Home • Gaertneriomyces semiglobifer Barr 43 v1.0
Gaertneriomyces semiglobifer Barr 43. Photo by Martha Powell
Gaertneriomyces semiglobifer Barr 43. Photo by Martha Powell

Gaertneriomyces semiglobifer (DAOM strain Barr 43, CBS 456.65, ATCC 48513), classified in the order Spizellomycetales, Chytridiomycota, has a wide geographic distribution in soils, including cropped soils and herbivore dung.  This is the type strain isolated on pine pollen from beach sands along the shore of the North Sea, Germany. The genus grows saprotrophically, but is also a parasite of azygospores of the gypsy moth pathogen, Entomophaga maimaiga, and of oospores of downy mildew. The thallus consists of a spherical sporangium with numerous discharge pores and a rhizoidal system originating from multiple rhizoidal axes located close to each other, resulting in a dense branching mass of rhizoids. The fungus can use glucose, fructose and starch as carbon sources for growth but not trehalose or cellobiose. The chytrid is maintained in axenic culture on nutrient agar. The abilities to grow opportunistically as a parasite as well as saprotrophically make this organism of interest to learn about gene regulation of growth on different energy sources.

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