How, not if, is the question mycologists should be asking about DNA-based typification
Journal article, 2023
Fungal metabarcoding of substrates such as soil, wood, and water is uncovering an unprecedented number of fungal species that do not seem to produce tangible morphological structures and that defy our best attempts at cultivation, thus falling outside the scope of the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants. The present study uses the new, ninth release of the species hypotheses of the UNITE database to show that species discovery through environmental sequencing vastly outpaces traditional, Sanger sequencing-based efforts in a strongly increasing trend over the last five years. Our findings chal-lenge the present stance of some in the mycological community - that the current situation is satisfactory and that no change is needed to "the code" - and suggest that we should be discussing not whether to allow DNA-based descriptions (typifications) of species and by extension higher ranks of fungi, but what the precise requirements for such DNA-based typifications should be. We submit a tentative list of such criteria for further discussion. The present authors hope for a revitalized and deepened discussion on DNA-based typification, because to us it seems harmful and counter-productive to intentionally deny the overwhelming majority of extant fungi a formal standing under the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants.
taxonomy
nomenclature
type principle
ICN
species description
Dark taxa
Author
R. Henrik Nilsson
University of Gothenburg
Martin Ryberg
Uppsala University
Christian Wurzbacher
Technical University of Munich
Leho Tedersoo
King Saud University
University of Tartu
Sten Anslan
University of Tartu
Sergei Polme
University of Tartu
Viacheslav Spirin
University of Helsinki
University of Gothenburg
Vladimir Mikryukov
University of Tartu
Sten Svantesson
University of Gothenburg
Uppsala University
Martin Hartmann
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich (ETH)
Charlotte Lennartsdotter
University of Gothenburg
Pauline Belford
Chalmers, Computer Science and Engineering (Chalmers), Interaction Design and Software Engineering
Maryia Khomich
University of Bergen
Alice Retter
University of Vienna
Natalia Corcoll
University of Gothenburg
Daniela Gomez Martinez
University of Gothenburg
Tobias Jansson
University of Gothenburg
Duong Vu
Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute
Marisol Sanchez-Garcia
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU)
Erik Kristiansson
Chalmers, Mathematical Sciences, Applied Mathematics and Statistics
University of Gothenburg
Kessy Abarenkov
University of Tartu
MycoKeys
1314-4057 (ISSN) 1314-4049 (eISSN)
Vol. 96 96 143-157Subject Categories
Botany
Biological Systematics
Ecology
DOI
10.3897/mycokeys.96.102669