Taxonomy of filamentous fungi

Integration of morphological, chemical, and physiological characters into a sound taxonomy is emphasized. Our aim is to link each species epithet to a specific data sheet containing the characteristics of the fungal species, mainly within the genera Penicillium, Aspergillus, Neosartorya, Petromyces, Fusarium, Alternaria, Stemphylium, and Trichoderma. It could be informations on growth parameters (e.g. temperature, nutrition, atmosphere), resistance to chemicals, profile of secondary metabolites, but also conventional characters (morphology) etc. Especially our combined use of species specific profiles of secondary metabolites and conventional characters has been very successful in high-lighting taxonomic problems and solving them. Chemometrics as well as cladistics have been used for classification. Our taxonomic "school" has been very well received internationally and at the moment we have seats in three commissions (Penicillium, Fusarium, and Trichoderma) working actively on fungal taxonomy (see list). An important support to our international collaboration on taxonomy is also given by the signed memorandum of understanding between Centraalbureau voor Schimmelcultures (CBS), Baarn and the Mycology Group.