early diverging fungal lineages

what is the only genus in the phylum rozellomycota (cryptomycota)

rozella (monogeneric phylum, 27 described species)

how was cryptomycota first described and later confirmed as rozella

first from eDNA, in 2011, FiSH experiments at university of Exeter linked eDNA to pond-dredge rozella species

what is the life cycle of rozella’s multinucleate plasmodium

it cleaves in uninucleate zoospores or forms a multi-layered wall and encysts as a resting spore

when does rozella produce chitin

only in the resting spores (otherwise non chitinous)

what organisms does rozella parasitize

chytrids and blastocladiomycota (as an asexual endoparasite)

how does rozella obtain nutrients

phagotrophically (engulfing), unlike most fungi which are osmotrophic

synapomorphy

syn = shared, apo = derived, morphy = character (feature). unite a clade and differentiates from other clades.

• ex: hair, live birth, lactation → shared w/ everything in mammalia

how many genera and species of microsporidia are described

about 150 genera and around 1200 species

what were microsporidia previously considered to be

protists

what is the infective stage of microsporidia

a multinucleate sporoplasm injected into the host

what process do sporoplasm nuclei undergo inside the host

merogony (binary fission producing meronts)

what do microsporidia meronts transition into

sporonts, which have cell walls and polar tubes

where can merogony occur in microsporidia infections

in parasitophorous vacuoles, parasite secreted envelopes or within the host’s endoplasmic reticulum

what kind of parasites are microsporidia

obligate chitinous endoparasites, mostly of arthropods

what is notable about microsporidia’s cell structure

they have very few organelles

what is the infective structure of microsporidia that initiates infection

the spore, which germinates and injects the sporoplasm through a polar tubule into the host cell

what happens after the sporoplasm enters the host cell

the nuclei undergo merogany (binary fission, producing meronts)

what is the difference between enterocytozoon bieneusi and ecephalitozoon spp. proliferation

• e. bieneusi proliferates the host cytosol

• encephalitozoon spp. proliferate in a parasitophorous vacuole

what stage follows merogony in microsporidia

sporogony - formation of sporonts with cell walls and polar tubes

what is the final stage of microsporidia intracellular development

release of mature spores from the host cell, which can infect new cells

which microsporidia species are associated with intestinal infections in humans

enterocytozoon bieneusi and encephalitozoon intestinalis

which encephalitozoon species can infect multiple organs

encephalitozoon hellem and encephalitozoon cuniculi 

aphelida

parasites of algae

• phagotrophic plasmodial injection

holocarpic vs eucarpic

• holocarpic = vegetative structure all contained

• eucaropic = little rhizoids, bit of vegetative mycelium

sporophyte vs gametophyte

endobiontic vs epibiontic

• endo = lives inside host

• epi = sits on top

monocentric vs polycentric

• mono = one of them

• poly = multiples and connected by mycelium network

isogamous vs anisogamous

• iso = same, gamous = gamete

• ani = different gamous

heterothallic vs homothallic

• hetero = different mating types

• homo = mate with themselves

physodermatales

order in blastocladiomycota

• plant pathogens

• mostly asexual

• do meiosis seasonally

blastocladiales

order in blastocladiomycota

• parasites on algae and arthropods

• alternation of generations

allomyces

genus in blastocladiales

• alternation of generations

• aquatic fungi

oogamy

large female gamete is immotile, while the small male gamete is mobile