Ceratobasidium cornigerum
Encyclopedia
Ceratobasidium cornigerum is a species
of fungus
in the order
Cantharellales
. Basidiocarps (fruit bodies) are thin, spread on the substrate
out like a film (effused) and web-like. A Rhizoctonia
-like anamorphic
state, sometimes referred to the genus
Ceratorhiza, is frequently obtained when isolates are cultured
. Ceratobasidium cornigerum is saprotrophic, but is also a facultative
plant pathogen, causing a number of economically important crop diseases, and an orchid endomycorrhizal
associate. The species is genetically diverse and is sometimes treated as a complex
of closely related taxa.
, who found it growing in France on dead stems of Jerusalem artichoke
. It was subsequently transferred to the genus Ceratobasidium
by American mycologist Donald P. Rogers in 1935.
tests, subsequently supported by analyses of DNA sequences. At least six of these AGs (AG-A, AG-B(o), AG-C, AG-D, AG-P, and AG-Q) have been linked to Ceratobasidium cornigerum, which may therefore be considered as a variable species (comprising at least six genetically distinct populations) or as a complex
of morphologically
similar species. In the latter case, it is not clear which of these AGs (if any) should take the original name C. cornigerum.
wide, without clamp connection
s. The basidia are ellipsoid to broadly club-shaped, 9 to 14 by 8 to 12 μm, bearing four sterigmata. The basidiospores are ellipsoid and broadly fusiform (spindle-shaped), measuring 6 to 11 by 4 to 6 μm. Pale brown sclerotia are sometimes produced, measuring 0.5 to 3 mm across.
and has been reported from Asia, Australia, Europe, North & South America. It occurs as a soil saprotroph, producing basidiocarps on dead stems and fallen litter, but is also a facultative
plant pathogen causing disease of crops and turf grass. It can also grow as a "web blight" pathogen on living leaves of trees and shrubs, particularly in the tropics and subtropics. It is one of the commonest endomycorrhizal
associates of terrestrial orchids.
The AG-A group (Ceratobasidium ramicola) causes various diseases, including "strawberry black root rot", diseases of soya bean, pea, and pak choy, and "silky threadblight" of Pittosporum
and other shrubs.
The AG-D group (Ceratobasidium cereale) causes "sharp eyespot" of cereals and "yellow patch" in turf grass.
Corticium invisum was described as the causal agent of "black rot" of tea
in Sri Lanka, whilst Corticium pervagum causes a leaf and stem blight of cocoa. Ceratobasidium ochroleucum (Corticium stevensii) was described causing a blight of apple and quince
trees in Brazil, but the name is of uncertain application because of confusion with Ceratobasidium noxium
.
Ceratobasidium lantanae-camarae was described from Brazil as the causal agent of a web blight of the invasive shrub Lantana camara
, suggesting it has potential as a biocontrol
agent.
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
of fungus
Fungus
A fungus is a member of a large group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds , as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, Fungi, which is separate from plants, animals, and bacteria...
in the order
Order (biology)
In scientific classification used in biology, the order is# a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, family, genus, and species, with order fitting in between class and family...
Cantharellales
Cantharellales
The Cantharellales are an order of fungi in the class Agaricomycetes. The order includes not only the chanterelles , but also some of the tooth fungi , clavarioid fungi , and corticioid fungi...
. Basidiocarps (fruit bodies) are thin, spread on the substrate
Substrate (biology)
In biology a substrate is the surface a plant or animal lives upon and grows on. A substrate can include biotic or abiotic materials and animals. For example, encrusting algae that lives on a rock can be substrate for another animal that lives on top of the algae. See also substrate .-External...
out like a film (effused) and web-like. A Rhizoctonia
Rhizoctonia
Rhizoctonia is a genus of anamorphic fungi in the order Cantharellales. Species do not produce spores, but are composed of hyphae and sclerotia and are asexual states of fungi in the genus Thanatephorus. Rhizoctonia species are saprotrophic, but are also facultative plant pathogens, causing...
