Considerations and consequences of allowing DNA sequence data as types of fungal taxa

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00094862%3A_____%2F18%3AN0000162" target="_blank" >RIV/00094862:_____/18:N0000162 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://imafungus.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.5598/imafungus.2018.09.01.10" target="_blank" >https://imafungus.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.5598/imafungus.2018.09.01.10</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.5598/imafungus.2018.09.01.10" target="_blank" >10.5598/imafungus.2018.09.01.10</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Considerations and consequences of allowing DNA sequence data as types of fungal taxa

Original language description

Nomenclatural type definitions are one of the most important concepts in biological nomenclature. Being physical objects that can be re-studied by other researchers, types permanently link taxonomy (an artificial agreement to classify biological diversity) with nomenclature (an artificial agreement to name biological diversity). Two proposals to amend the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (ICN), allowing DNA sequences alone (of any region and extent) to serve as types of taxon names for voucherless fungi (mainly putative taxa from environmental DNA sequences), have been submitted to be voted on at the 11th International Mycological Congress (Puerto Rico, July 2018). We consider various genetic processes affecting the distribution of alleles among taxa and find that alleles may not consistently and uniquely represent the species within which they are contained. Should the proposals be accepted, the meaning of nomenclatural types would change in a fundamental way from physical objects as sources of data to the data themselves. Such changes are conducive to irreproducible science, the potential typification on artefactual data, and massive creation of names with low information content, ultimately causing nomenclatural instability and unnecessary work for future researchers that would stall future explorations of fungal diversity. We conclude that the acceptance of DNA sequences alone as types of names of taxa, under the terms used in the current proposals, is unnecessary and would not solve the problem of naming putative taxa known only from DNA sequences in a scientifically defensible way. As an alternative, we highlight the use of formulas for naming putative taxa (candidate taxa) that do not require any modification of the ICN.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

10612 - Mycology

Project

—

Continuities

V - Vyzkumna aktivita podporovana z jinych verejnych zdroju

Publication year

2018

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

IMA Fungus

ISSN

2210-6359

e-ISSN

—

Volume of the periodical

9

Issue of the periodical within the volume

1

Country of publishing house

US - UNITED STATES

Number of pages

9

Pages from-to

167–175

UT code for WoS article

000438287000033

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-85052309383