title: New penicillin-producing Penicillium species and an overview of section Chrysogena.
abstract: Species classified in Penicillium sect. Chrysogena are primary soil-borne and the most well-known members are P. chrysogenum and P. nalgiovense. Penicillium chrysogenum has received much attention because of its role in the production on penicillin and as a contaminant of indoor environments and various food and feedstuffs. Another biotechnologically important species is P. nalgiovense, which is used as a fungal starter culture for the production of fermented meat products. Previous taxonomic studies often had conflicting species circumscriptions. Here, we present a multigene analysis, combined with phenotypic characters and extrolite data, demonstrating that sect. Chrysogena consists of 18 species. Six of these are newly described here (P. allii-sativi, P. desertorum, P. goetzii, P. halotolerans, P. tardochrysogenum, P. vanluykii) and P. lanoscoeruleum was found to be an older name for P. aethiopicum. Each species produces a unique extrolite profile. The species share phenotypic characters, such as good growth on CYA supplemented with 5 % NaCl, ter- or quarterverticillate branched conidiophores and short, ampulliform phialides (< 9 μm). Conidial colours, production of ascomata and ascospores, shape and ornamentation of conidia and growth rates on other agar media are valuable for species identification. Eight species (P. allii-sativi, P. chrysogenum, P. dipodomyis, P. flavigenum, P. nalgiovense, P. rubens, P. tardochrysogenum and P. vanluykii) produce penicillin in culture.
authors.affiliation: CBS-KNAW Fungal Biodiversity Centre, Uppsalalaan 8, 3584 CT Utrecht, The Netherlands; corresponding author e-mail: r.samson@cbs.knaw.nl .
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Houbraken
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Frisvad
authors.forename: K A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Seifert
authors.forename: D P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Overy
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Tuthill
authors.forename: J G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Valdez
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Samson
keywords: Fleming; P. chrysogenum; P. rubens; phylogeny; taxonomy