Phylogenomic Analysis of a 55.1-kb 19-Gene Dataset Resolves a Monophyletic<i>Fusarium</i>that Includes the<i>Fusarium solani</i>Species Complex
David M. Geiser, Abdullah M. S. Al‐Hatmi, Takayuki Aoki, Tsutomu Arie, Virgilio Balmas, Irene Barnes, Gary C. Bergstrom, Madan K. Bhattacharyya, C. L. Blomquist, Robert L. Bowden, Balázs Brankovics, Daren W. Brown, L. W. Burgess, Kathryn E. Bushley, Mark Busman, J. Cano, Joseph D. Carrillo, Hao‐Xun Chang, Chi‐Yu Chen, Wanquan Chen, Martin I. Chilvers, S. Chulze, Jeffrey J. Coleman, Christina A. Cuomo, Z. Wilhelm de Beer, Sybren de Hoog, Johanna Del Castillo-Múnera, Emerson M. Del Ponte, Javier Diéguez‐Uribeondo, Antonio Di Pietro, Véronique Edel-Hermann, Wade H. Elmer, Lynn Epstein, Akif Eşkalen, Maria Carmela Esposto, Kathryne L. Everts, Sylvia Patricia Fernández-Pavía, Gilvan Ferreira da Silva, Nora A. Foroud, Gerda Fourie, Rasmus John Normand Frandsen, Stanley Freeman, Michael Freitag, Omer Frenkel, Kevin K. Fuller, T. Yu. Gagkaeva, Donald M. Gardiner, Anthony E. Glenn, Scott E. Gold, Thomas R. Gordon, Nancy Gregory, Marieka Gryzenhout, Josep Guarro, Beth K. Gugino, Santiago Gutiérrez, K. E. Hammond‐Kosack, Linda J. Harris, Mónika Homa, Cheng‐Fang Hong, L. Hornok, Jenn‐Wen Huang, Macit İlkit, Adriaana Jacobs, Karin Jacobs, Cong Jiang, María del Mar Jiménez-Gasco, Seogchan Kang, Matthew T. Kasson, Kemal Kazan, John C. Kennell, Hye-Seon Kim, Harold Kistler, Gretchen A. Kuldau, Tomasz Kulik, Oliver Kurzai, Imane Laraba, Matthew H. Laurence, Theresa Lee, Yin‐Won Lee, Yong‐Hwan Lee, John F. Leslie, Edward C. Y. Liew, Lily W. Lofton, Antonio Logrieco, Manuel S. López‐Berges, Alicia G. Luque, Erik Lysøe, Li‐Jun Ma, Robert E. Marra, Frank N. Martin, S. R. May, Susan P. McCormick, Chyanna T. McGee, Jacques F. Meis, Quirico Migheli, Nik Mohd Izham Mohamed Nor, Michel Monod, Antonio Moretti, Diane Mostert, Giuseppina Mulè
Abstract
Scientific communication is facilitated by a data-driven, scientifically sound taxonomy that considers the end-user’s needs and established successful practice. In 2013, the Fusarium community voiced near unanimous support for a concept of Fusarium that represented a clade comprising all agriculturally and clinically important Fusarium species, including the F. solani species complex (FSSC). Subsequently, this concept was challenged in 2015 by one research group who proposed dividing the genus Fusarium into seven genera, including the FSSC described as members of the genus Neocosmospora, with subsequent justification in 2018 based on claims that the 2013 concept of Fusarium is polyphyletic. Here, we test this claim and provide a phylogeny based on exonic nucleotide sequences of 19 orthologous protein-coding genes that strongly support the monophyly of Fusarium including the FSSC. We reassert the practical and scientific argument in support of a genus Fusarium that includes the FSSC and several other basal lineages, consistent with the longstanding use of this name among plant pathologists, medical mycologists, quarantine officials, regulatory agencies, students, and researchers with a stake in its taxonomy. In recognition of this monophyly, 40 species described as genus Neocosmospora were recombined in genus Fusarium, and nine others were renamed Fusarium. Here the global Fusarium community voices strong support for the inclusion of the FSSC in Fusarium, as it remains the best scientific, nomenclatural, and practical taxonomic option available.