Inoculum 63(3) - Mycological Society of America

instability. Trypan blue staining showed no necrotic lesions and hydrogen peroxide,
a reactive oxygen species (ROS) that is precursor to necrotic lesions was not
detected with 3,3’-diaminobenzidine (DAB) staining. Exposure to ethanol, another
component of the VOC profile, resulted in reduced seedling formation
(73%) as compared to control (92%). More seeds were unable to throw off their
seed coat and complete seedling formation (15%) than control (2%) at the end of
three days.
Hustad, Vincent P 1,2 and Andrew N Miller 2 . 1 Dept. of Plant Biology, University
of Illinois, 505 South Goodwin Ave., Urbana, IL 61801, 2 Illinois Natural History
Survey, University of Illinois, 1816 South Oak St., Champaign, IL 61820.
Studies in Geoglossomycetes systematics
Geoglossomycetes are a widespread and diverse class of fungi known
from every continent except Antarctica. Commonly referred to as earth-tongues
due to their morphology and terrestrial habitat, these fungi have long been a subject
of mycological interest, although few molecular systematic studies have been
conducted within the group. This research presents the latest results of our attempt
to generate the first modern, multi-gene, species-level phylogeny within Geoglossomycetes.
Sequences of the partial nuclear ribosomal 28S large subunit and
internal transcribed spacer genes, as well as the protein-coding genes, RPB1 and
MCM7, were generated for numerous species previously thought to belong in Geoglossomycetes.
Results of maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood, and
Bayesian analyses confirmed previous findings that Geoglossomycetes is a wellsupported
monophyletic class that includes the genera Geoglossum, Nothomitra,
Sarcoleotia, and Trichoglossum. Polyphyletic genera within Geoglossomycetes
were also observed and two new genera, Glutinoglossum and Sabuloglossum,
were established.
Hutchinson, Miriam I 1 , Amy J Powell 2 , Kylea J Parchert 2 , Joanna L Redfern 1 ,
Andrea M Martinez 1 , Randy M Berka 3 , Eric Ackerman 2 , Blake Simmons 4,5 ,
Igor V Grigoriev 6 , and Donald O Natvig 1 . 1 Department of Biology, University
of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, 2 Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque,
NM 87123, 3 Novozymes, Inc., Davis, CA 95618, 4 Sandia National
Laboratories, Livermore, CA 94551, 5 Joint BioEnergy Institute, Emeryville, CA
94608, 6 DOE Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, CA 94598. Reproductive
genetics and development in the fungus Myceliophthora heterothallica, a
thermophilic model for the Chaetomiaceae
Members of the Chaetomiaceae are among the most reported fungi in
studies of biomass degradation. They are of interest for their abilities to produce
thermostable carbohydrate-active enzymes, which led to the sequencing of
genomes from two thermophilic species, Myceliophthora thermophila and
Thielavia terrestris. Until now, there has been no genetically tractable model either
for this family, or more generally, for thermophilic fungi. We have characterized
reproduction in the thermophile Myceliophthora heterothallica towards
the goals of establishing this organism as a model for the group and developing it
as an expression platform. M. heterothallica was reported to be heterothallic
based on the fact that matings between two strains resulted in the production of
fruiting bodies and ascospores. Prior to our work, however, heterothallism had not
been confirmed with independent assortment of mating loci and autosomal genes.
We speculate that this lack of confirmation of true heterothallism resulted from a
failure to obtain ascospore germination. We found that ascospores are resistant to
germination at temperatures below 47-50 ° C. This discovery allowed us to confirm
heterothallism and analyze the segregation of markers in crosses. Sequences
from opposite mating types show that mating regions are conserved relative to
other Sordariales. Interestingly, different stages of development have different
temperature optima: ascospore germination occurs at 47 ° C and above, ascocarp
formation is optimal at 30 ° C, and growth is optimal at 45 ° C. We have successfully
crossed M. heterothallica strains from Indiana, New Mexico and Germany,
and we are expanding the number of known strains by surveying across latitudinal
and elevation gradients. In addition, we are developing methods for transformation
and gene replacement. Our goal is to develop M. heterothallica as a model
organism to study fundamental aspects of thermophily and the biology of Chaetomiaceae.
