Sarocladium

 ( Fungi Described In 1976 ) 

Sarocladium is a genus of fungi found in crops, soil, plant debris, and rotting mushrooms. It was created by Walter Gams and David Leslie Hawksworth for the species of rice fungus, Sarocladium oryzae, in 1976. The species are most notable as a causative pathogens of sheath rot of rice and blight in bamboo. Species like S. strictum can cause infection in humans called hyalohyphomycosis (skin, nail and tissue infection) that can lead to fatal disease if improperly treated.

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Taxonomy The first species of Sarocladium identified was S. oryzae. It was discovered by Japanese biologist Kaneyoshi (Kenkichi) Sawada from the rice field in Taiwan and described it in 1922 as Acrocylindrium oryzae. But other fungi of the genus was already discovered in the early 19th century that was not identified as such. In 1839, Czech physician August Carl Joseph Corda identified the causative pathogen of skin and tissue infections as a fungus that he named Cephalosporium acremonium. Although the fungi were morphologically similar, the relationship between the plant and human pathogenic species could not be understood until the development of DNA sequencing.

In 1971, Walter Gams discovered saprophytic fungus from maize kernel and gave the name Acremonium strictum. Gams's specimen was found to be identical with Corda's C. acremonium, and both names became commonly used. All related species were simply assigned under the genus Acremonium. The problem arose when the number of species increased to over 150, thereby making classification chaotic. In 2011, Canadian mycologist Richard Summerbell and his European collaborators reanalysed the fungal group, and using DNA sequencing, concluded that C. acremonium/A. strictum and related fungi formed a genetically distinct group, and therefore reassigned in a separate genus, Sarocladium. The genus Sarocladium was already established by Gams and David Leslie Hawksworth for the revision of Sawada's A. oryzae as Sarocladium oryzae in 1976.

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Species

• Sarocladium bacillisporum
• Sarocladium bactrocephalum
• Sarocladium bifurcatum
• Sarocladium brachiariae
• Sarocladium clematidis
• Sarocladium dejongiae
• Sarocladium gamsii
• Sarocladium glaucum
• Sarocladium hominis
• Sarocladium implicatum
• Sarocladium junci
• Sarocladium kiliense
• Sarocladium liquanense
• Sarocladium mycophilum
• Sarocladium ochraceum
• Sarocladium pseudostrictum
• Sarocladium sinense
• Sarocladium spinificis
• Sarocladium subulatum
• Sarocladium summerbellii
• Sarocladium oryzae
• Sarocladium strictum
• Sarocladium terricola
• Sarocladium zeae

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