Taxonomic and Phylogenetic Studies of New Marine Penicillium Species from South Korea

Rekhani Hansika Perera CS-11 Freshwater and marine fungi

Taxonomic and Phylogenetic Studies of New Marine Penicillium Species from South Korea

Rekhani Hansika Perera, Ji Seon Kim, Wonjun Lee, Jun Won Lee, and Young Woon Lim*

School of Biological Sciences and Institute of Microbiology, Seoul National University, Seoul, 08826, Republic of Korea

*Email: ywlim@snu.ac.kr

Penicillium species play a significant role as organic material decomposers. They are occurring in a diverse range of habitats including marine milieus and reported as one of the most speciose genera discovered in marine environments. However, limited researches have been conducted on taxonomy of marine-derived Penicillium species. We are studying fungi from coastal sites around South Korea and made eight collections of Penicillium from different substrates including mudflat, sponge and sandfish egg masses in South, East and West sea sides. Analysis of ITS, BenA, CaM, and RPB2 genetic markers revealed four new Penicillium species belong to section Citrina, Lanata Divaricata, Ramosa and Sclerotiorum.

Key words:Citrina, Lanata Divaricata, marine-derived fungi, new species, phylogeny, Ramosa, Sclerotiorum