International Commission of Penicillium and Aspergillus
The three genera Aspergillus, Penicillium and Talaromyces are well-known and have been studied for centuries. These species have always attracted much attention because numerous species of these genera have important implications in applied research, including medical aspects, toxicology, spoilage and biotechnology. Taxonomies produced in the last century were based on phenotypical characters but new polyphasic approaches are carried out using molecular, biochemical in combination with various phenotypical characters have shown detailed species profiles which are in accordance with ecological characteristics.
The International Commission of Penicillium and Aspergillus coordinate taxonomic research and was established by the IUMS Mycology Division (now Division of Mycology and Eukaryotic Microbiology – MEM).
ICPA discussed the single name nomenclature in Penicillium and Aspergillus. On Saturday April 14 2012 the commission came together and decided about the single naming in Penicillium and Aspergillus. Read more >
Nomenclatural papers dealing with the accepted species lists were published for Aspergillus (Samson et al. 2014), Penicillium (Visagie et al. 2014) and Talaromyces (Yilmaz et al. 2014) and can be downloaded from the links provided.
Nomenclature
The taxonomy of fungi has been under significant discussion over the last years, in particular due to the molecular/sequence data that has become available. The outcome of these discussions also affect researchers outside the taxonomy field as it determines the names that should be used for fungal species. Recently, the proposal to revise article 59 of the botanical code was accepted at the 2011 IBC Nomenclature Section at Melbourne and the principle of "one fungus : one name" was established (Norvell et al. 2011). These new nomenclatural rules had large implications for Penicillium and Aspergillus.
Taxonomy introduction
The classification of he genera Aspergillus, Penicillium and Talaromyces has developed in the last decade. Beside the traditional morphologcal species concept, molecular and biochemaisl data were used to the polyphasic taxonomic concept. This concept has now well introduced and applied to the taxonomy of these genera;. Please read more on the curren taxonomy.