Phylogenetic study of family Bankeraceae in Korea

Abstract

Bankeraceae is an ectomycorrhizal family of stipitate hydnoid fungi, the unique feature of which is presence of spines under the basidiocarp as a mean of spores distribution, rather than pores and gills. Species of family Bankeraceae are under strong ecological concern in Europe, and included in the Red Data list in several countries, due to the fact that their numbers have reduced dramatically. Six genera and 98 species have been reported worldwide. In Korea, four genera and 11 species have been reported to date. Those scientific names have been taken based on comparisons of macromorphology to European and North American species without detailed descriptions. Recent studies showed, that Asian species of fungi differ greatly from those in Europe and North America when molecular comparison is applied. The purpose of this study is to re-evaluate species of family Bankeraceae in Korea using morphological characteristics and molecular analysis of internal transcribed spacer (ITS), large subunit rRNA (LSU) region and the second largest subunit of RNA polymerase II (rpb2) region. 32 specimens were identified as 17 species, including one Boletopsis, six Phellodon, four Hydnellum and six Sarcodon species. Among these, two previously recorded species in Korea, five unrecorded species in Korea, three new species to the family and seven new candidate species to the family were identified. The resulting phylogram showed that Boletopsis and Phellodon formed monophyletic groups, while genera Hydnellum and Sarcodon remained to be complicated for most instances.