Hwang, Jonathan 1 , Qi Zhao 2 , Zhuliang Yang 2 , Zheng Wang 1 , and Jeffrey P
Townsend 1 . 1 Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department, Yale University,
165 Prospect Street, New Haven, CT 06520, USA, 2 Key Laboratory of Biodiversity
and Biogeography, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of
Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan, China. Ecological diversification of saddle fungi:
Helvella indicated by phylogeny and secondary structure of ITS sequences
from annotated collections and environmental samples
Saddle fungi Helvella (Helvellaceae, Pezizomycotina) species are morphologically
well-defined and have been intensively studied for their taxonomy
and classification. Ecological roles as being saprotrophic or mycorrhizal have
been suggested with indirect evidence, including molecular data from environmental
samples, for some species in the genus. Recent molecular phylogenies
24 Inoculum 63(3), June 2012
based on internal transcribed spacer of rDNA (ITS) did not support morphological
groupings; however, a robust phylogeny of ITS was not achieved due the large
divergence observed among Helvella ITS sequences, which makes a dependable
alignment of representative ITS sequences in the genus out of reach of traditional
alignment programs. In this study, we applied SATé, a software that combines
progressive alignment and tree building to build so far the most inclusive ITS
alignment for annotated Helvella species and their related environmental ITS sequences.
Estimated secondary structures for selected ITS2 sequences verified the
robustness of the phylogeny based on the best SATé alignment. Our results suggested
a high homoplasious similarity in key morphologies in Helvella, and morphological
groupings of the genus do not reflect the true evolutionary histories
within the group. ITS phylogeny including environmental samples also provides
strong evidence that ectomycorrhizal association is maintained in a clade of
Helvella and diversified to adapt for different hosts and geographic conditions.
However, saprotrophic life styles in other Helvella species requires expanded
metagenomic investigation on plant materials and soil samples, as no single ITS
sequence was recovered from studies examining various soil samples for those
common fungi.
Isiloglu, Mustafa, Hakan Alli, and Hayrunisa Bas Sermenli. Mugla University
Dept. of Biology, Campus, Mugla, Turkey. The Ecology of Morchella anatolica
Morchella anatolica Isiloglu, Spooner, Alli & Solak was described in
2010 from a very interesting area in Mugla, Turkey. In this paper, its remarkable
and unique ecology is discussed.
James, Timothy Y 1* , Adrian Pelin 2 , Stefan Amyotte 2 , Courtney S Frye 1 , Nicolas
Corradi 2 , and Jason E Stajich 3 . 1 Dept. of Ecology and Evol. Biol., University
of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 USA, 2 Dept. of Biology, University of Ottawa,
Ottawa, ON, Canada K1N 6N5, 3 Dept. of Plant Pathology and
Microbiology, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521 USA. The biology
and phylogeny of Rozella (phylum Cryptomycota) revealed by genome sequencing
The enigmatic genus Rozella is a chytrid-like endoparasite of water molds
that is related to a diverse array of organisms (Cryptomycota) known only from
environmental DNA sequences. Rozella and other Cryptomycota are suggested to
lack a chitinous cell wall during at least part of their trophic phase. We produced
a draft genome sequence for Rozella using a combination of next generation sequencing
technologies. Rozella possesses at least 5 chitin synthase genes that it
uses during both resting sporangium formation and host invasion. The mitochondrial
genome of Rozella is reduced in size and gene content, displaying a genome
remarkably convergent with that of Plasmodium. A phylogenomic analysis confirms
the placement of Rozella on the primary (earliest diverging) branch of the
fungal kingdom along with other Cryptomycota such as microsporidia. The nuclear
genome, however, has not undergone the major reduction in coding potential
as observed in microsporidia.
Jarvis, Susan G 1,2 , Andy F S Taylor 1,2 , Ian J Alexander 1 , and Steve Woodward
1 . 1 School of Biological Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, AB24
3UU, UK, 2 The James Hutton Institute, Craigiebuckler, Aberdeen, AB15 8QH,
UK. Community composition of ectomycorrhizal fungi along a climatic gradient
in Scotland
Ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi play fundamental roles in forest ecosystems
through tree nutrition and nutrient cycling. Understanding the responses of
ECM fungi to environmental change will be important to maintain forest productivity
for the future. Assessing the distribution of ECM communities along existing
large-scale environmental gradients provides an insight into the environmental
factors driving community composition. Previous studies have suggested
nitrogen deposition to be the main environmental driver of ECM community variation
over large-scale gradients in Europe. However, these studies have included
areas with very high nitrogen deposition, which can dramatically alter ECM communities,
and this may have masked any climatic effect on these communities. In
Scotland nitrogen deposition varies with latitude but is less severe than in continental
Europe, with total nitrogen deposition below 20 kg N ha -1 yr -1 in most
areas. Utilising the latitudinal gradient in nitrogen deposition and a longitudinal
climate gradient a survey of the ECM fungi present on the roots of native Scots
pine (Pinus sylvestris) across Scotland was conducted to assess the relative impacts
of climate and moderate nitrogen deposition on ECM community composition.
Ectomycorrhizal pine roots were collected from 15 native pinewoods and
fungal species were identified from root tips by sequencing of the ITS rDNA region.
Non-metric multidimensional scaling of community composition and vector
fitting of 17 climatic, nitrogen and soil chemistry variables identified temperature
and rainfall variables to be correlated with the primary axis of community
variation. Nitrogen deposition was shown to have little influence on community
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