A Molecular Phylogeny of the Flagellated Fungi (Chytridiomycota) and Description of a New Phylum (Blastocladiomycota)
Mycologia, 98(6), 2006, pp. 860–871. # 2006 by The Mycological Society of America, Lawrence, KS 66044-8897 A molecular phylogeny of the flagellated fungi (Chytridiomycota) and description of a new phylum (Blastocladiomycota) Timothy Y. James1 its morphological circumscription. The Blastocla- Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham, diales appears to be the sister taxon of most North Carolina 27708 nonflagellated fungi. Based on molecular phyloge- Peter M. Letcher netic and ultrastructural characters this order is Department of Biological Sciences, University of elevated to a phylum, the Blastocladiomycota. Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487 Key words: Blastocladiomycota, Chytridiales, holocarpic, kinetosome, phylogeny, zoospore Joyce E. Longcore ultrastructure Department of Biological Sciences, University of Maine, Orono, Maine 04469 INTRODUCTION Sharon E. Mozley-Standridge David Porter The Chytridiomycota is a phylum of Fungi that Department of Plant Biology, University of Georgia, reproduces through the production of motile spores Athens, Georgia 30605 (zoospores), typically propelled by a single, poster- Martha J. Powell iorly directed flagellum. These organisms, often Department of Biological Sciences, University of referred to as chytrid fungi or chytrids, have a global Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487 distribution with approximately 1000 described spe- cies. Based on biochemical characteristics, including Gareth W. Griffith chitin in cell walls, the a-aminoadipic acid lysine Institute of Biological Sciences, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, Wales SY23 3DA, UK synthetic pathway and storage carbohydrates as glycogen, Bartnicki-Garcia (1970) classified the Chy- Rytas Vilgalys tridiomycota as true Fungi. Others considered chy- Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham, trids as a transitional group between protists and North Carolina 27708 Fungi because of their production of motile zoo- spores (Barr 1990).
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