-like anamorphic
Teleomorph, anamorph and holomorph
The terms teleomorph, anamorph, and holomorph apply to portions of the life cycles of fungi in the phyla Ascomycota and Basidiomycota.*Teleomorph: the sexual reproductive stage , typically a fruiting body....
state, sometimes referred to the genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
Ceratorhiza, is frequently obtained when isolates are cultured
Microbiological culture
A microbiological culture, or microbial culture, is a method of multiplying microbial organisms by letting them reproduce in predetermined culture media under controlled laboratory conditions. Microbial cultures are used to determine the type of organism, its abundance in the sample being tested,...
. Ceratobasidium cornigerum is saprotrophic, but is also a facultative
Facultative
Facultative means "optional" or "discretionary" , used mainly in biology in phrases such as:* Facultative anaerobe, an organism that can use oxygen but also has anaerobic methods of energy production...
plant pathogen, causing a number of economically important crop diseases, and an orchid endomycorrhizal
Orchid mycorrhiza
Orchid mycorrhizae are symbiotic relationships between the roots of plants of the family Orchidaceae and a variety of fungi. All orchids are myco-heterotrophic at some point in their life cycle. Orchid mycorrhizae are critically important during orchid germination, as orchid seed has virtually no...
associate. The species is genetically diverse and is sometimes treated as a complex
Species complex
A species complex is a group of closely related species, where the exact demarcation between species is often unclear or cryptic owing to their recent and usually still incomplete reproductive isolation. Ring species, superspecies and cryptic species complex are example of species complex...
of closely related taxa.
Taxonomy
Corticium cornigerum was first described in 1922 by mycologist Hubert BourdotHubert Bourdot
Hubert Bourdot was a French Roman Catholic priest and mycologist who was a native of Imphy, a community in the department of Nièvre....
, who found it growing in France on dead stems of Jerusalem artichoke
Jerusalem artichoke
The Jerusalem artichoke , also called the sunroot, sunchoke, earth apple or topinambour, is a species of sunflower native to eastern North America, and found from Eastern Canada and Maine west to North Dakota, and south to northern Florida and Texas...
. It was subsequently transferred to the genus Ceratobasidium
Ceratobasidium
Ceratobasidium is a genus of fungi in the order Cantharellales. Basidiocarps are effused and the genus is sometimes grouped among the corticioid fungi, though species also retain features of the heterobasidiomycetes. Rhizoctonia-like anamorphs of Ceratobasidium species are placed in the genus...
by American mycologist Donald P. Rogers in 1935.
Anastomosis groups (AGs)
Ceratobasidium cornigerum is one of several species whose anamorphic states are sometimes referred to as "binucleate rhizoctonias". These binucleate rhizoctonias have been divided into genetically distinct "anastomosis groups" (AGs) based initially on hyphal anastomosisAnastomosis
An anastomosis is the reconnection of two streams that previously branched out, such as blood vessels or leaf veins. The term is used in medicine, biology, mycology and geology....
tests, subsequently supported by analyses of DNA sequences. At least six of these AGs (AG-A, AG-B(o), AG-C, AG-D, AG-P, and AG-Q) have been linked to Ceratobasidium cornigerum, which may therefore be considered as a variable species (comprising at least six genetically distinct populations) or as a complex
Species complex
A species complex is a group of closely related species, where the exact demarcation between species is often unclear or cryptic owing to their recent and usually still incomplete reproductive isolation. Ring species, superspecies and cryptic species complex are example of species complex...
of morphologically
Morphology (biology)
In biology, morphology is a branch of bioscience dealing with the study of the form and structure of organisms and their specific structural features....
similar species. In the latter case, it is not clear which of these AGs (if any) should take the original name C. cornigerum.
Synonyms or associated species
The following taxa belong in the Ceratobasidium cornigerum complex and have been treated as synonyms or as closely related but independent species:- Ceratobasidium ramicola = AG-A (also includes several invalidly published, anamorph names including Rhizoctonia candida, R. endophytica, and R. fragariae). This group contains a range of crop pathogens and orchid associates.
- Ceratobasidium cereale = AG-D (also includes the dubious nameNomen dubiumIn zoological nomenclature, a nomen dubium is a scientific name that is of unknown or doubtful application...
Ceratobasidium gramineum). This group contains cereal and grass pathogens.
- Ceratobasidium ochroleucum (= Corticium stevensii), Ceratobasidium lantanae-camarae, Corticium pervagum, Corticium invisum, and AG-P are all tropical or subtropical, web-blight pathogens.
