Taxonomy of section and their production of aflatoxins, ochratoxins and other mycotoxins.

Aflatoxins and ochratoxins are among the most important mycotoxins of all and producers of both types of mycotoxins are present in section , albeit never in the same species. Some of the most efficient producers of aflatoxins and ochratoxins have not been described yet. Using a polyphasic approach combining phenotype, physiology, sequence and extrolite data, we describe here eight new species in section . Phylogenetically, section is split in eight clades and the section currently contains 33 species. Two species only produce aflatoxin B and B ( and ), and 14 species are able to produce aflatoxin B, B, G and G: three newly described species and in addition to , , (formerly ) and . It is generally accepted that is unable to produce type G aflatoxins, but here we report on Korean strains that also produce aflatoxin G and G. One strain of can produce the immediate aflatoxin precursor 3-O-methylsterigmatocystin, and one strain of and two strains of produced versicolorins. Strains of the domesticated forms of and , and , respectively, lost their ability to produce aflatoxins, and from the remaining phylogenetically closely related species (belonging to the -, -, - and -clades), only , and are unable to produce aflatoxins. With exception of in the -clade, all species in the phylogenetically more distant clades (-, -, - and -clade) are unable to produce aflatoxins. Three out of the four species in the -clade can produce the mycotoxin ochratoxin A: . . and two new species described here as and . Eight species produced the mycotoxin tenuazonic acid: , , , and while the related mycotoxin cyclopiazonic acid was produced by 13 species: , and . Furthermore, produced speradine A, a compound related to cyclopiazonic acid. Selected and strains produced small sclerotia containing the mycotoxin aflatrem. Kojic acid has been found in all species in section , except and . Only six species in the section did not produce any known mycotoxins: , and . An overview of other small molecule extrolites produced in section is given.