Sporocarps of Endogone sp. FLAS 59071. Image by Matt Smith.

The genome of Endogone sp. FLAS 59071 was sequenced by JGI in the framework of the ‘ZyGoLife’ project and Community Sequencing Project 1978 – “Genomics of the early diverging lineages of fungi and their transition to terrestrial, plant-based ecologies” (http://zygolife.org/home/), then assembled and annotated by Ying Chang at Oregon State University (Chang et al., under revision). JGI tools were used to automatically annotate predicted proteins. Please note that Ying does not maintain this copy of the genome and therefore it is not automatically updated.

Zygomycete fungi are an ancient and diverse group, whose evolutionary history and ecological associations remain poorly resolved. The NSF-funded ‘ZyGoLife’ project aims to: 1) reconstruct the genealogical relationships of this early diverging branch in the fungal tree of life; 2) resolve the origins of symbiotic relationships between plants and zygomycete fungi; 3) reveal how complex body plans evolved in the group; 4) elucidate mechanisms of mating genetics between organisms with complex and differing life cycles, and; 5) develop genomic barcodes to facilitate identification of unknown fungi. Towards these goals we are sequencing genomes of diverse representative zygomycete taxa, including species in the genus Endogone.

Endogone sp. FLAS 59071 is a member of the family Endogonaceae (Mucoromycotina), closely related to Endogone incrassata. Species in genus Endogone are putatively saprotroph or, perhaps, fungicolous. However, ectomycorrhizas putatively identified as related to Endogone pisiformis were detected in oak forest in Japan (Yamamoto et al., 2017). Lineages in the genus Endogone form both hypogeous and epigeous sporophores whose zygospores differ from those of the related genus Jimgerdemannia by pairing two gametangia of similar size (Desirò et al., 2017). Members of Endogonaceae are also one of the few non-Dikarya lineages that produce “truffle-like” sporophores, making them an interesting system to explore the evolution of complex reproductive structures in fungi. All members of this family are difficult to maintain in culture. Taxa in the family Endogonaceae can host in their zygospores and mycelia Mycoplasma-related endobacteria (MRE) (Desirò et al., 2015). MRE were also detected in Endogone sp. FLAS 59071 (Chang et al., under revision). Epigeous sporophores of Endogone sp. FLAS 59071 were collected in and on fallen oak logs in Melrose, Florida, USA.