Douanla-Meli, C. & Langer, E.: Reassessment of phylogenetic relationships of some lentinoid fungi with velutinate basidiomes based on partial 28S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing. In: Sydowia 62 (2010), Nr. 1, S. 23-35
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Lentinoid fungi characterised by villosity of pileus and/or stem mostly belong to the genera Lentinus and Panus However, morphology-based taxonomy of some of these species has remained controversial and they used to be classified back and forth between the two genera The aim of this study was to investigate the phylogenetic relationships of these velutinate lentinoid fungi based on partial sequences of nuclear large subunit (nucLSU) rDNA Fourteen sequences generated from Cameroon specimens out of which eleven sequences of velutinate collections were included in the dataset of taxa belonging to the polyporoid clade, their phylogeny was obtained by Bayesian, maximum parsimony, and likelihood analyses In all trees a clade comprising all Lentinus taxa was resolved, whereas taxa referred to as Panus spp formed a strongly supported monophyletic group Species with velutinate to tomentose basidiomes were distributed over both clades Those with pilose-strigose basidiomes and corresponding to Lentinus subsect Criniti grouped together in the Lentinus clade Contrarily, species with velutinate to strigose basidiomes and thick-walled skeletocystidia, which are considered belonging to Lentinus sect Velutinia, nested in the Panus clade, but were nonmonophyletic In this latter clade, the P velutinus complex, including taxa with velutinate to hispid-strigose basidiomes and long-slender stems, was moderately supported The results indicated that the combination of uninflated vegetative hyphae, unbranched skeletal hyphae, and a radiate hymenophoral trama type is phylogenetically supported and characterises those species in the Panus clade

Douanla-Meli, C. & Langer, E.: Fungi of Cameroon II. Two new Russulales species (Basidiomycota). In: Nova Hedwigia 88 (2009), Nr. 3-4, S. 491-502
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Based on fungal material collected in the Mbalmayo Forest Reserve, Cameroon, two Russulaceae for which the specimens Could not be satisfactorily placed to any known species, are described as new to science. Lactarius dewevrei is strikingly characterised by the entire blackish to dark date brown basidiomata and winged basidiospores with broad branched ridges of Plinthogali type, and Russula caeruleoanulata is distinguished by the uniformly pastel yellow color, a blue line at the stem apex as well as the bluing of injured surfaces of the stem. DNA-based phylogenetic placement of the new species was assessed using nucleotide sequences of the partial nuclear large subunit ribosomal DNA (nucLSU rDNA). Molecular analyses Supported the placement of R. caeruleoanulata in R. delica-R. brevipes group of Russula subg. Compacta sect. Compactae, but did not afford a clear-cut placement of L. dewevrei, rather closely related to Lactarius subg. Plinthogali and also subg. Lactariopsis, while BLAST analyses showed similarity with subgs. Lactariopsis, Piperites and Russularia.

Douanla-Meli, C. & Langer, E.: Ganoderma carocalcareus sp nov., with crumbly-friable context parasite to saprobe on Anthocleista nobilis and its phylogenetic relationship in G-resinaceum group. In: Mycological Progress 8 (2009), Nr. 2, S. 145-155
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A new species Ganoderma carocalcareus (Basidiomycota, Ganodermataceae) was collected on living trunk and dead stumps of Anthocleista nobilis (Gentianaceae) in waterlogged swamps in the Mbalmayo Forest Reserve, Cameroon, and identified on the basis of morphology and phylogenetic analyses inferred from mitochondrial small subunit (mtSSU) and internal transcribed spacer (ITS1-5.8S-ITS2) rDNA sequences. Distinct phenotypic characteristics of the new species are dimorphism of basidiomata and variability in context structure and texture over developmental stages. The young basidiomata is ungulate to punk-shaped with context composed of vegetative hyphae attended by scattered, orbicular, smooth, thick-walled chlamydospores, and the mature basidiomata is cushion- to bracket-like with context entirely consisting of chlamydospores masses. This ontogeny intimates the origin of chlamydospores, for which the biogenesis correlates the vanishing of vegetative hyphae throughout the basidiomata maturation. Morphological comparison included Tomophagus colossus (=G. colossus), G. subamboinense and G. weberianum, the known Ganodermataceae species producing chlamydospores and or gasterospores in basidiomata tissues, and G. resinaceum, the closest species with regard to morphology. It followed that G. carocalcareus could not be assigned to these or any other known Ganoderma species. Analyses of mtSSU and ITS rDNA sequence data resolved G. carocalcareus in the G. resinaceum group as a distinct species, but being a close relative of both G. subamboinense and G. weberianum.

