fungus Trichoderma reesei to its putative teleomorphic (sexual) ancestor Hypocrea jecorina and other species of the Trichoderma sect. Longibrachiatum was studied by PCR-fingerprinting and sequence analyses of the nuclear ribosomal DNA region containing the internal transcribed spacers (ITS-1 and ITS-2) and the 5.8S rRNA gene. The differences in the corresponding ITS sequences allowed a grouping of anamorphic (asexual) species of Trichoderma sect. Longibrachiatum into Trichoderma longibrachiatum, Trichoderma pseudokoningii, and Trichoderma reesei. The sexual species Hypocrea schweinitzii and H. jecorina were also clearly separated from each other. H. jecorina and T. reesei exhibited identical sequences, suggesting close relatedness or even species identity. Intraspecific and interspecific variation in the PCR-fingerprinting patterns supported the differentiation of species based on ITS sequences, the grouping of the strains, and the assignment of these strains to individual species. The variations between T. reesei and H. jecorina were at the same order of magnitude as found between all strains of H. jecorina, but much lower than the observed interspecific variations. Identical ITS sequences and the high similarity of PCR-fingerprinting patterns indicate a very close relationship between T. reesei and H. jecorina, whereas differences of the ITS sequences and the PCR-fingerprinting patterns show a clear phylogenetic distance between T. reesei/H. jecorina and T. longibrachiatum. T. reesei is considered to be an asexual, clonal line derived from a population of the tropical ascomycete H. jecorina.

Late bioprosthetic valve endocarditis caused by Phialemonium aff. curvatum and Streptococcus sanguis: a case report

Dual fungal and Streptococcus sanguis endocarditis is reported in a 63-year-old woman 7 months after placement of a porcine aortic valve prosthesis. Both micro-organisms were isolated by blood cultures, and the patient succumbed after a full course of antibacterial chemotherapy without having received antifungal chemotherapy. The best possible designation of the fungus was Phialemonium aff. curvatum W. Gams & W. B. Cooke, as represented by CBS 331.93. At autopsy hyphae were revealed in the porcine valve tissue by conventional staining. A hyperimmune rabbit antiserum raised towards strain CBS 331.93 and extensively absorbed with heterologous fungal antigens reacted strongly with hyphae in the valve tissue by indirect immunofluorescence technique. We consider it most likely that the Phialemonium infection evolved insidiously from the time of open heart surgery and led to a haematogenous streptococcal infection of a more fulminant course.

Systemic Fusarium nygamai infection in a patient with lymphoblastic non-Hodgkin's lymphoma

We report the case history of a 35-year-old male patient with lymphoblastic non-Hodgkin's lymphoma who acquired a systemic infection with Fusarium nygamai during the granulocytopenic phase of cytostatic treatment. The patient survived this infection after haematological recovery and treatment with intravenous amphotericin B (total dose 543 mg). Subsequent chemotherapy courses were not complicated by fungal infections. A recent trip to Egypt and severe chemotherapy-induced mucositis were probably the major causes of this severe infection.

How natural should anamorph genera be?

The taxonomy of anamorphic fungi has always been artificial, as a concession to the practical needs of identifying and naming important organisms, because of insufficient characters indicative of a more natural classification. Integration of anamorph taxa into a teleomorph classification is best served by retaining anamorph names for fungi that have no teleomorph fructification. Proposals to split more or less heterogeneous anamorph genera such as Aspergillus, Fusarium, Acremonium, Verticillium, and Gliocladium into more natural units have prompted this assay. While subdivision of these genera can be defended only partly, some nematophagous genera with affinities to Arthrobotrys or Monacrosporium are considered for lumping, to achieve a more natural classification. This raises the question of to what extent anamorph genera can be delimited naturally and how far they must reflect teleomorph associations. A consistent application of natural genus concepts for anamorphic fungi, even if that were possible, would completely upset nomenclature. While the segregation of morphologically divergent, obviously unrelated taxa from an anamorph genus is defendable, some admittedly deviating taxa (different teleomorphs) should be tolerated in somewhat artificial genera for the sake of identification. Conversely, lumping all anamorphs associated with one teleomorph genus into one genus is not supported when the criteria used for identification clearly favour splitting; otherwise it would render identification according to morphological criteria impossible. Therefore classification of anamorph genera cannot aim at genera that adequately reflect natural relationships and the most convenient generic delimitation must be considered for individual cases. Key words: anamorph, teleomorph, classification, nomenclature, Deuteromycetes, pleomorphism.

