Ultrastructural and Molecular Delineation of the Chytridiaceae (Chytridiales)
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1561 Ultrastructural and molecular delineation of the Chytridiaceae (Chytridiales) Peter M. Letcher, Martha J. Powell, James G. Chambers, Joyce E. Longcore, Perry F. Churchill, and Phillip M. Harris Abstract: The Chytridiomycota is in need of taxonomic revision, especially the largest order, the Chytridiales. We ana- lyzed 25 isolates in, or allied to, the Chytridium clade of this order. Isolates were selected based on one or more of the fol- lowing criteria: (i) having a large subunit molecular sequence similar to that of the type of the genus Chytriomyces,(ii) having specific zoospore morphology, and (iii) currently classified as a species in the genus Chytriomyces. We examined ultrastructural characters and partial sequences of large subunit and small subunit rDNA and generated a phylogenetic hy- pothesis using maximum parsimony and Bayesian analyses. The sequence analyses strongly supported the Chytridiaceae, Phlyctochytrium, and Chytriomyces angularis clades, and each clade had a specific zoospore type. Developmental mor- phology of the thallus did not mirror the DNA-based phylogeny. Based on the results of phylogenetic analyses of sequen- ces and ultrastructural characters, we emend the Chytridiaceae by including exogenous and polycentric development and define the family on the basis of a single zoospore type. Species identified as being in the genus Chytriomyces occur in several separate, well-supported clades along with species currently classified in seven other genera (Asterophlyctis, Ento- phlyctis, Obelidium, Physocladia, Podochytrium, Rhizoclosmatium, and Siphonaria), indicating that Chytriomyces as cur- rently defined is polyphyletic. Key words: Chytridiomycota, morphology, ribosomal RNA genes, ultrastructure, zoospore. Re´sume´ : Une re´vision de la taxonomie des Chytridiomycota est ne´cessaire, surtout l’ordre le plus important, celui des Chytridiales. Les auteurs ont analyse´ 25 isolats du clade Chytridium et entite´s apparente´es, appartenant a` cet ordre. Ils ont se´lectionne´ les isolats sur la base d’un ou plusieurs des crite`res suivants: (i) posse´dent une se´quence mole´culaire LSU si- milaire a` celle du genre type Chytriomyces;(ii) posse´dent une morphologie zoosporale spe´cifique; (iii) couramment classi- fie´s comme espe`ces du genre Chytriomyces. Ils ont examine´ les caracte`res ultrastructuraux et les se´quences partielles de la grande sous-unite´ et de la petite sous-unite´ de l’ADN ribosomal, et ils ont ge´ne´re´ une hypothe`se phyloge´ne´tique, en utili- sant les analyses de parcimonie maximale et baye´sienne. Les analyses de se´quences supportent fortement les clades Chy- tridiaceae, Phlyctochytrium, et Chytriomyces angularis, et chaque clade posse`de un type spe´cifique de zoospore. La morphogene`se du thalle ne refle`te pas la phyloge´nie base´e sur l’ADN. A` partir de ces re´sultats, obtenus par analyse phylo- ge´ne´tique des se´quences et des traits ultrastructuraux, les auteurs modifient les Chytridiaceae en incluant le de´veloppement exoge`ne et polycentrique, et ils de´finissent la famille sur la base d’un seul type de zoospore. Les espe`ces identifie´es comme e´tant du genre Chytriomyces se retrouvent dans plusieurs clades se´pare´s, bien supporte´s, avec des espe`ces couramment classifie´es dans sept autres genres (Asterophlyctis, Entophlyctis, Obelidium, Physocladia, Podochytrium, Rhizoclosmatium et Siphonaria), ce qui indique que les Chytriomyces, tels que pre´sentement de´finis, sont polyphe´tiques. Mots cle´s:Chytridiomycota, morphologie, ge`nes de l’ADN ribosomal, ultrastructure, zoospore. [Traduit par la Re´daction] Introduction vestigators to seek alternative characters for chytrid system- atics. Zoospore ultrastructural characters proved to be more Classically, chytrid taxonomy has been based on thallus stable and conserved than taxonomic characters used previ- morphology and development (Whiffen 1944; Sparrow ously. Thus, for the past 30 years, combinations of zoospore 1960; Roane and Paterson 1974; Karling 1977); however, ultrastructural characters have defined orders in the Chytri- observations of morphological variation in chytrids (Miller diomycota (Barr 1980, 2001), and ultrastructural characters 1968, 1976; Powell and Koch 1977a, 1977b) prompted in- have been used to define genera in the Chytridiales sensu Barr (Longcore 1993; Letcher and Powell 2005a) and Spi- Received 24 May 2005. Published on the NRC Research Press zellomycetales (Barr 1980; Longcore et al. 1995). Web site at http://canjbot.nrc.ca on 11 February 2006. In an attempt to resolve phylogenetic groups within the P.M. Letcher,1 M.J. Powell, J.G. Chambers, P.F. Churchill, Chytridiales, Barr (1980) described zoospore types: Group I and P.M. Harris. Department of Biological Sciences, The type zoospore based on Chytridium olla (Barr and Hartmann University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA. 1976, Barr 1980), Group II type zoospore based on Chytri- J.E. Longcore. Department of Biological Sciences, University dium lagenaria (Barr and Hartmann 1976, Barr 1980), and of Maine, Orono, ME 04469, USA. Group III type zoospore based on Rhizophydium spp. (Barr 1Corresponding author (e-mail: [email protected]). and Hadland-Hartmann 1978, Barr 1980). We consider Can. J. Bot. 83: 1561–1573 (2005) doi: 10.1139/b05-115 # 2005 NRC Canada 1562 Can. J. Bot. Vol. 83, 2005 Group IV as the Nowakowskiella spp. type of zoospore (Lu- Molecular methods carotti 1981) and Group V as the type of zoospore for Chy- triomyces angularis. Evaluation of zoospore ultrastructure DNA extraction, PCR, and sequencing from a broader range of taxa is needed to clarify the taxo- DNA was purified and amplified for sequencing as de- nomic use of ultrastructural features because some genera scribed in Letcher and Powell 2005a from 22 pure cultures contain species with different zoospore subtypes. Barr and (Table 1). The LROR/LR5 primer pair was used for amplifi- Hartmann (1976) reported variation in zoospore ultrastruc- cation of the LSU (28S) rRNA gene and the NS1/NS4 pri- ture among Chytridium species: Chytridium olla and Chytri- mer pair for the SSU (18S) rRNA gene (White et al. 1990). dium confervae with one type of zoospore and Chytridium For LSU analyses, partial nucleotide sequences of the LSU lagenaria with another type. Batko (1975) transferred Chy- rRNA gene (approx. 900 bp from the 5’ end) from 22 taxa tridium confervae to Chytriomyces because it produced epi- (Table 1) were generated. LSU sequences for an additional biotic resting spores, the location of the resting spore three isolates (JEL 45 Chytriomyces angularis, JEL 347 un- relative to the substratum being the primary feature distin- identified sp. C, and JEL 187 unidentified sp. D) were ob- guishing Chytriomyces from Chytridium (Sparrow 1960). tained from the AFTOL database (Assembling the Fungal Thus, the dilemma is that two types of zoospores are re- Tree of Life, Duke University; http://www.biology.duke. ported in one genus (Chytridium), while the same type of edu/fungi/mycolab/) with the permission of Dr. T.Y. James. zoospore is found in different genera (Chytridium and Chy- For combined SSU and LSU analyses, partial nucleotide se- triomyces). quences of the SSU rRNA gene (approx. 1100 bp from the Phylogenetic hypotheses derived from analyses of gene se- 5’ end) from 14 taxa (Table 1) were generated. quences provide frameworks upon which to test the reliability and taxonomic applications of zoospore characters. A recent Sequence analysis phylogenetic reconstruction of the Chytridiomycota from SSU and LSU rRNA gene sequences were aligned based analyses of the small subunit (SSU) rRNA gene supported on the secondary structure model of Saccharomyces cerevi- the reliability of zoospore characters (James et al. 2000), siae rRNA (sites 4–29 for the SSU rRNA gene (Van de Peer although in that study, only a few of the taxa had been studied et al. 1997) and sites B11–D5 for the LSU rRNA gene (Ben ultrastructurally. For the Chytridiales sensu Barr (Barr 1980), Ali et al. 1999; Letcher et al. 2004)). Outgroup taxa for the James et al. (2000) resolved four monophyletic clades (Chy- LSU and the combined LSU and SSU analyses were Mono- tridium, Rhizophydium, Nowakowskiella, and Lacustromy- blepharis macrandra and Oedogoniomyces sp., members of ces), each corresponding to one of Barr’s (1980), Lucarotti’s the Monoblepharidales, which is a sister clade to the Chytri- (1981), or Longcore’s (1993) zoospore types. dium clade (James et al. 2000; Chambers 2003). The purpose of this study was to use zoospore ultrastruc- We analyzed nuclear LSU rRNA gene sequences alone tural and molecular analyses to resolve relationships among and combined with SSU rRNA sequences. ModelTest (v. a broad sampling of organisms provisionally placed in the 3.06) (Posada and Crandall 1998) was used to calculate the Chytridium clade (James et al. 2000). We included isolates most appropriate model of DNA substitution for both the in this study based on one or more of the following criteria: LSU data set and the combined LSU–SSU data set. For the (i) having a large subunit (LSU) molecular sequence like LSU data set, the general time-reversible (GTR) model with that of members of the Chytridium clade (James et al. invariant sites and rates of substitution among sites approxi- 2000), (ii) zoospore morphology (having a Group I type or mated by a gamma distribution ( = GTR + I + G) was Group II type zoospore (Barr 1980), and (iii) currently clas- chosen. This model and maximum parsimony (MP) and sified as a species in the genus Chytriomyces (Letcher and Bayesian inference algorithms were used to construct trees Powell 2002). We generated a phylogenetic hypothesis for in PAUP* (v. 4.0b10) (Swofford 2002). MP analyses were 25 isolates through analyses of the LSU rRNA gene, with conducted as described in Letcher and Powell (2005a). sequence alignment based on rRNA secondary structure. Bayesian tree inference (MRBayes 3.0b4) (Huelsenbeck and We further investigated the resolution of the LSU gene com- Ronquist 2001) with Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling bined with the SSU rRNA gene in molecular analyses.