The Collection of Zoosporic Eufungi at the University of Michigan (CZEUM): introducing a new repository of barcoded Chytridiomyceta and Blastocladiomycota cultures

Abstract

We formed the Collection of Zoosporic Eufungi at the University of Michigan (CZEUM) in 2018 as a cryopreserved fungal collection consolidating the University of Maine Culture Collection (UMCC, or JEL), the University of Alabama Chytrid Culture Collection (UACCC), and additional zoosporic eufungal accessions. The CZEUM is established as a community resource containing 1045 cryopreserved cultures of Chytridiomycota, Monoblepharidomycota, and Blastocladiomycota, with 52 cultures being ex-type strains. We molecularly characterized 431 cultures by amplifying the majority of the rDNA operon in a single reaction, yielding an average fragment length of 4739 bp. We sequenced multiplexed samples with an Oxford Nanopore Technology MinION device and software, and demonstrate the method is accurate by producing sequences identical to published Sanger sequences. With these data, we generated a phylogeny of 882 zoosporic eufungi strains to produce the most comprehensive phylogeny of these taxa to date. The CZEUM is thus largely characterized by molecular data, which can guide instructors and researchers on future studies of these organisms. Cultures from the CZEUM can be purchased through an online portal.

Mycoplankton Biome Structure and Assemblage Processes Differ Along a Transect From the Elbe River Down to the River Plume and the Adjacent Marine Waters

“…The final classification of the OTUs' reference sequences was carried out by inserting them over phylogenetic placement into the fungal phylogenetic reference tree (Yarza et al, 2017). Prior to the insertion, the fungal reference tree was enriched by 254 fungal 18S rRNA gene sequences of the SILVA dataset SSURef_128 not yet present in the tree, by 210 reference sequences of so-far unrecognized soil-inhabiting order-level clades described by Tedersoo et al (2017) and by 79 sequences of newly identified basal fungal taxa (Seto et al, 2020;Simmons et al, 2020; and uploaded sequence data on INSDC accession numbers: KJ668047-KJ668085). After inserting the generated sequences, the tree was inspected for novel diversity clades formed by at least five OTUs represented by environmental sequences.…”

Paraphysoderma sedebokerense Infection in Three Economically Valuable Microalgae: Host Preference Correlates with Parasite Fitness

“…We used the blastoclad Paraphysoderma sedebokerense isolate AZ_ISR (2019), considering it is the same TJ-2007a strain described in Hoffman et al [ 13 ], since it was isolated from the same host ( H. pluvialis ) and from the same place at Sede-Boker, Israel. The ITS sequence (GenBank MW336992) of our isolate is 99.7% identical to P. sedebokerense isolates FD61 [ 21 ] and JEL0821 [ 41 ]. After isolation, we maintained it in a pure culture and continuously subculture it on solid blastoclad growth media (BGM) in our laboratory [ 40 ].…”

Early-diverging fungal phyla: taxonomy, species concept, ecology, distribution, anthropogenic impact, and novel phylogenetic proposals

“…In the last five years, the Spizellomycetaceae has also shown increased zoosporic variability with further sampling, isolation, and reevaluation, providing evidence for four more genera (Letcher and Powell 2018 ; Powell et al 2018a ). Though the Powellomycetaceae remains monophyletic in a large-scale phylogeny of the order (Simmons et al 2020 ), there is molecular evidence that the endogenous Spizellomycetale s could be split to separate Brevicalcar into its own family, though there is no noteworthy morphological feature, by light or electron microscopy, that would be indicative of this distinction. As convergent thallus morphology has done before, convergent ultrastructural evolution can mask these divergent lineages until an adequate technique is able to observe the differences.…”