A review of molecular phylogenetics in Aspergillus, and prospects for a robust genus-wide phylogeny

Aspergillus is a diverse anamorphic genus comprising approximately 250 known species covering nine distinct teleomorph genera. Species are organised taxonomically into sections and subgenera according to anamorph morphology and teleomorph relationships. Aspergillus systematists have been applying DNA sequence data to address issues about species boundaries and infrageneric relationships for nearly twenty years. Most subgeneric categories have held up well under molecular phylogenetic scrutiny, but relationships among subgenera and sections have proven elusive due to an inability to resolve early diverging branches. Based on promising results in yeast species, we propose the use of up to twenty different loci for resolving relationships within the genus. Here we describe 8 loci useful for inferring phylogenetic relationships across the genus, identified and developed based on information gleaned from the eight currently available complete genome sequences in the genus. Whether or not these loci provide strong inferential power in the backbone of the Aspergillus phylogeny, they are promising tools for multilocus identification of species at a fine level.