Tolypocladium inflatum
| Tolypocladium inflatum | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Phylum: | Ascomycota |
| Class: | Sordariomycetes |
| Subclass: | Sordariomycetidae |
| Order: | Hypocreales |
| Family: | Ophiocordycipitaceae |
| Genus: | Tolypocladium |
| Species: | T. inflatum |
| Binomial name | |
|
Tolypocladium inflatum W. Gams (1971) |
|
| Synonyms | |
|
Pachybasium niveum O. Rostr. (1916) |
|
Pachybasium niveum O. Rostr. (1916)
Tolypocladium niveum (O. Rostr.) Bissett (1983)
Beauveria nivea (O. Rostr.) Arx (1986)
Cordyceps subsessilis Petch (1937)
Elaphocordyceps subsessilis (Petch) G.H. Sung, J.M. Sung & Spatafora (2007)
Tolypocladium inflatum is an ascomycete fungus originally isolated from a Norwegian soil sample that, under certain conditions, produces the immunosuppressant drug ciclosporin. In its sexual stage (teleomorph) it is a parasite on scarab beetles. It forms a small, compound ascocarp that arises from the cadaver of its host beetle. In its asexual stage (anamorph) it is a white mold that grows on soil. It is much more commonly found in its asexual stage and this is the stage that was originally given the name Tolypocladium inflatum.
The fungus Tolypocladium inflatum was found in a soil samples in 1969 from Norway, by Hans Peter Frey.
In 1969, a soil sample containing microfungi from Norway was brought to Switzerland from which a fungus misidentified as Trichoderma polysporum was isolated. In 1971 the Austrian mycologist, Walter Gams, re-identified the isolate as a previously unknown microfungus affiliated with the order Hypocreales. He erected the genus Tolypocladium to accommodate the isolate which he named T. inflatum Gams. The taxon is characterized by swollen phialides, sparingly branched conidiophores, and small, unicellular conidia borne in slimy heads. Canadian mycologist John Bissett re-examined the strain in 1983, finding it to match the species Pachybasium niveum, a fungus described prior to the work of Gams. According to the rules of publication priority for botanical nomenclature, Bissett proposed the combination Tolypocladium niveum. However due to the economic importance of the fungus to the pharmaceutical industry and the fact that the incorrect name had already become well-entrenched, a proposal to formally conserve the name T. inflatum against earlier names was made and accepted, establishing the correct name of the mold that produces ciclosporin as Tolypocladium inflatum.
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