International Commission on the Taxonomy of Fungi (ICTF)
Members:
Keith Seifert (Chair, Canada)
Gen Okada (Secretary, Japan)
Gaddam Bagyanarayana (India)
Pedro Crous (Netherlands, President, Int. Mycol. Assoc.)
José Carmine Dianese (Brazil)
Irina Druzhinina (TrichodermaSC, Austria)
David Geiser (Fusarium SC, United States)
David Hawksworth (Spain)
David Hibbett (United States)
Peter Johnston (New Zealand)
Tom May (Australia)
Amy Rossman (United States)
Robert Samson (Penicillium/Aspergillus C (ICPA), Sec. Gen. IUMS, Netherlands)
Frederick Spiegel (United States)
Michael Wingfield (South Africa)
General Meeting at ICM8, Cairns, Australia,
24 August 2006, 8 AM
Preamble: The International Commission for the Taxonomy of Fungi (ICTF) is a joint Commission of the Mycology Division of the International Union of Microbiological Societies (IUMS) and of the International Mycological Association (IMA; Section for General Mycology of the International Union of Biological Sciences (IUBS)), where the IUMS and IUBS are the primary biological components of the International Council for Sciences (ICSU). ICTF has a website on the IUMS site (www.iums.org/ICTF/index.htm), including the statutes and membership list, and is developing a more extensive site at www.fungaltaxonomy.org
The ICTF held its general meeting at the 8th International Mycological Congress at Cairns, Australia, 24 August 2006. The meeting was open and was attended by eight members of the commission, and about fifteen observers, three of whom were subsequently elected to join the commission. ICTF statutes require an election following the resignation of officers, or if there is a call for an election of officers from the membership. There has been no call for an election, and Keith Seifert and Gen Okada will continue to serve as the officers of this commission until the next IMC.
Reports of Subcommissions (SC) / Working Groups (WG):
Fusarium SC – (chair: David Geiser). This group also works under the auspices of the International Society of Plant Pathology Commission on Fusarium, and holds meetings prior to the International Congress of Plant Pathology (ICPP). Their major activity has been the development of an EF1-alpha DNA sequence database to identify Fusarium at fusarium.cbio.psu.edu. There is also a list of current names of Fusarium at www.cbs.knaw.nl. The group met at the 9th International Fusarium Workshop (Sydney, January 2003) prior to the Christchurch, NZ ICPP and plans to meet, probably in conjunction with a European Fusarium seminar, in Italy prior to the Turin ICPP.
Trichoderma SC – (ISTH: chair: Irina Druzhinina). A sequence identification system called TrichoKey2 is ready for final release at http://www.isth.info. The website also has literature on Trichoderma. The group held several meetings over the past few years, e.g. in Austria, China, and members have published some monographs to parts of the genus (e.g., Stud. Mycol 48, 2003).
International Commission on Penicillium and Aspergillus (ICPA) – (chair: Robert Samson). This commission reports separately to the IUMS, but the chair sits on the ICTF. This group sponsored a session at the IUMS meeting in San Francisco in 2005 and plans a session on Aspergillus at the next IUMS meeting, and specialized Aspergillus workshop is being held at the CBS Fungal Biodiversity Centre in April 2007. Several genomes have been sequenced, with the members of the commission consulted on the selection of species and strains.
Ceratocystis/Ophiostoma SC – (co-chairs: Keith Seifert and Michael Wingfield).
A three day pre-congress symposium attended by 45 people was organized for IMC8 in Cairns, Australia. Establishment of a permanent commission remains on hold, because many potential members do not yet have permanent jobs.
Mycosphaerella SC– (chair: Pedro Crous). This subcommission is not yet formalized, and is mostly centred around CBS and its collaborators. A one day symposium on Cercospora beticola was held at the APS meeting in Quebec City in August 2006. A pre-congress meeting to the next ICPP in Italy in 2008 on Mycosphaerella is planned and is being organized by Bruce MacDonald.
PhomopsisSC– (chair: Amy Rossman.). No responses were received to an announcement about the formation of this working group, and it is unlikely to form.
Potential additional subcommissions:
The establishment of several additional subcommissions has been discussed, and various members of the ICTF are now trying to assemble them: Rust fungi (Amy Rossman), Stachybotrys (Keith Seifert), Colletotrichum (Peter Johnston).
Other activities:
Code of Good Taxonomic Practice – A code was developed about 15 years ago by the ICTF, and published in several journals but it is now very out of date. David Hawksworth and Pedro Crous plan to draft a code for circulation to the rest of the commission, eventually to be put on the web, and be reviewed annually. Editors of journals would be urged to accept and endorse the Code. Concepts could be adapted from Crous principles of good culturing (Mycol. Res. 106: 1378–1379) and the Agerer et al.’s letter on the importance of vouchering (Mycol Res 104: 642-644).
IUMS Meeting in Istanbul in 2008 – The ICTF is expected to organize symposia at IUMS meetings. ICTF proposed a session for the 2005 meeting in San Francisco but never received a response from the organizers. Robert Samson offered to instigate a symposium on the taxonomy of economically important fungi for the Istanbul meeting, to be organized with other members of the ICTF.