Home • Lentamyces zychae NRRL 2806 v1.0
Fig. A. Congeneric <a
href="https://mycocosm.jgi.doe.gov/Lenpar1">Lentamyces parricidus </a> (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. Congeneric 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.

Lentamyces species are slow-growing facultative parasites that can form galls on a wide diversity of other fungi in the Mucorales (Hoffman & Voigt 2009). The genus was named after the slow growth of the mycelium in pure axenic cultures (the term “lenta-“ means “slow” in Latin). The genus Lentamyces was described by Hoffman & Voigt (2009). Two species originally placed in the genus Absidia, A. parricidus and A. zychae, were transferred to Lentamyces (Hesseltine and Ellis 1964, Hoffman & Voigt 2009). However, additional molecular data suggest that the genus may contain two additional species (Hoffman et al. 2013). 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).

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).  Lentamyces zychae grows slowly but has not been shown to act as a parasite (Hoffmann and Voigt 2009) despite the fact that this species forms sucker-like branches that are similar to those found in other facultative parasites in the Mucorales (Chaetocladium brefeldii, C. jonesii, L. parricidus, Parasitella parasitica) (Hoffmann and Voigt 2009). Lentamyces zychae has other characters similar to those of Absidia species, such as the relatively small, apophysate sporangia with deliquescent walls, a single septum in the subtending sporangiophore, and the production of stolons and rhizoids. The sporangiophore is never formed opposite the rhizoids (as in Rhizopus). Zygospores are formed on opposed, more or less equal suspensors without appendages (Hoffmann and Voigt 2009). Sequencing of L. zychae will advance the 1000 Fungal Genome Project by providing a representative genome for Lentamycetaceae, an important family of “zygomycetes.”

For more details, see zygomycetes.org page on Lentamyces.

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

Hesseltine CW, Ellis JJ. 1966. Species of Absidia with ovoid sporangiospores. I. Mycologia 58: 761-785.

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.

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