''Shiraia bambusicola'' is a parasitic

fungus A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from th ...

twig A twig is a thin, often short, branch of a tree or bush. The buds on the twig are an important diagnostic characteristic, as are the abscission scars where the leaves have fallen away. The color, texture, and patterning of the twig bark are ...

s of several

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, bu ...

s, and its relatively large stromata are used in

traditional Chinese medicine Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. It has been described as "fraught with pseudoscience", with the majority of its treatments having no logical mechanism of action ...

. It is the sole species in the

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

genus ''Shiraia''. It is widely distributed in many provinces of Southern

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

and also in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. The genus ''Shiraia'', named after Dr.

Mitsutaro Shirai was a Japanese plant pathologist, mycologist, and herbalist. He was the first president of the Phytopathology Society of Japan and emeritus professor of plant pathology, College of Agriculture, The University of Tokyo. He worked closely togethe ...

, was first established and proposed as a member of the family Nectriaceae by P. Hennings in 1900. Although the familial placement is somewhat uncertain,

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

evidence based on the sequences of

ribosomal DNA Ribosomal DNA (rDNA) is a DNA sequence that codes for ribosomal RNA. These sequences regulate transcription initiation and amplification, and contain both transcribed and non-transcribed spacer segments. In the human genome there are 5 chromos ...

supports its positioning in the

Phaeosphaeriaceae The Phaeosphaeriaceae are a family of fungi in the order Pleosporales. Species in the family have a cosmopolitan distribution, and are generally nectrotrophic or saprobic on a wide range of plants. Genera list *'' Barria'' *'' Bricookea'' *'' C ...

Species Fungorum ''Index Fungorum'' is an international project to index all formal names (scientific names) in the fungus kingdom. the project is based at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, one of three partners along with Landcare Research and the Institute of Mi ...

uses the family name of ''Shiraiaceae''. The extracts from its stromata contain hypocrellins and shiraiachromes, members of perylenequinone class of natural products, which are photoactivated therapeutic agents. Hypocrellins were firstly found in another filamentous fungus ''

Hypocrella ''Hypocrella''Sacc. (1878) ''Michelia'' 1(no. 3): 322. is a genus of fungi in the family Clavicipitaceae. Species The Catalogue of Life The Catalogue of Life is an online database that provides an index of known species of animals, plants, ...

bambuase'', which is also parasitic on bamboos.

References

Pleosporales Fungi described in 1900 Fungus species {{Pleosporales-stub