Douanla-Meli, C. & Langer, E.: Pestalotiopsis theae (Ascomycota, Amphisphaeriaceae) on seeds of Diospyros crossiflora (Ebenaceae). In: Mycotaxon 107 (2009), S. 441-448
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Among fungal isolates from seeds of Diospyros crassiflora, one showed cultural and microscopic features of Pestalotiopsis species. DNA-sequence comparison and phylogenetic analyses using nucleotide sequences of internal transcribed spacer (ITS1-5.8S-ITS2) and the portion of nuclear large subunit (nuc-LSU) rDNA identified it as Pestalotiopsis theae. This finding indicated that Pestalotiopsis theae, a common pathogen that is often an endophyte or saprobc, may also be seminicolous.

Douanla-Meli, C. & Langer, E.: Phylogenetic relationship of Marasmius mbalmayoensis sp nov to the tropical African Marasmius bekolacongoli complex based on nuc-LSU rDNA sequences. In: Mycologia 100 (2008), Nr. 3, S. 445-454
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Marasmius mbalmayoensis (Basidiomycotina, Marasmiaceae) growing on decayed leaves of Canarium schweinfurthii in the Mbalmayo Forest Reserve, Cameroon, is described. The species is remarkable due to the large basidiomata with shallow orange yellow umbilicus, long central stipe accompanied by similar long rhizomorphs on thickened basal mycelium and large lacrymiform to sigmoid basidiospores. The coarsely plicate pilei with lilac, violet to dark violaceous tints, and large distant adnate lamellae are reminiscent macroscopically of the tropical African species M. bekolacongoli. The phylogenetic relationship among M. mbalmayoensis and M. bekolacongoli was assessed, extended to other species of sects. Globulares and Sicci based on DNA sequences. Phylogenetic analysis based on nuc-LSU rDNA sequence data of selected Marasmiaceae taxa confirmed the placement of M. mbalmayoensis within the Marasmius spp. and its phylogenetic separation from M. bekolacongoli. Amyloflagellula inflata, which a BLAST analysis closely related to M mbalmayoensis , clustered in the same clade with M. mbalmayoensis and M. bekolacongoli. The findings also indicated the complexity of M. bekolacongoli.

