Sorghum is the fifth most important cereal worldwide, spreading from Africa throughout the world. It is particularly important in the semi-arid tropics due to its drought tolerance, and when cultivated in Southeast Asia commonly occurs as a second crop during the dry season. We recovered Fusarium from sorghum in Thailand and found F. proliferatum, F. thapsinum and F. verticillioides most frequently, and intermittent isolates of F. sacchari and F. beomiforme. The relatively high frequencies of F. proliferatum and F. verticillioides, suggest mycotoxin contamination, particularly fumonisins and moniliformin, should be evaluated. Genetic variation within the three commonly recovered species was characterized with vegetative compatibility, mating type, Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphisms (AFLPs), and female fertility. Effective population number (N e ) was highest for F. verticillioides and lowest for F. thapsinum with values based on mating type allele frequencies higher than those based on female fertility. Based on AFLP genetic variation, the F. thapsinum populations were the most closely related, the F. verticillioides populations were the most distantly related, and the F. proliferatum populations were in an intermediate position. The genetic variation observed could result if F. thapsinum is introduced primarily with seed, while F. proliferatum and F. verticillioides could arrive with seed or be carried over from previous crops, e.g., rice or maize, which sorghum is following. Confirmation of species transmission patterns is needed to understand the agricultural systems in which sorghum is grown in Southeast Asia, which are quite different from the systems found in Africa, Australia, India and the Americas.
Scientific communication is facilitated by a data-driven, scientifically sound taxonomy that considers the end-user's needs and established successful practice. In 2013, the Fusarium community voiced near unanimous support for a concept of Fusarium that represented a clade comprising all agriculturally and clinically important Fusarium species, including the F. solani species complex (FSSC). Subsequently, this concept was challenged in 2015 by one research group who proposed dividing the genus Fusarium into seven genera, including the FSSC described as members of the genus Neocosmospora, with subsequent justification in 2018 based on claims that the 2013 concept of Fusarium is polyphyletic. Here, we test this claim and provide a phylogeny based on exonic nucleotide sequences of 19 orthologous protein-coding genes that strongly support the monophyly of Fusarium including the FSSC. We reassert the practical and scientific argument in support of a genus Fusarium that includes the FSSC and several other basal lineages, consistent with the longstanding use of this name among plant pathologists, medical mycologists, quarantine officials, regulatory agencies, students, and researchers with a stake in its taxonomy. In recognition of this monophyly, 40 species described as genus Neocosmospora were recombined in genus Fusarium, and nine others were renamed Fusarium. Here the global Fusarium community voices strong support for the inclusion of the FSSC in Fusarium, as it remains the best scientific, nomenclatural, and practical taxonomic option available.