Home • Lentamyces parricidus NRRL2409 v1.0
Fig. A. Lentamyces parricidus (Benny s116) sporangium and a large
multilobed gall where it is infecting the host Absidia. Fig. B.
Lentamyces parricidus (Benny s116) showing an early stage of gall
formation where it is infecting the host Absidia. Fig. C.
Lentamyces parricidus (Benny s116) showing a very large multilobed
gall where it is infecting the host Absidia. Fig. D. Lentamyces
parricidus (Benny s116) (fungus with the finer hyphae) parasitizing
a host fungus in the genus Absidia (fungus with thicker hyaphe).
Fig. E. Lentamyces parricidus (Benny s116) showing several
zygospores and the small hemi-sphaerical suspensors. Images by
Gerald Benny available on <a
href="http://zygomycetes.org/index.php?id=158">Zygomycetes.org
Lentamyces page.</a>
Fig. A. Lentamyces parricidus (Benny s116) sporangium and a large multilobed gall where it is infecting the host Absidia. Fig. B. Lentamyces parricidus (Benny s116) showing an early stage of gall formation where it is infecting the host Absidia. Fig. C. Lentamyces parricidus (Benny s116) showing a very large multilobed gall where it is infecting the host Absidia. Fig. D. Lentamyces parricidus (Benny s116) (fungus with the finer hyphae) parasitizing a host fungus in the genus Absidia (fungus with thicker hyaphe). Fig. E. Lentamyces parricidus (Benny s116) showing several zygospores and the small hemi-sphaerical suspensors. Images by Gerald Benny available on Zygomycetes.org Lentamyces page.

The genus Lentamyces was described by Hoffman & Voigt (2009). Two mycoparasitic species that were originally placed in the genus Absidia, A. parricidus and A. zychae, were transferred to Lentamyces and L. parricidus was designated as the type species for the genus (Hesseltine and Ellis 1964, Hoffman & Voigt 2009). Lentamyces species are slow-growing facultative parasites that can form galls on a wide diversity of other fungi in the Mucorales (Hoffman & Voigt 2009). In fact, the genus was named after the slow growth of the mycelium in pure axenic cultures (the term “lenta-“ means “slow” in Latin). Lentamyces was previously treated as a member of Absidiaceae but is now considered the sole representative genus in the family Lentamycetaceae (Kirk 2012)(Order Mucorales). Phylogenetic data suggest that Lentamyces is likely one of the earliest-diverging lineages of the Mucorales and molecular data suggest that the genus may contain two additional species (Hoffman et al. 2013).

Lentamyces species are characterized by the formation of slow-growing colonies 1-3 mm high that only grow at relatively low temperatures (less than 30°C).  Morphologically they are similar to species in the genus Absidia in that they form relatively small, apophysate sporangia with deliquescent walls (Fig 1), a single septum is formed in the subtending sporangiophore, and they also produce stolons and rhizoids. The sporangiophores are never formed opposite the rhizoids (as in Rhizopus). The brown zygospores are formed on opposed, more or less equal suspensors without appendages (Fig 2). Sequencing of L. parricidus will advance the 1000 Fungal Genome Project by providing a representative genome for Lentamycetaceae, an important family of “zygomycetes”. The genome will also provide critical insights into how this taxon and other zygomycete fungi function as mycoparasites.

References:
Hesseltine CW, Ellis JJ. 1964. The genus Absidia: Gongronella and cylindrical-spored species of Absidia. Mycologia 56: 568-601.

Hoffmann K, Voigt K. 2009. Absidia parricida plays a dominant role in biotrophic fusion parasitism among mucoralean fungi (Zygomycetes): Lentamyces, a new genus for A. parricida and A. zychae. Plant Biology 11: 537-554.

Hoffmann K, Pawłowska J, Walther G, Wrzosek M, De Hoog GS, Benny GL, Kirk PM, Voigt K. 2013. The family structure of the Mucorales: a synoptic revision based on comprehensive multigene-genealogies.  Persoonia: Molecular Phylogeny and Evolution of Fungi. 30:57-76.

Kirk PM. 2012. Nomenclatural novelties. Index Fungorum no, 11, 1 p.