Abstract Detail

Mycological Section

Bazzicalupo, Anna L. [1], Buyck, Bart [2], Berbee, Mary [3].

Ben Woo's Russula herbarium: Detecting new species and confirming known species using databasing and DNA sequencing.

Russula Pers. (Russulaceae) is a cosmopolitan, ectomycorrhizal genus of fungi that are notoriously difficult to identify to species. No comprehensive monograph is available for the ca. 420 recognized Russula species in N. American. A large number of North American species remain undescribed. However, thanks to Ben Woo, an expert amateur, the Burke Museum has over 1000 carefully sampled and preserved Russula specimens from the Pacific Northwest, each with a detailed sheet of morphological notes. With grant support from the Stuntz Foundation, we are using Woo's exceptional collection of Russula diversity to improve understanding of the genetic and morphological variation within species. We successfully sequenced the ribosomal internal transcribed spacer region two of 713 of the ~1000 collections. The resulting phylogeny shows 78 putative lineages of Russula of the Pacific Northwest, which we interpret as species. Of these, 19 share identical sequences with European species. We sequenced type specimens to confirm that 10 represent species described from the Pacific Northwest. Another 49 are candidate undescribed species, new to science. We entered Woo's detailed notes on morphology of each collection into database fields and then analyzed the phylogenetic distribution of characters. Some morphological characters including cap and spore color and chemical reactions showed little correlation with the phylogeny, while gill color, taste and odor correlated more strongly with clades. Although species delimitation using barcode sequences has shortcomings, it provides a starting point for a more comprehensive view of species delimitation in challenging groups of fungi. The sequences we will submit to GenBank will serve as an invitation to the international mycological community to further study these specimens. This will catalyze the development of keys and descriptions of the new species, leading to greatly improved understanding of Russula species diversity. If species of Russula can be identified, then it will become more attractive to include them in ecological studies and feasible to test their correlation with important ecosystem functions.

1 - University of British Columbia, Botany, 3529-6270 University Blvd., Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada
2 - Museum National d'Histoire naturelle, Laboratoire de Cryptogamie, 12, rue Buffon, Paris, F-75005, France
3 - University of British Columbia, Department of Botany, 6270 University Blvd, Vancouver, BC, V6T1Z4, CA

Keywords:
barcoding
database
ectomycorrhizal
type specimens
ITS2
Russula
Pacific Northwest fungi.

Presentation Type: Oral Paper:Papers for Sections
Session: 56
Location: Salon 1/The Shaw Conference Centre
Date: Wednesday, July 29th, 2015
Time: 8:30 AM
Number: 56003
Abstract ID:520
Candidate for Awards:MSA Best Oral Presentation Award by a Graduate Student