Rhizoclosmatium globosum. Photo by Joyce Longcore, University of Maine

Rhizoclosmatium globosum is flagellated Chytridiomycota fungus that has been found in damp and aquatic environments and associated with mixed vegetation. R. globosum strain JEL800 was isolated from purified shrimp chitin bait added to a raw collection of Sphagnum, debris and water collected from fen vegetation (mixed Sphagnum, sedges, Vaccinium macrocarpon) at the edge of Perch Pond (previously known as Mud Pond), a lake in Old Town, Maine.

This fungus tends to have an apical discharge papilla whereas Rhizoclosmatium globosum H.E.Petersen (1909) is described as, at least sometimes, having a lateral discharge papilla. Spherical, chitinophilic members of the Chytriomycetaceae family are commonly isolated and much undescribed diversity probably resides within the group.

This organism has a ~20 hr generation time at 23 C, which is significantly faster than the multiple days it takes for development in most other chytrid fungi. The rapidity of development and the tractable size of the sporangia and zoospore cells as compared to many other Chytridiomycota fungi, make it an ideal experimental study organism for chytrid biology and processes such as flagellar biosynthesis.

References
James T. Y., Porter D., Leander C. A., Vilgalys R., Longcore J. E., 2000 Molecular phylogenetics of the Chytridiomycota supports the utility of ultrastructural data in chytrid systematics. Can. J. Bot. 78: 336–350.
James T. Y., Letcher P. M., Longcore J. E., Mozley-Standridge S. E., Porter D., Powell M. J., Griffith G. W., Vilgalys R., 2006 A molecular phylogeny of the flagellated fungi (Chytridiomycota) and description of a new phylum (Blastocladiomycota). Mycologia 98: 860–871.
Letcher P. M., Powell M. J., Chambers J. G., Longcore J. E., Churchill P. F., Harris P. M., 2005 Ultrastructural and molecular delineation of the Chytridiaceae (Chytridiales). Can. J. Bot. 83: 1561–1573.
Letcher P. M., Powell M. J., 2014 Hypothesized evolutionary trends in zoospore ultrastructural characters in Chytridiales (Chytridiomycota). Mycologia 106: 379–396.
Petersen H. E., 1909 Studier over Ferskvands-Phycomyceten. Bot. Tidsskr. 29 (4): 345-440. 1910. An account of Danish freshwater Phycomycetes with biological and systematical remarks. Ann. mycol 8: 494–560.