''Shiraia bambusicola'' is a parasitic

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

twig A twig is a thin, often short, branch of a tree or Bush (plant), 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 t ...

s of several

genera Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of mostly evergreen perennial plant, perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily (biology), subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family, in th ...

s, and its relatively large stromata are used in

traditional Chinese medicine Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medicine, alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. A large share of its claims are pseudoscientific, with the majority of treatments having no robust evidence ...

. 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 "unisp ...

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. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

and also in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. 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 The ribosomal DNA (rDNA) consists of a group of ribosomal RNA encoding genes and related regulatory elements, and is widespread in similar configuration in all domains of life. The ribosomal DNA encodes the non-coding ribosomal RNA, integral struc ...

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. Wijayawardene et al. 2020 produced an update t ...

Species Fungorum ''Index Fungorum'' is an international project to index all formal names (Binomial nomenclature, scientific names) in the fungus Kingdom (biology), kingdom. As of 2015, the project is based at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, one of three partn ...

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 bambuase'', which is also parasitic on bamboos.

References

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