Four new species of Talaromyces from clinical sources

Summary The genus Talaromycesconstitutes an important group of molds with species that are mainly found in soil, indoor environments and food products. Traditionally, it has been considered, together with Eupenicillium, the teleomorphic state of Penicillium. However, the taxonomy of these fungi has changed considerably, and Talaromycescurrently includes sexually and asexuallyreproducing species. In a previous study of the occurrence of penicillium-like fungi from clinical samples in the USA, we used the combined phylogeny of the internal transcribed spacer(ITS) region of the rDNA and β-tubulin (BenA) gene to identify 31 isolates of Talaromyces, 85 of Penicilliumand two of Rasamsonia. However, seven isolates of Talaromyceswere assigned to the corresponding sections but not to any particular species. In this study, we have resolved the taxonomy of these isolates through a multilocus sequence analysis of the ITS, fragments of the BenA, calmodulin (CaM), and RNA polymerase IIsecond largest subunit (RPB2) genes, and a detailed phenotypic study. As a result, four new species are described and illustrated, ie Talaromycesalveolaris, T. georgiensis, T. minnesotensis and T. rapidus.