Developments in fungal taxonomy.
Fungal infections, especially those caused by opportunistic species, have become substantially more common in recent decades. Numerous species cause human infections, and several new human pathogens are discovered yearly. This situation has created an increasing interest in fungal taxonomy and has led to the development of new methods and approaches to fungal biosystematics which have promoted important practical advances in identification procedures. However, the significance of some data provided by the new approaches is still unclear, and results drawn from such studies may even increase nomenclatural confusion. Analyses of rRNA and rDNA sequences constitute an important complement of the morphological criteria needed to allow clinical fungi to be more easily identified and placed on a single phylogenetic tree. Most of the pathogenic fungi so far described belong to the kingdom Fungi; two belong to the kingdom Chromista. Within the Fungi, they are distributed in three phyla and in 15 orders (Pneumocystidales, Saccharomycetales, Dothideales, Sordariales, Onygenales, Eurotiales, Hypocreales, Ophiostomatales, Microascales, Tremellales, Poriales, Stereales, Agaricales, Schizophyllales, and Ustilaginales).
Unitat de Microbiologia, Departament de Ciències Mèdiques Bàsiques, Facultat de Medicina i Ciències de la Salut, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, 43201 Reus, Spain. umb@astor.urv.es
J
J
Guarro
GenéJ
A M
AM
Stchigel
D001203:Ascomycota / Q000145:classification; D001487:Basidiomycota / Q000145:classification; D005075:Biological Evolution; D005658:Fungi / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D003904:Mitosporic Fungi / Q000145:classification; D016533:Mycological Typing Techniques; D010802:Phylogeny; D012331:RNA, Fungal / Q000235:genetics; D012335:RNA, Ribosomal / Q000235:genetics; D013045:Species Specificity
D012331:RNA, Fungal; D012335:RNA, Ribosomal