Image Credit: Dr. M. Catherine Aime
Tritirachium sp. CBS 265.96 is an anamorphic mold in Pucciniomycotina (Basidiomycota) that was isolated from wood in Amazonia, Brazil. Other members of Tritirachium are found growing on dead plant material, in association with other molds and even as causal agents of scalp or cornea infections in humans. In culture CBS 265.96 exhibits mold-like hyphal growth producing brownish pink colonies with a velvety texture. Conidiophores with characteristic zigzag-like tips produce globose to ovate single-celled conidia. A sexual state is not known.
Until recently the genus Tritirachium was placed in
Ascomycota, primarily due to similarities in conidiophore
morphology with other mold species in Pezizomycotina. A recent
multi-gene analyses revealed that most species currently placed in
Tritirachium, including CBS 265.96, are in fact
simple-septate Pucciniomycotina, now placed in Tritirachiomycetes
(Tritirachiales, Tritirachiaceae). Genomic data produced for this
project will represent the first available for a member of this
class. Researchers will use these data in phylogenetic and
phylogenomic reconstructions and in comparative genomics studies
that seek to elucidate the molecular bases governing the production
of mold states and the evolution of pathogenicity in
Pucciniomycotina.
If you would like to use this genome in your research, please
contact Dr. M. Catherine Aime ([email protected]) and Dr. Igor
Grigoriev ([email protected]) for permission.
References:
- Schell WA, Lee AG, Aime MC. 2011. A new lineage in Pucciniomycotina: class Tritirachiomycetes, order Tritirachiales, family Tritirachiaceae. Mycologia 103: 1331–1340.
