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Taxonomical Evaluation of Phoma: History of Classification, Current Status and Future Directions

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Phoma: Diversity, Taxonomy, Bioactivities, and Nanotechnology

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Abstract

The genus Phoma is a cosmopolitan group of fungi and has always been considered as one of the largest fungal genera. Initially, it comprised more than 3000 taxa. Such a large number of species included within Phoma were related to the use of nomenclature mainly based on the characteristics of the host plant and marginalization of micromorphological properties. Intensive work carried out by Dutch mycologists who had studied the morphology of those fungi in constant conditions on artificial media since 1992 resulted in their division into nine sections. The results of 40 years of taxonomic researches based on the properties of Phoma species led to the reduced number of species to 223, which were presented in handbook, including also the key, concerning their identification, cultural characteristics, terminology and classification. However, the high phylogenetic heterogeneity of the species in the Phoma sections negated the existing division of the genus into sections and caused the necessity to reclassify. Nowadays, Phoma belongs to Didymellaceae, which is considered as one of the largest families in the fungal kingdom, including more than 5400 species belonging to at least 36 genera that have been recorded, comprising recently established genera such as Neoascochyta and Paraboeremia and historical ones such as Ascochyta, Didymella and Phoma. Although the molecular techniques can greatly contribute to identification and taxonomy of Phoma species, the secondary metabolite profiling should also be evaluated as one of the relevant factors which could be useful to distinguish fungi within Phoma complex, in association with morphological characteristics as the taxonomical diagnostic tool.

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  1. Department of Plant Protection, Institute of Plant Pathology and Mycology, University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Lublin, Poland

    Beata Zimowska

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  1. Department of Biotechnology, SGB Amravati University, Amravati, Maharashtra, India

    Mahendra Rai

  2. Department of Plant Protection Institute of Plant Pathology and Mycology, University of Life Sciences in Lublin Lublin, Lubelskie, Poland

    Beata Zimowska

  3. Plant Protection Institute, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary

    György János Kövics

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Zimowska, B. (2022). Taxonomical Evaluation of Phoma: History of Classification, Current Status and Future Directions. In: Rai, M., Zimowska, B., Kövics, G.J. (eds) Phoma: Diversity, Taxonomy, Bioactivities, and Nanotechnology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-81218-8_2

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