Pucciniomycotina

Pucciniomycotina
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Gymnosporangium fuscum
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Fungi
Subkingdom:	Dikarya
Division:	Basidiomycota
Subdivision:	Pucciniomycotina R.Bauer, Begerow, J.P.Samp., M.Weiß & Oberw. (2006)
Classes
Agaricostilbomycetes Atractiellomycetes Classiculomycetes Cryptomycocolacomycetes Cystobasidiomycetes Microbotryomycetes Mixiomycetes Pucciniomycetes Tritirachiomycetes
Synonyms
Urediniomycotina

Pucciniomycotina is a subdivision of fungus within the division Basidiomycota. Today the subdivision contains 9 classes, 20 orders, and 37 families. Over 8400 species of Pucciniomycotina have been described which constitute more than 8% of all described fungi. The subdivision is considered to be the sister group to Ustilaginomycotina and Agaricomycotina and the basal lineage within Basidiomycota, however, this is still uncertian due to low support for placement between the three groups. The group was formerly known as Urediniomycetes before 2006, when it was elevated from a class to a subdivision and named after the largest order in the group, Puccinales.

Ecology

Pucciniomycotina have a diverse range of ecologies, as insect parasites, mycoparasites, orchid mycorrhiza, some have been detected in soil and water or asymptotic members living on leafs. Most members are plant pathogens. A large part of the members in Pucciniomycotina are rust fungi and are placed in the order Puccinales that contains roughly 7800 species(ca. 90% of the species in the group). Some members of the group has high economical importance, because it is a pathogen on wide range of commercial plants, i.e wheat. Pucciniomycotina is a cosmopolite and exists all over the world.

Morphology

There is a high morphological diversity in the Pucciniomycontina. The sporulating form are ranging from macrobasidiocarp to formers of single celled yeasts. The presence simple septal pores unites Pucciniomycotina and distinguishes it from the sister groups. The predominance of mannose in the cell walls is also a uniting feature for the group.

Life Cycle

Some members are only known from their anamorphs, and most of the members of Pucciniomycotina has predominance of asexual stages, and in some species this is the only known form. A striking character in Puccinomycotina is the unique developmental patterns. Rust Fungi or plant pathogenic members in Puccinales have the most complex life cycles known in the fungal kingdom, with five different spore stages. Studies have shown that Puccinales also has one the largest genomes in the fungi kingdom, and that genome size expansion may be common a characteristic. This can explain the complexity of life cycles within the group.

• Puccina graminis lifecycle IT.png

References

• M.C. Aime et al.: An overview of the higher level classification of Pucciniomycotina based on combined analyses of nuclear large and small subunit rDNA sequences. Mycologia, Band 98, 2006, S. 896-905.
• Robert Bauer, Dominik Begerow, José Paulo Sampaio, Michael Weiβ, Franz Oberwinkler: The simple-septate basidiomycetes: a synopsis. Mycological Progress, Band 5, 2006, S. 41-66, ISSN 1617-416X, doi:10.1007/s11557-006-0502-0.

External links

• Tree of Life Pucciniomycotina
• http://website.nbm-mnb.ca/mycologywebpages/NaturalHistoryOfFungi/PucciniomycotinaDiscussion.html
• http://tolweb.org/Pucciniomycotina/20528