Nomenclatural issues concerning cultured yeasts and other fungi: Why it is important to avoid unneeded name changes

The unambiguous application of fungal names is important to communicate scientific findings. Names are critical for (clinical) diagnostics, legal compliance, and regulatory controls, such as biosafety, food security, quarantine regulations, and industrial applications. Consequently, the stability of the taxonomic system and the traceability of nomenclatural changes is crucial for a broad range of users and taxonomists. The unambiguous application of names is assured by the preservation of nomenclatural history and the physical organisms representing a name. Fungi are extremely diverse in terms of ecology, lifestyle, and methods of study. Predominantly unicellular fungi known as yeasts are usually investigated as living cultures. Methods to characterize yeasts include physiological (growth) tests and experiments to induce a sexual morph; both methods require viable cultures. Thus, the preservation and availability of viable reference cultures are important, and cultures representing reference material are cited in species descriptions. Historical surveys revealed drawbacks and inconsistencies between past practices and modern requirements as stated in the International Code of Nomenclature for Algae, Fungi, and Plants (ICNafp). Improper typification of yeasts is a common problem, resulting in a large number invalid yeast species names. With this opinion letter, we address the problem that culturable microorganisms, notably some fungi and algae, require specific provisions under the ICNafp. We use yeasts as a prominent example of fungi known from cultures. But viable type material is important not only for yeasts, but also for other cultivable Fungi that are characterized by particular morphological structures (a specific type of spores), growth properties, and secondary metabolites. We summarize potential proposals which, in our opinion, will improve the stability of fungal names, in particular by protecting those names for which the reference material can be traced back to the original isolate.Fil: Yurkov, Andrey. Deutsche Sammlung Von Mikroorganismen Und Zellkulturen Gmbh; AlemaniaFil: Alves, Artur. Universidade de Aveiro; PortugalFil: Bai, Feng Yan. Chinese Academy of Sciences; República de ChinaFil: Boundy Mills, Kyria. University of California at Davis; Estados UnidosFil: Buzzini, Pietro. Università di Perugia; ItaliaFil: Čadež, Neža. University of Ljubljana; LituaniaFil: Cardinali, Gianluigi. Università di Perugia; ItaliaFil: Casaregola, Serge. Universite Paris-Saclay;Fil: Chaturvedi, Vishnu. New York State Department of Health. Wadsworth Center; Estados UnidosFil: Collin, Valérie. Biomérieux; FranciaFil: Fell, Jack W.. University of Miami; Estados UnidosFil: Girard, Victoria. Biomérieux; FranciaFil: Groenewald, Marizeth. Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute; Países BajosFil: Hagen, Ferry. Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute; Países BajosFil: Hittinger, Chris Todd. University of Wisconsin; Estados UnidosFil: Kachalkin, Aleksey V.. Russian Academy of Sciences; Rusia. Lomonosov Moscow State University; RusiaFil: Kostrzewa, Markus. Bruker Daltonik Gmbh; AlemaniaFil: Kouvelis, Vassili. Universidad Nacional y Kapodistriaca de Atenas; GreciaFil: Libkind Frati, Diego. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Centro Regional Universitario Bariloche; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Instituto Andino Patagónico de Tecnologías Biológicas y Geoambientales. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Instituto Andino Patagónico de Tecnologías Biológicas y Geoambientales; ArgentinaFil: Liu, Xinzhan. Chinese Academy of Sciences; República de ChinaFil: Maier, Thomas. Bruker Daltonik Gmbh; AlemaniaFil: Meyer, Wieland. Westmead Hospital; Australia. The University of Sydney; AlemaniaFil: Péter, Gábor. Hungarian University Of Agriculture And Life Sciences; HungríaFil: Piątek, Marcin. Polish Academy of Sciences; ArgentinaFil: Robert, Vincent. Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute; Países BajosFil: Rosa, Carlos A.. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais; BrasilFil: Sampaio, Jose Paulo. Universidade Nova de Lisboa; PortugalFil: Sipiczki, Matthias. University of Debrecen; HungríaFil: Stadler, Marc. Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research; AlemaniaFil: Sugita, Takashi. Meiji Pharmaceutical University; Japó