Matheny, P. B.; Wang, Z.; Binder, M.; Curtis, J. M.; Lim, Y. W.; Nilsson, R. H.; Hughes, K. W.; Hofstetter, V.; Ammirati, J. F.; Schoch, C. L.; Langer, E.; Langer, G.; McLaughlin, D. J.; Wilson, A. W.; Froslev, T.; Ge, Z. W.; Kerrigan, R. W.; Slot, J. C.; Yang, Z. L.; Baroni, T. J.; Fischer, M.; Hosaka, K.; Matsuura, K.; Seidl, M. T.; Vauras, J. & Hibbett, D. S.: Contributions of rpb2 and tef1 to the phylogeny of mushrooms and allies (Basidiomycota, Fungi). In: Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 43 (2007), Nr. 2, S. 430-451
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A phylogeny of the fungal phylum Basidiomycota. is presented based on a survey of 160 taxa and five nuclear genes. Two genes, rpb2, and tef1, are presented in detail. The rpb2 gene is more variable than tef1 and recovers well-supported clades at shallow and deep taxonomic levels. The tef1 gene recovers some deep and ordinal-level relationships but with greater branch support from nucleotides compared to amino acids. Intron placement is dynamic in tef1, often lineage-specific, and diagnostic for many clades. Introns are fewer in rpb2 and tend to be highly conserved by position. When both protein-coding loci are combined with sequences of nuclear ribosomal RNA genes, 18 inclusive clades of Basidiomycota are strongly supported by Bayesian posterior probabilities and 16 by parsimony bootstrapping. These numbers are greater than produced by single genes and combined ribosomal RNA gene regions. Combination of nrDNA with amino acid sequences, or exons with third codon positions removed, produces strong measures of support, particularly for deep internodes of Basidiomycota, which have been difficult to resolve with confidence using nrDNA data alone. This study produces strong boostrap support and significant posterior probabilities for the first time for the following monophyletic groups: (1) Ustilagino-mycetes plus Hymenomycetes, (2) an inclusive cluster of hymenochaetoid, corticioid, polyporoid, Thelephorales, russuloid, athelioid, Boletales, and euagarics clades, (3) Thelephorales plus the polyporoid clade, (4) the polyporoid clade, and (5) the cantharelloid clade. Strong support is also recovered for the basal position of the Dacrymycetales in the Hymenomycetidae and paraphyly of the Exobasidiomycetidae. (C) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Larsson, K. H.; Parmasto, E.; Fischer, M.; Langer, E.; Nakasone, K. K. & Redhead, S. A.: Hymenochaetales: a molecular phylogeny for the hymenochaetoid clade. In: Mycologia 98 (2006), Nr. 6, S. 926-936
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The hymenochaetoid clade is dominated by wood-decaying species previously classified in the artificial families Corticiaceae, Polyporaceae and Stereaceae. The majority of these species cause a white rot. The polypore Bridgeoporus and several corticioid species with inconspicuous basidiomata, live in association with brown-rotted wood, but their nutritional strategy is Dot known. Mycorrhizal habit is reported for Coltricia perennis but needs confirmation. A surprising element in the hymenochaetoid clade is a group of small white to brightly pigmented agarics earlier classified in Omphalina. They form a subclade together with some similarly colored stipitate stereoid and corticioid species. Several are associated with living mosses or one-celled green algae. Hyphoderma pratermissum and some related corticioid species have specialized organs for trapping and killing nematodes as a source of nitrogen. There are no unequivocal morphological synapomorphies known for the hymenochaetoid clade. However almost all species examined ultrastructurally have dolipore septa with continuous parenthesomes while perforate parenthesomes is the normal condition for other homobasidiomycete clades. The agaricoid Hymenochaetales have not been examined. Within Hymenochaetales the Hymenochaetaceae forms a distinct clade but unfortunately all morphological characters supporting Hymenochaetaceae also are found in species outside the clade. Other subclades recovered by the molecular phylogenetic analyses are less uniform, and the overall resolution within the nuclear LSU tree presented here is still unsatisfactory.

