Macrofungal Survey of the Tian Shan Mountains, Kyrgyzstan

ABSTRACT

The Tian Shan mountain system is one of the large mountain ranges located in Central Asia. This region is globally recognized as mountain ranges, offering inestimable wealth in fauna and flora with significant biodiversity values. We surveyed macrofungal diversity of Tian Shan in Kyrgyzstan from 2016 to 2018. A collection of macrofungi was made, and these were subjected to sequence comparisons and phylogenetic analysis to ensure the identity of the collected macrofungi. Of those collected, 95 out of 100 specimens were successfully sequenced and compared with those of other related species retrieved from GenBank. The sequenced specimens were classified into 2 phyla, 8 orders, 24 families, 47 genera, and 57 species, based on current taxonomic concepts (combining morphology and phylogeny). To the best of our knowledge, this study provides the first well-documented checklist and phylogenetic analysis of macrofungi recovered from the Tian Shan mountains in Kyrgyzstan.