Amoxicillin/clavulanic acid vs cefetamet pivoxil in the treatment of acute exacerbation of chronic bronchitis (AECB) in adults

In this open comparative and prospective study 180 adults of either sex were randomised to treatment with either amoxicillin/clavulanic acid (AMC) 500/125mg tid or cefetamet pivoxil (CAT) 500mg bid for 7 days. Demographic data and assessable findings were similar in both groups. Clinical outcomes of 169 assessable patients showed high efficacy of both drugs: 92% with AMC and 96% with CAT. Bacteriological response rates were equivalent in 141 evaluable cases: 84% vs. 89%, respectively. Baseline susceptibility testing (DIN) revealed a notable number of Haemophilus species either intermediately susceptible or resistant to AMC. Gastrointestinal disorders predominated among the adverse events with diarrhea occurring nearly twice as often in the AMC group. CAT is an effective and safe alternative option in the treatment of AECB in adults. The advantage of CAT is its enhanced activity against gram-negative bacteria. It is well tolerated.

Has the prehistoric ice-man contributed to the preservation of living fungal spores?

There are arguments against the conclusion drawn by Haselwandter and Ebner that fungal spores have survived for some 5300 years on hay padding in the leather boots of a frozen body discovered in the Austrian Alps. According to cryobiological experience, long-term survival of fungal spores is very unlikely at temperatures fluctuating between zero and -40 degrees C. It is quite possible that living spores of these common species have recently reached this substratum.

Structuring strain data for storage and retrieval of information on fungi and yeasts in MINE, the Microbial Information Network Europe

A distributed Microbial Information Network Europe (MINE) is being constructed by a number of major microbial culture collections in countries of the European Community, with the support of the Biotechnology Action Programme (BAP) of the Commission of the European Community. The representatives of the collections participating in MINE have agreed to adopt a general format for the computer storage and retrieval of strain data. This uniform format will facilitate the electronic combination and exchange of data from different collections in order to produce integrated catalogues and the use of identical commands to search the different databases. It is recommended to other collections who may wish to contribute data to the MINE network or between themselves. Three kinds of records can be linked to the leading 'species records': strain records, synonym records, and alternative morphonym records. A minimum data set of 30 fields (similar to the fields used for producing catalogues) is defined that facilitates the exchange of data between the national nodes and serves as a directory to strains available at other nodes. It is suggested that the full strain record comprise 99 fields, grouped in 12 blocks: internal administration--name--strain administration--status--environment and history--biological interactions--sexuality--properties (cytology, biomolecular data)--genotype and genetics--growth conditions--chemistry and enzymes--practical applications. Several fields are divided into subfields of different ranks. Delimiters are used either to separate a range of entries that have to be indexed or to divide an entry from the reference to its source or remarks that should not be indexed. The contents and structure of the fields proposed for filamentous fungi and yeasts are described and in some cases illustrated by examples. Uniformity of input is essential for indexed fields and desirable for non-indexed fields. Seven thesaurus files are envisaged to ensure consistency.

Phialemonium obovatum infection in a burned child

Phialemonium obovatum is reported for the first time as an opportunistic fungal pathogen of man. The fungus was recovered from biopsy specimens consisting of cutaneous and subcutaneous tissue obtained from thermal burn wounds antemortem and from spleen tissue and three burn sites postmortem. The hyaline hypae of P. obovatum were seen invading viable tissue and blood vessels. The taxonomy of the genus Phialemonium and the criteria for determining fungal burn wound invasion are discussed.

The taxonomic situation in the hyphomycete genera Penicillium, Aspergillus and Fusarium

Classification of species in the three genera Penicillium, Aspergillus and Fusarium is in a state of change. Criteria used are reviewed; possible stabilization of nomenclature is envisaged. Proper typification of recognized species is necessary. In Penicillium and Aspergillus some species known mainly from fermented food are considered as domesticated versions of other, wild species. In Penicillium a further standardization of conditions of cultivation and careful description of micromorphology are necessary, before the species concepts of different laboratories can be reconciled. Secondary metabolites (mycotoxins, pigments) prove to support taxonomic conclusions reached by morphological work. In Aspergillus the taxonomic situation is simpler than in Penicillium, but typification is not yet sufficiently settled. For some well-known species older names were recently unearthed. In Fusarium the taxonomic views of different laboratories are becoming more similar, but much work on type specimens and neotypification of other species is still required. More genetic evidence is necessary to decide about specific or varietal rank in critical cases.