New findings on the fungal species Tricholoma matsutake from Ukraine, and revision of its taxonomy and biogeography based on multilocus phylogenetic analyses.

Matsutake mushrooms are among the best-known edible wild mushroom taxa worldwide. The representative is from East Asia and the northern and central regions of Europe. Here, we report the existence of under fir trees in Eastern Europe (i.e., Ukraine), as confirmed by phylogenetic analysis of nine loci on the nuclear and mitochondrial genomes. All specimens from Japan, Bhutan, China, North Korea, South Korea, Sweden, Finland, and Ukraine formed a clade according to the phylogeny of the internal transcribed spacer region. The European population of was clustered based on the β2 tubulin gene, with a moderate bootstrap value. In contrast, based on analyses of three loci, i.e., 2, 1, and the β2 tubulin gene, specimens sampled from Bhutan and China belonged to a clade independent of the other specimens of this species, implying a genetically isolated population. As biologically available type specimens of have not been designated since its description as a new species from Japan in 1925, we established an epitype of this fungus, sampled in a forest in Nagano, Japan.