Re-evaluation of Hypocrea pseudogelatinosa and H. pseudostraminea isolated from shiitake mushroom (Lentinula edodes) cultivation in Korea and Japan

Shiitake (Lentinula edodes) is the most economically important cultivated mushroom, but yields are impacted by its competitor, Trichoderma spp. We previously found two unidentified Trichoderma species growing in bedlogs and sawdust shiitake media in Korea. Here, we identify and re-describe those two species based on molecular sequence data, morphology, and culture characteristics. Well-supported clades based on phylogenetic analyses of internal transcribed spacer, translation elongation factor 1-${\alpha}$, and RNA polymerase subunit II sequences grouped one of the unidentified Trichoderma spp. with Hypocrea pseudogelatinosa and the other with Hypocrea pseudostraminea, and their morphologies matched well with the original descriptions of the two Hypocrea species. This study reports the first phylogenetic analyses of H. pseudogelatinosa and Japanese strains of H. pseudostraminea. Based on the phylogenetic results, we redescribed these two species using modern taxonomic concepts in Hypocrea/Trichoderma.