Consistent with ITS and β-tubulin phylogenies, molecular clustering based on lac3-1 sequence analysis grouped the P. cinnabarinus and P. puniceus strains into two highly supported specific lineages. The P. sanguineus and P. coccineus strains were distributed through four distinct, well supported clades
and sub-clades. A neotropical sub-clade grouped the P. sanguineus strains from French Guiana and Venezuela – and the reference strain CIRM-BRFM 902 – corresponding to P. sanguineus sensu stricto. A paleotropical sub-clade clustered the strains from Madagascar, Vietnam and New Caledonia, and could be defined as Pycnoporus cf. sanguineus. The Australian clade of P. coccineus, including the reference strain MUCL 39523, corresponded to P. coccineus sensu stricto. This clade also included
LY2835219 the Malesian strain from the Solomon Islands, positioned separately, consistent with the high level of endemic species in that country (Udvardy, 1975). Ribociclib research buy The fourth group was the Eastern Asian region clade, clustering the strains from China, including CIRM-BRFM 542 of unknown origin and the strain MUCL 38527 from Japan. The strains of this last clade shared polymorphism in ITS and β-tubulin sequences with P. coccineus sensu stricto strains, as well as intron length in β-tubulin gene sequences, known to be characteristic of a lineage in basidiomycetes (Begerow et al., 2004). This suggests a misidentification of Chinese specimens, very recently confirmed by macroscopic observation of basidiocarps. The high degree of similarity of the morphological characters between Cepharanthine P. sanguineus and P. coccineus and the high variability of specimens across the season and the geographical area could explain this field misidentification (Nobles & Frew, 1962). Accordingly, the
Eastern Asian region strains of Pycnoporus (from China and Japan), together with the related strain CIRM-BRFM 542 (suspected to be of East Asian descent), formed a P. coccineus-like group defined as Pycnoporus cf. coccineus (Fig. 3). Biogeographic phylogenetic structure was related in polyporoid fungi such as Grifola frondosa, separating Eastern North American strains from Asian strains, and no morphological distinction was detected between them (Shen et al., 2002). In the Ganoderma applanatum/australe species complex, eight distinct clades were strongly correlated with the geographic origin of the strains, and corresponded to mating groups (Moncalvo & Buchanan, 2008). Interestingly, the East Asian clade in our study corresponded to the functional group of Pycnoporus strains previously reported for their high level of laccase production (Lomascolo et al., 2002).