Description
The basidiocarps (fruit bodies) are effused, thin, and whitish. Microscopically they have colourless hyphae, 3 to 9 μmMicrometre
A micrometer , is by definition 1×10-6 of a meter .In plain English, it means one-millionth of a meter . Its unit symbol in the International System of Units is μm...
wide, without clamp connection
Clamp connection
A clamp connection is a structure formed by growing hyphal cells of certain fungi. It is created to ensure each septum, or segment of hypha separated by crossed walls, receives a set of differing nuclei, which are obtained through mating of hyphae of differing sexual types...
s. The basidia are ellipsoid to broadly club-shaped, 9 to 14 by 8 to 12 μm, bearing four sterigmata. The basidiospores are ellipsoid and broadly fusiform (spindle-shaped), measuring 6 to 11 by 4 to 6 μm. Pale brown sclerotia are sometimes produced, measuring 0.5 to 3 mm across.
Habitat and distribution
Ceratobasidium cornigerum is probably cosmopolitanCosmopolitan distribution
In biogeography, a taxon is said to have a cosmopolitan distribution if its range extends across all or most of the world in appropriate habitats. For instance, the killer whale has a cosmopolitan distribution, extending over most of the world's oceans. Other examples include humans, the lichen...
and has been reported from Asia, Australia, Europe, North & South America. It occurs as a soil saprotroph, producing basidiocarps on dead stems and fallen litter, but is also a facultative
Facultative
Facultative means "optional" or "discretionary" , used mainly in biology in phrases such as:* Facultative anaerobe, an organism that can use oxygen but also has anaerobic methods of energy production...
plant pathogen causing disease of crops and turf grass. It can also grow as a "web blight" pathogen on living leaves of trees and shrubs, particularly in the tropics and subtropics. It is one of the commonest endomycorrhizal
Orchid mycorrhiza
Orchid mycorrhizae are symbiotic relationships between the roots of plants of the family Orchidaceae and a variety of fungi. All orchids are myco-heterotrophic at some point in their life cycle. Orchid mycorrhizae are critically important during orchid germination, as orchid seed has virtually no...
associates of terrestrial orchids.
Economic importance
Under various names, fungi in the Ceratobasidium cornigerum complex are known to cause a range of diseases in commercial crops.The AG-A group (Ceratobasidium ramicola) causes various diseases, including "strawberry black root rot", diseases of soya bean, pea, and pak choy, and "silky threadblight" of Pittosporum
Pittosporum
Pittosporum is a genus of about 200 species of flowering plants in the family Pittosporaceae. The genus is probably Gondwanan in origin; its present range extends from Australasia, Oceania, eastern Asia and some parts of Africa. Citriobatus is usually included here, but might be a distinct genus...
and other shrubs.
The AG-D group (Ceratobasidium cereale) causes "sharp eyespot" of cereals and "yellow patch" in turf grass.
Corticium invisum was described as the causal agent of "black rot" of tea
Tea
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...
in Sri Lanka, whilst Corticium pervagum causes a leaf and stem blight of cocoa. Ceratobasidium ochroleucum (Corticium stevensii) was described causing a blight of apple and quince
Quince
The quince , or Cydonia oblonga, is the sole member of the genus Cydonia and native to warm-temperate southwest Asia in the Caucasus region...
trees in Brazil, but the name is of uncertain application because of confusion with Ceratobasidium noxium
Ceratobasidium noxium
Ceratobasidium noxium is a species of fungus in the order Cantharellales. Basidiocarps are thin, effused and web-like. The species is tropical to sub-tropical and is mainly known as a plant pathogen, the causative agent of "kole-roga" or black rot of coffee and various blights of citrus and other...
.
Ceratobasidium lantanae-camarae was described from Brazil as the causal agent of a web blight of the invasive shrub Lantana camara
Lantana camara
Lantana camara, also known as Spanish Flag or West Indian Lantana, is a species of flowering plant in the verbena family, Verbenaceae, that is native to the American tropics. It has been introduced into other parts of the world as an ornamental plant and is considered an invasive species in many...
, suggesting it has potential as a biocontrol
BioControl
BioControl is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Springer Science+Business Media covering all aspects of basic and applied research in biological control of invertebrate, vertebrate, and weed pests, and plant diseases. The journal was established in 1956 as Entomophaga and published by...
agent.