Moncalvo, J. M.; Nilsson, R. H.; Koster, B.; Dunham, S. M.; Bernauer, T.; Matheny, P. B.; Porter, T. M.; Margaritescu, S.; Weiss, M.; Garnica, S.; Danell, E.; Langer, G.; Langer, E.; Larsson, E.; Larsson, K. H. & Vilgalys, R.: The cantharelloid clade: dealing with incongruent gene trees and phylogenetic reconstruction methods. In: Mycologia 98 (2006), Nr. 6, S. 937-948
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We reassessed the circumscription of the cantharelloid clade and identified monophyletic groups by using nLSU, nSSU, mtSSU and RPB2 sequence data. Results agreed with earlier studies that placed the genera Cantharellus, Craterellus, Hydnum, Clavulina, Membranomyces, Multiclavula, Sistotrema, Botryobasidium and the family Ceratobasidiaceae in that clade. Phylogenetic analyses support monophyly of all genera except Sistotrema, which was highly polyphyletic. Strongly supported monophyletic groups were: (i) Cantharellus-Craterellus, Hydnum, and the Sistotrema confluens group; (ii) Clavulina-Membranomyces and the S. brinkmannii-oblongisporum group, with Multiclavula being possibly sister of that clade; (iii) the Sistotrema eximum-octosporum group; (iv) Sistotrema adnatum and S. coronilla. Positions of Sistotrema raduloides and S. athelioides were unresolved, as were basal relationships. Botryobasidium was well supported as the sister taxon of all the above taxa, while Ceratobasidiaceae was the most basal lineage. The relationship between Tulasnella and members of the cantharelloid clade will require further scrutiny, although there is cumulative evidence that they are probably sister groups. The rates of molecular evolution of both the large and small nuclear ribosomal RNA genes (nuc-rDNA) are much higher in Cantharellus, Craterellus and Tulasnella than in the other cantharelloid taxa, and analyses of nuc-rDNA sequences strongly placed Tulasnella close to Cantharellus-Craterellus. In contrast analyses with RPB2 and mtSSU sequences placed Tulasnella at the base of the cantharelloid clade. Our attempt to reconstruct a "supertree" from tree topologies resulting from separate analyses that avoided phylogenetic reconstruction problems associated with missing data and/or unalignable sequences proved unsuccessful.

Binder, M.; Hibbett, D. S.; Larsson, K. H.; Larsson, E.; Langer, E. & Langer, G.: The phylogenetic distribution of resupinate forms across the major clades of mushroom-forming fungi (Homobasidiomycetes). In: Systematics and Biodiversity 3 (2005), Nr. 2, S. 113-157
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Phylogenetic relationships of resupinate Homobasidiomycetes (Corticiaceae s. lat. and others) were studied using ribosomal DNA (rDNA) sequences from a broad sample of resupinate and nonresupinate taxa. Two datasets were analysed using parsimony, a'core'dataset of 142 species, each of which is represented by four rDNA regions (mitochondrial and nuclear large and small subunits), and a 'full' clataset of 656 species, most of which were represented only by nuclear large subunit rDNA sequences. Both datasets were analysed using traditional heuristic methods with bootstrapping, and the full clataset was also analysed with the Parsimony Ratchet, using equal character weights and six-parameter weighted parsimony. Analyses of both datasets supported monophyly of the eight major clades of Homobasicliomycetes recognised by Hibbett and Thorn, as well as independent lineages corresponding to the Gloeophyllum clade, corticioid clade and jaapia argillacea. Analyses of the full clataset resolved two additional groups, the athelioid clade and trechisporoid clade (the latter may be nested in the polyporoid clade). Thus, there are at least 12 independent clades of Homobasicliomycetes. Higher-level relationships among the major clades are not resolved with confidence. Nevertheless, the euagarics clade, bolete clade, athelioid clade and jaapia argillacea are consistently resolved as a monophyletic group, whereas the cantharelloid clade, gomphoid-phalloid clade and hymenochaetoid clade are placed at the base of the Homobasidiomycetes, which is consistent with the preponderance of imperforate parenthesomes in those groups. Resupinate forms occur in each of the major clades of Homobasidiomycetes, some of which are composed mostly or exclusively of resupinate forms (athelioid clade, corticioid clade, trechisporoid clade,jaapia). The largest concentrations of resupinate forms occur in the polyporoid clade, russuloid clade and hymenochaetoid clade. The cantharelloid clade also includes many resupinate forms, including some that have traditionally been regarded as heterobasidiomycetes (Sebacinaceae, Tulasnellates, Ceratobasidiales). The euagarics clade, which is by far the largest clade in the Homobasidiomycetes, has the smallest fraction of resupinate species. Results of the present study are compared with recent phylogenetic analyses, and a table summarising the phylogenetic distribution of resupinate taxa is presented, as well as notes on the ecology of resupinate forms and related Homobasidiomycetes.