REPLY
In his Letter to the Editor (1), Dr. Houbraken suggested that Aspergillus fumigatus should still be used as the taxonomic classification of strain NRRL50109, which was classified as Aspergillus neoellipticus (2).
Strain NRRL5109 was classified as A. fumigatus var. ellipticus because of its elliptical conidial heads and smooth or nearly smooth walls (3). Kozakiewicz (4) first proposed changing A. fumigatus var. ellipticus into the species A. neoellipticus. Samson (5) relegated them to synonyms of A. fumigatus. Peterson (6) asserted that A. fumigatus var. ellipticus was supported as a species according to a phylogenetic analysis using four loci but still upheld its synonymous status.
At present, there is no definite evidence to support A. fumigatus as a separate species. Thus, we agree with Dr. Houbraken’s suggestion that the taxonomic classification of strain NRRL5109 be modified to Aspergillus fumigatus.
Footnotes
This is a response to a letter by Houbraken et al. (https://doi.org/10.1128/MRA.01074-20).
Contributor Information
Zhihe Yu, Email: zhiheyu@hotmail.com.
Antonis Rokas, Vanderbilt University.
REFERENCES
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