Penicillium polonicum K.W. Zaleski, Bull. Int. Acad. Polon. Sci., Ser. B., Sci. Nat. 1927: 445. 1927

Index Fungorum number: IF 274889; Mycobank number: MB 274889; Facesoffungi number: FoF 16048 Fig. 1

Holotype – CBS 222.28

Saprobic on soil. Sexual morph: Not observed. Asexual morph: Conidiophores predominantly terverticillate, rarely biverticillate, borne singly from subsurface hyphae; Stipes rough-walled, 200–400 × 3.0–4.0 µm; rami 15–20 × 3.0–3.5 µm; Metulae in verticils of 3–4, 10–12×2.8–3.5 µm; Phialides ampulliform, with undistinguished collula, 9–10×2.5–2.8 µm, in verticils of 5–8 per metulae; Conidia smooth, subspheroidal to subellipsoidal, 3.5–4.0×2.5–3.2 µm, borne in well-defined columns.

Culture characteristics – Colonies growing after 7 days at 25 ± 2 °C on following agar media: CYA colonies medium growing, radially sulcate, umbonate, velutinous, mycelia white (1A1), 9–11 mm in diam.; margins irregular, wavy, deep; exudate absent; soluble pigment absent; reverse sulcate, yellowish white (4A2) at centre, white (1A1) towards periphery. MEA colonies fast growing, powdery, slightly umbonate with presence of concentric rings, mycelia white (1A1); 17–18 mm in diam.; margins regular, thin, deep; sporulation dark green (27F6) to nickel green (27F4); exudates absent; soluble pigments absent; reverse pale yellow (3A3) centre, butter yellow (4A5), pale yellow (3A3), olive brown (4E5) towards periphery, yellowish white (3A2) margin. CYAS colonies medium-growing, granular, radially sulcate, highly umbonate, mycelia white (1A1), 12–14 mm in diam.; margin irregular; sporulation dark green (27F6) to pale green (25A3); exudates absent; soluble pigments absent; reverseradially sulcate, cornyellow (4B5) at centre, pale yellow (3A3) towards periphery. OA colonies slow-growing, powdery, mycelia white (1A1), 8–9 mm in diam.; margin regular, raised; sporulation greyish green (25D4); exudates absent; soluble pigments absent; reverse viridine green (29A5) at centre, white (1A1) towards periphery. CZ colonies slow-growing, flat, mycelia white (1A1) entire, 3–4 mm in diam.; margin irregular, deep; exudates absent; soluble pigments absent; reverse white (1A1) entire. DG18 colonies medium-growing, lanose, mycelium white (1A1) entire, 7–10 mm diam.; margin irregular, deep; exudates absent; soluble pigments absent; reverse white (1A1) entire. YES colonies fast-growing, velutinous, floccose, high radial sulcations, highly umbonate, mycelia white (1A1), 22–24 mm diam.; margin irregular, deep; sporulation dull green (25D4) at centre, greyish green (25E5) to pale green(26A3) towards periphery; exudates absent; soluble pigments absent; reverse wrinkled, topaz (5C5) at centre, blonde (4A4) towards periphery. CREA colonies medium-growing, powdery, white (1A1) mycelia, 9–11 mm in diam.; margin irregular, wavy, deep; sporulation pale green (26A3) at centre, orange, white (5A2) towards periphery; reverse corn yellow (4B5) at centre, cream (4A3) to yellowish white (4A2) towards periphery; acid production present.

Material examined – India, Punjab, Atari, (39° 52′ 21″ N, 75° 04′ 59″ E), from soil sample, 19 July 2018, Nikhil Ashtekar and Rajeshkumar K.C., living culture NFCCI 5149.

Hosts and distribution – Algeria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Croatia, Egypt, Estonia, Iraq, Iran, Italy, Korea, Norway, Pakistan, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Turkey, United States of America (Núñez et al. 2000; Sonjak et al. 2006; Chatterton et al. 2012; Felšöciová et al. 2012; Lamsal et al. 2013; Niknejad et al. 2013; Duduk et al. 2014; Santini et al. 2014; Çakır and Maden 2015; Bashir et al. 2017; Tangni et al. 2017; Antipova et al. 2018; Prencipe et al. 2018; Basson et al. 2019; Khalil et al. 2019; Khokhar et al. 2019; Kalkan et al. 2020; Maamar et al. 2020; El-Dawy et al. 2021; Bradshaw et al. 2022; Costa et al. 2022; de Camargo et al. 2022; Gielen et al. 2022; Zadravec et al. 2023; Abd Oun and Abass 2023).

GenBank numbers – NFCCI 5149: ITS = OK342120, BenA=OL652653, CaM =OM948800, rpb2=OL652657.

Notes – Based on a concatenated phylogenetic analysis of the ITS, BenA, CaM, and rpb2 gene regions, the isolated strain of P. polonicum (NFCCI 5149) aligns with the type strain of P. polonicum (CBS 222.28). Morphologically, both strains share the same characteristics such as having predominant terverticillate conidiophores with a finely rough-walled stipe, ampulliform phialides with undistinguished, sub spheroidal to ellipsoidal conidia with smooth ornamentation. Further, both the colonies show the presence of cottony colony texture with radial sulcations on CYA. Hence, the macromorphological and micromorphological characteristics of the isolated species match with the type species, P. polonicum (CBS 222.28). However, P. polonicum has not been reported from India and this is the first report.

Figure 1 – Penicillium polonicum (NFCCI 5149). a, b Colonies after 7d at 25±2 °C on CYA and MEA obverse and reverse. c CREA obverse. d CYAS obverse. e CZA obverse. f DG18 obverse. g OA (natural) obverse. h YES obverse. i–j terverticillate conidiophore. k biverticillate conidiophore. l Conidia. Scale bar: i–l=10 μm,