AUTHOR=Li Sai-Nan , Xu Fei , Long Pan , Liu Feng , Zhang Ping , Fan Yu-Guang , Chen Zuo-Hong 

TITLE=Five new species of Inosperma from China: Morphological characteristics, phylogenetic analyses, and toxin detection

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=13

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2022.1021583

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2022.1021583

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p>Many species of <italic>Inosperma</italic> cause neurotoxic poisoning in humans after consumption around the world. However, the toxic species of <italic>Inosperma</italic> and its toxin content remain unclear. In the present study, we proposed five new <italic>Inosperma</italic> species from China, namely, <italic>I. longisporum, I. nivalellum</italic>, <italic>I. sphaerobulbosum</italic>, <italic>I. squamulosobrunneum</italic>, and <italic>I. squamulosohinnuleum</italic>. Morphological and molecular phylogenetic analyses based on three genes (ITS, nrLSU, <italic>rpb2</italic>) revealed that these taxa are independent species. A key to 17 species of <italic>Inosperma</italic> in China is provided. In addition, targeted screening for the most notorious mushroom neurotoxins, muscarine, psilocybin, ibotenic acid, and muscimol, in these five new species was performed by using ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS). Our results show that the neurotoxin contents in these five species varied: <italic>I. sphaerobulbosum</italic> contains none of the tested neurotoxins; <italic>I. nivalellum</italic> is muscarine positive; <italic>I. longisporum</italic> and <italic>I. squamulosohinnuleum</italic> contain both ibotenic acid and muscimol, and <italic>I. squamulosobrunneum</italic> only contains muscimol; psilocybin was not detected in these five new species.</p>