Taphrinomycotina
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 Peach tree (Prunus persica) attacked by Taphrina deformans
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Neolectomycetes |
Taphrinomycotina is one of three subphyla comprising the Ascomycota (fungi which form their spores in a sac-like ascus) and is more or less synonymous with the slightly older name Archaeascomycetes. No single feature is characteristic of the genera, most of which are in their own classes, orders and families.
The Schizosaccharomycetes are yeasts (e.g. Schizosaccharomyces) that reproduce by fission rather than budding unlike most other yeasts, many of which are in the Saccharomycotina.
The Taphrinomycetes are dimorphic plant parasites (e.g. Taphrina) with both a yeast state and a filamentous (hyphal) state in infected plants. They characteristically infect leaves, catkins and branches, not roots.
The Neolectomycetes are species in a single genus, Neolecta, which is the only Taphrinomycotina that forms fruitbodies, and which specifically grow out of root tips. They may have a yeast state (ascospores bud in the asci).
The Pneumocystidomycetes are species in a single genus, Pneumocystis, one of which causes Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP) in humans. All species infect mammalian lungs and are yeast-like.
None of them, not even Neolecta, have Ascogenous hyphae giving rise to the asci.
Recent molecular studies suggest that the group is monophyletic and basal to the rest of the Ascomycota[1] [2].
[edit] Reference
- ^ Lutzoni F et al (2004). "Assembling the fungal tree of life: progress, classification, and evolution of subcellular traits". Amer J Bot 91: 1446-1480.
- ^ James TY et al (2006). "Reconstructing the early evolution of Fungi using a six-gene phylogeny". Nature 443: 818-822. PMID 17051209.
