Penicillium hirayamae Udagawa, J. Agric. Soc. Tokyo Nogyo Daigaku 5: 6. (1959).
Index Fungorum number: IF 302402; MycoBank number: MB 302402; Facesoffungi number: FoF 11431; Fig. 1
Holotype – CBS 229.60
Culture characteristics – Colonies growing after 5 days at 25±2 °C on following agar media: CYA colonies slow growing, deep radial sulcations, cottony, velvety, flat, mycelium white 8–9 mm in diam.; margins irregular; sporulation greyish green (26E4); exudate absent; soluble pigment absent; reverse filamentous, mycelia reddishorange (7A6), sporulation yellowish-white (2A2). MEA colonies medium growing, cottony, radially sulcate, flat, velutinous to somewhat floccose, mycelia chrome yellow (3A8),12–14 mm in diam.; margins irregular; sporulation yellow (3A6) to reddish-yellow (4A6); exudates present;soluble pigments absent; reverse mycelia yellow (3A6), sporulation white. CYAS colonies slow-growing, slightly sulcate, floccose, umbonate, mycelia yellow (3A7), 12–13 mm in diam.; margin irregular, deep; sporulation dark green (26F5); exudates absent; soluble pigments absent; reverse wrinkled, light yellow (3A5). OA colonies slow-growing, cottony, sporulation white, mycelia reddish yellow (3A5),7–8 mm in diam.; margin regular, flat; exudates present, deep yellow (4A8); soluble pigments absent; reverse mycelia pastel yellow, sporulation light yellow (4A4). CZ colonies slow-growing, flat, cottony, flat, mycelia greyish yellow (4B6), sporulation white, 3 mm in diam.; margin irregular; exudates absent; soluble pigments absent; DG18 colonies slow-growing, cottony, smooth, planar, mycelium light yellow (3A5), 5–6 mm diam.; margin irregular; exudates absent; soluble pigments absent; reverse white. YES colonies slow-growing, floccose, umbonate, radiating sulcate, sporulation greenish-white, mycelia pastel yellow (3A4), 18 mm diam.; margin irregular; exudates absent; soluble pigments absent; colony reverse rhizoid, white. CREA colonies cottony, slightly umbonate, suppressed, half mycelia yellow (3A8) and greyish green (26E4), 5 mm in diam.; margin irregular; acid production present; soluble pigment present, light yellow (3A4); reverse colony flat, mycelia yellowish red (8B8), sporulation yellow (3A8).
Micromorphology – Conidiophores strictly monoverticillate, borne from funiculose aerial hyphae. Stipes 10–50 × 2.5–3 µm, smooth-walled, with apices usually vesiculate. Phialides ampulliform, 5 − 8 per conidiophore, 6 − 10 × 2 − 2.5 μm. Conidia sub-spheroidal, 1.5 − 3 × 1.5 − 2.5 μm, smooth-walled, borne in long columns.
Hosts and distribution – Milled rice from Thailand, South Africa
Material examined – India, Maharashtra, Thane (19° 12′ 57″ N, 72° 59′ 31″ E) from soil, 26 December 2017, K.C. Rajeshkumar and Nikhil Ashtekar, NFCCI 5062.
GenBank numbers – ITS: OK342195, BenA: OL652652, CaM: OM948801, rpb2: OL652656.
Notes – Our isolate (NFCCI 5062) clustered with the type stain of Penicillium hirayamae (CBS 22960) in the combined ITS, BenA, CaM, and rpb2 loci analyses with ML/BI = 100%/1.00 statistical support. Similarly, both strains have the same morphological features such as strictly monoverticillate conidiophore branching pattern and sub-spheroidal conidia with smooth ornamentation. Therefore, we identified our isolate (NFCCI 5062) as P. hirayamae and this is the first record of this species from India.
Figure 1 – Penicillium hirayamae (NFCCI 5062). a, b Colonies after 5 days at 25±2 °C on CYA and MEA surface view (above) and reverse view (below). c–h Surface view of colony on CREA, CYAS, CZA, DG18, OA, YES. i–k Monoverticillate penicilli. l Conidia. Scale bar: i–l=10 μm