Filobasidiella
| Filobasidiella | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Phylum: | Basidiomycota |
| Class: | Tremellomycetes |
| Order: | Tremellales |
| Family: | Tremellaceae |
| Genus: |
Filobasidiella Kwon-Chung |
| Type species | |
|
Filobasidiella neoformans |
|
Filobasidiella is a genus of fungi in the family Tremellaceae. Species are parasitic on other fungi and do not produce distinct basidiocarps (fruit bodies). The genus is the teleomorphic (sexual) state of the yeast genus , some species of which are human pathogens.
The genus was first described in 1975 from the United States by K.J. Kwon-Chung, who obtained cultures of the type species, Filobasidiella neoformans, by crossing strains of the yeast . She was able to observe basidia similar to those of the genus Filobasidium, hence the name Filobasidiella for the new genus.
Based on the shape and structure of the basidia, the genus was initially assigned to the order Filobasidiales.Cladistic analysis of DNA sequences, however, later showed that Filobasidiella belonged within the Tremellales, with the genus Kwoniella (with Tremella-like basidia) as a sister clade.
Filobasidiella species are not known to produce distinct, visible fruitbodies. Microscopically, the hyphae are colourless, are clamped or unclamped, and bear haustorial cells with filaments that attach to the hyphae of the host fungus. The basidia are club-shaped and highly elongated. Spores arise in succession from four loci at the apex (which is sometimes partly septate). These spores are passively released and may remain on the basidium in chains, unless disturbed. In the type species, the spores germinate to form yeast cells, but yeast states are not known for all species.
...
Wikipedia