Ms. Nicholson et al., PHYLOGENY OF THE GENUS LENTINULA BASED ON RIBOSOMAL DNA RESTRICTION-FRAGMENT-LENGTH-POLYMORPHISM ANALYSIS, Mycologia, 89(3), 1997, pp. 400-407
RFLP data from PCR amplified regions of the rDNA repeat from Lentinula
edodes, L. boryana, L. lateritia, and L. novaezelandiae, together wit
h outgroups Clitocybula, Collybia and Pleurotus, were used for a phylo
genetic analysis. A phylogeny based on data from the transcribed rDNA
regions supports the monophyly of the genus Lentinula. Lentinula speci
es display a comparatively low level of estimated nucleotide divergenc
e relative to the outgroup species studied. The Asian-Australasian-dis
tributed species (L. edodes, L. lateritia, and L. novaeselandiae) and
the American-distributed L. boryana belong to two distinct genetic gro
ups, with about 1.89% nucleotide divergence from each other. The Asian
-Australasian species of Lentinula were approximately 4.0% divergent f
rom the P. ostreatus and Collybia dryophila outgroups, while L. boryan
a was only approximately 3.5% divergent. Lentinula boryana is postulat
ed to be the earliest lineage to diverge within the genus Lentinula, w
hile the remaining Asian-Australasian species are suggested to have ev
olved more recently. This molecular phylogeny highlights the phylogene
tic differences between the Asian-Australasian species of Lentinula an
d supports their most recent classification based morphological charac
ters.