Morphological and phylogenetic studies on Cordyceps sinensis distributed in southwestern China

Cordyceps is one of the target genera for modern mycological studies. Among themCordyceps sinensis is the most famous but poorly defined species because the fungus is endemic in districted regions of east Eurasia. We have explored the various growing regions and habitats where the fungus grows in the wild. We also examined authentic cultures for the species. We analyzed the sequences of ITS1, 2 and 5.8 S rDNA regions ofC. sinensis materials collected from 11 localities of southwestern China. Phylogenetic analyses were performed with these sequences and with additional sequences obtained from GenBank. All sequences formed a single cluster, which comprised two subgroups. Our results strongly suggested that intraspecific variation was rather small and that some species that are morphologically similar toC. sinensis but with different names might be synonymous withC. sinensis. The difference in the pharmaceutical activity among these collectedC. sinensis from different regions will be studied in the future.