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Taxonomic Evaluation of Selected Ganoderma Species and Database Sequence Validation

Summary

This research focused on correctly identifying different species of Ganoderma fungi and fixing misidentified sequences in genetic databases. Ganoderma fungi are important both ecologically and medicinally, with some species being used in traditional Asian medicine for thousands of years. The researchers found that many genetic sequences in public databases were incorrectly labeled, which could cause problems for future research and applications. Impacts on everyday life: • Helps ensure quality control of medicinal mushroom products by enabling accurate species identification • Improves scientific understanding of medicinally important fungi used in traditional medicine • Enables better tracking of potentially harmful fungal plant pathogens that can damage crops and trees • Contributes to more reliable research databases that scientists use to develop new medicines and treatments • Helps conservation efforts by allowing accurate monitoring of different fungal species

Background

Species in the genus Ganoderma include several ecologically important and pathogenic fungal species with substantial medicinal and economic value. Due to highly similar morphological features within Ganoderma, species identification has relied heavily on DNA sequencing using BLAST searches, which are only reliable if GenBank submissions are accurately labeled.

Objective

To build a Korean Ganoderma inventory using morphology and molecular analysis, correct species misidentifications in GenBank, and provide updated global distribution patterns for these Ganoderma species.

Results

The specimens were identified as four Ganoderma species: G. sichuanense, G. cf. adspersum, G. cf. applanatum, and G. cf. gibbosum. Except for G. sichuanense, these species were difficult to distinguish based solely on morphological features. Phylogenetic analysis at three different loci yielded concordant phylogenetic information and supported the four species distinctions with high bootstrap support. A survey of over 600 Ganoderma sequences available on GenBank revealed that 65% of sequences were either misidentified or ambiguously labeled.

Conclusion

The study identified incorrectly labeled sequences on GenBank and constructed new phylogenies with reference sequences correctly assigned to specific taxa. This provides a framework for future efforts to replace inaccurate public information with reliable taxonomic assignments. The authors strongly encourage correction of misidentified submissions on GenBank, as this improvement is vital not only for fungal taxonomists but also researchers across multiple disciplines given the diverse ecological, medicinal, and economic impacts of Ganoderma species.
  • Published in:PeerJ,
  • Study Type:Taxonomic Analysis,
  • Source: 10.7717/peerj.3596
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