Considerations and consequences of allowing DNA sequence data as types of fungal taxa

Juan Carlos Zamora (1) , Mans Svensson (1) , Roland Kirschner (2) , Ibai Olariaga (3) , Svengunnar Ryman (1) , Luis Alberto Parra (4) , József Geml (5) , Anna Rosling (6) , Slavomír Adamčík (7) , Teuvo Ahti (8) , M. Catherine Aime (9) , A. Martyn Ainsworth (10) , László Albert (4) , Edgardo Albertó (11) , Alberto Altés García (12) , Dmitry Ageev (13) , Reinhard Agerer (14) , Begoña Aguirre-Hudson (4) , Joe Ammirati (15) , Harry Andersson , Claudio Angelini (16) , Vladimír Antonín (17) , Takayuki Aoki (18) , André Aptroot (19) , Didier Argaud (4) , Blanca Imelda Arguello Sosa (20) , Arne Aronsen (21) , Ulf Arup (22) , Bita Asgari (23) , Boris Assyov (24) , Violeta Atienza (25) , Ditte Bandini (4) , João Luís Baptista-Ferreira (26) , Hans-Otto Baral (4) , Tim Baroni (27) , Robert Weingart Barreto (28) , Henry Beker (29) , Ann Bell (4) , Jean-Michel Bellanger (30, 31) , Francesco Bellù (32) , Martin Bemmann (4) , Mika Bendiksby (33) , Egil Bendiksen (34) , Katriina Bendiksen (35) , Lajos Benedek (36) , Anna Bérešová-Guttová (7) , Franz Berger (37) , Reinhard Berndt (38) , Annarosa Bernicchia (4) , Alona Yu. Biketova (39) , Enrico Bizio (40) , Curtis Bjork (41) , Teun Boekhout (42) , David Boertmann (43) , Tanja Böhning (44) , Florent Boittin (45) , Carlos G. Boluda (46) , Menno W. Boomsluiter (4) , Jan Borovička (47) , Tor Erik Brandrud (34) , Uwe Braun (48) , Irwin Brodo (49) , Tatiana Bulyonkova (50) , Harold H. Burdsall Jr. (51) , Bart Buyck (52) , Ana Rosa Burgaz (53) , Vicent Calatayud (54) , Philippe Callac (55) , Emanuele Campo (56) , Massimo Candusso (4) , Brigitte Capoen (4) , Joaquim Carbó (4) , Matteo Carbone (4) , Rafael F. Castañeda-Ruiz (57) , Michael A. Castellano (58) , Jie Chen (59) , Philippe Clerc (46) , Giovanni Consiglio (4) , Gilles Corriol (60) , Régis Courtecuisse (61) , Ana Crespo (53) , Cathy Cripps (62) , Pedro W. Crous (42) , Gladstone Alves da Silva (63) , Meiriele da Silva (28) , Marjo Dam (4) , Nico Dam (4) , Frank Dämmrich (64) , Kanad Das (65) , Linda Davies (66) , Eske de Crop (67) , André de Kesel (29) , Franck Richard (30) , Adrien Taudière (30)

