Phylogenetic Relationships of Termitomyces aurantiacus Inferred from Internal Transcribed Spacers DNA Sequences

Abstract

Fungus-growing termites cultivate species of the mutualistic basidiomycete genus Termitomyceson a substrate called the fungal comb. Identification of fungal species based on morphological featuresis complicated, tedious, and prone to errors. As an alternative, nuclear ribosomal DNA sequencesconsisting of the internal transcribed spacers (ITS1 and ITS2) and 5.8S rDNA were used toidentify Malaysian isolates of Termitomyces sp. The morphological characteristics and moleculardata indicate that Malaysian Termitomyces isolated is clearly monophyletic and belongs to theTricholomataceae family. The Malaysian isolates analyzed in this study represent the termite fungusspecies called T. aurantiacus.