Home • Chaetocladium brefeldii NRRL 2343 v1.0
Figure 1) Whorl of pedicellate unispored sporangia from Chaetocladium brefeldii. Figure 2) At maturity, C. brefeldii sporangia detach from sporangiophores. Images by Kerry O'Donnell.
Figure 1) Whorl of pedicellate unispored sporangia from Chaetocladium brefeldii. Figure 2) At maturity, C. brefeldii sporangia detach from sporangiophores. Images by Kerry O'Donnell.

Chaetocladium brefeldii NRRL 2343 (= CBS 161.48 = IMI 200041) was isolated originally from forest soil in Wisconsin. This zygomycete fungus is classified in the Order Mucorales, Phylum Mucoromycota (Spatafora et al. 2016).  It was previously placed within the family Thamnidiaceae, but multilocus molecular phylogenetic analyses revealed that this family and several others within the Mucorales are polyphyletic (O’Donnell et al. 2001; Walther et al. 2013).  Chaetocladium brefeldii and a near relative, Parasitella parasitica, are facultative parasites of mucoralean hosts.  Asexual reproduction in C. brefeldii is by the production of a whorl of pedicellate unispored sporangia (Fig. 1) that become detached at maturity (Fig. 2).  This species is self-sterile or heterothallic so strains must outcross to complete a sexual cycle.  Following hyphal fusion between strains of [+] and [-] mating types, thick-walled, darkly pigmented zygospores are formed that can remain dormant for extended periods of time prior to germinating.  The whole-genome sequence of C. brefeldii was generated as part of the NSF-funded Zygomycetes Genealogy of Life project and the JGI’s Early Diverging Fungi – 1KFG CSP to advance our knowledge of their evolution.

References:

O’Donnell K, Lutzoni F, Ward TJ, Benny GL. 2001. Evolutionary relationships among mucoralean fungi (Zygomycota): Evidence for family polyphyly on a large scale. Mycologia 93:286─296.

Spatafora JW, Chang Y, Benny GL, Lazarus K, Smith ME, Berbee ML, Bonito G, Corradi N, Grigoriev I, Gryganskyi A, James TY, O’Donnell K, Roberson RW, Taylor TN, Uehling J, Vilgalys R, White MM, Stajich JE. 2016. A phylum-level phylogenetic classification of zygomycete fungi based on genome-scale data. Mycologia 108:1028─1046.

Walther G, Pawłowska J, Alastruey-Izquierdo A, Wrzosek M, Rodriguez-Tudela JL, Dolatabadi S, Chakrabarti A, de Hoog GS. 2013. DNA barcoding in Mucorales: an inventory of biodiversity. Persoonia 30:11–47.