1 Uppsala University
2 NCU - National Central University [Taiwan]
3 URJC - Universidad Rey Juan Carlos = Rey Juan Carlos University
4 Auteur indépendant
5 Naturalis Biodiversity Center [Leiden]
6 EBC - Evolutionary Biology Centre
7 SAS - Slovak Academy of Sciences
8 LUOMUS - Finnish Museum of Natural History
9 Purdue University [West Lafayette]
10 Royal Botanic Gardens [Kew]
11 UNSAM - Universidad Nacional de San Martin
12 UAH - Universidad de Alcalá - University of Alcalá
13 SMI | RAS - Steklov Mathematical Institute [Moscow]
14 TUM - Technische Universität Munchen - Technical University Munich - Université Technique de Munich
15 University of Washington [Seattle]
16 Jardín Botánico Nacional Dr. Rafael Ma. Moscoso
17 Moravian Museum
18 NARO - National Agriculture and Food Research Organization
19 ABL Herbarium
20 Instituto Tecnológico de Ciudad Victoria
21 Torødveien 54
22 Skane University Hospital [Lund]
23 ARREO - Agricultural Research,Education and Extension Organization
24 BAS - Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
25 UPV - Universitat Politècnica de València = Universitad Politecnica de Valencia = Polytechnic University of Valencia
26 ULISBOA - Universidade de Lisboa = University of Lisbon = Université de Lisbonne
27 SUNY - State University of New York
28 UFV [Brésil] - Universidade Federal de Viçosa [Brasil] = Federal University of Viçosa [Brazil] = Université fédérale de Viçosa [Brésil]
29 Plantentuin - Meise Botanic Garden [Belgium]
30 CEFE - Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive
31 INSERM - Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale
32 Naturmusem of Bolzano
33 NTNU - Norwegian University of Science and Technology
34 NINA - Norwegian Institute for Nature Research
35 UiO - University of Oslo
36 Szent István University
37 University of Salzburg
38 ETH Zürich - Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology [Zürich]
39 Institute of Biochemistry
40 Società Veneziana di Scienze Naturali
41 UBC - University of British Columbia [Canada]
42 WI - Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute [Utrecht]
43 Aarhus University [Aarhus]
44 CAU - Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel = Christian-Albrechts University of Kiel = Université Christian-Albrechts de Kiel
45 Faune et Florent Nature
46 CJBG - Conservatoire et Jardin Botaniques de Genève
47 GLI / CAS - Institute of Geology of the Czech Academy of Sciences
48 Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg
49 Canadian Museum of Nature
50 RAS - Russian Academy of Sciences [Moscow]
51 Fungal & Decay Diagnostics
52 MNHN - Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle
53 UCM - Universidad Complutense de Madrid = Complutense University of Madrid [Madrid]
54 Fundación CEAM
55 MycSA - Unité de recherche Mycologie et Sécurité des Aliments
56 Associazione Micologica Bresadola - Emilia Romagna
57 Instituto de Investigaciones Fundamentales en Agricultura Tropical 'Alejandro de Humboldt'
58 USDA - United States Department of Agriculture
59 MFU - Mae Fah Luang University [Thaïlande]
60 CBNMP - Conservatoire Botanique National de Midi-Pyrénées
61 Université de Lille
62 MSU - Montana State University
63 UFPE - Universidade Federal de Pernambuco [Recife]
64 SNSB - Staatlichen Naturwissenschaftlichen Sammlungen Bayerns
65 Botanical Survey of India
66 Centre for Environmental Policy
67 UGENT - Universiteit Gent = Ghent University = Université de Gand

Nomenclatural type definitions are one of the most important concepts in biological nomenclature. Being physical objects that can be re-studied by other researchers, types permanently link taxonomy (an artificial agreement to classify biological diversity) with nomenclature (an artificial agreement to name biological diversity). Two proposals to amend the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (ICN), allowing DNA sequences alone (of any region and extent) to serve as types of taxon names for voucherless fungi (mainly putative taxa from environmental DNA sequences), have been submitted to be voted on at the 11th International Mycological Congress (Puerto Rico, July 2018). We consider various genetic processes affecting the distribution of alleles among taxa and find that alleles may not consistently and uniquely represent the species within which they are contained. Should the proposals be accepted, the meaning of nomenclatural types would change in a fundamental way from physical objects as sources of data to the data themselves. Such changes are conducive to irreproducible science, the potential typification on artefactual data, and massive creation of names with low information content, ultimately causing nomenclatural instability and unnecessary work for future researchers that would stall future explorations of fungal diversity. We conclude that the acceptance of DNA sequences alone as types of names of taxa, under the terms used in the current proposals, is unnecessary and would not solve the problem of naming putative taxa known only from DNA sequences in a scientifically defensible way. As an alternative, we highlight the use of formulas for naming putative taxa (candidate taxa) that do not require any modification of the ICN.

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]; Sciences de l'environnement; Systématique, phylogénie et taxonomie; Mycologie

Juan Carlos Zamora, Mans Svensson, Roland Kirschner, Ibai Olariaga, Svengunnar Ryman, et al.. Considerations and consequences of allowing DNA sequence data as types of fungal taxa. IMA Fungus, 2018, 9 (1), pp.167-175. ⟨10.5598/imafungus.2018.09.01.10⟩. ⟨hal-02627600⟩