PHYLOGENY IN THE GENUS PENICILLIUM - A MORPHOLOGISTS PERSPECTIVE

Great advances have taken place in our understanding of the taxonomy o f Penicillium and its teleomorphs in the past 15 years. Physiological and biochemical techniques, applied in conjunction with morphology, ha ve enabled the taxonomy of this difficult genus to approach consensus. Such information, plus existing molecular data, have been used here t o construct a hypothetical phylogeny. The proposed phylogeny is based on a number of postulates, including the following: (i) evolution has proceeded from holomorph to strict anamorph; (ii) an intermediate stag e exists, the sclerotigenic anamorph; (iii) Eupenicillium and Talaromy ces, the Penicillium holomorphs, are of separate (though related) orig in; (i nu) species in Penicillium have arisen on multiple occasions fr om these holomorphic genera; and (nu) evolution among Penicillium spec ies is away from floccose growth and sparsely produced penicilli, away from irregular penicilli, and away from the soil habitat. Physiologic ally, evolution is towards growth at low temperature and low water act ivity and towards mycotoxin production. These and other criteria have been used to construct a hypothetical phylogeny of the major species i n Talaromyces, Eupenicillium, and Penicillium, which is offered as a f ramework for future molecular studies.