Discovery and analysis of Aphelidea and Rozella species of the Cryptomycota phylum

University Of Alabama Tuscaloosa, Tuscaloosa AL

Investigators

Abstract

The Cryptomycota is a recently discovered phylum of organisms that parasitize algae and fungi hosts. As first described, the Cryptomycota included only two organisms of known morphologies and over 40 other organisms known only from DNA sequences collected from freshwater, sediments and soils, which suggested that this enigmatic group might be genetically as diverse as the whole Kingdom Fungi. New molecular techniques have the power to identify novel organisms such as these in the environment but the challenge to link the DNA data with physical organisms remains. This project puts a face on these environmental molecular markers with the isolation, culture and structural and molecular characterization of these seemingly ubiquitous, but poorly known, organisms. The known organisms have characteristics of fungi and protists and the project will resolve the intriguing question whether these parasites are fungi or protists. Because Cryptomycota have recently been identified as primary pests of commercially grown algae for production of biofuel, food and pharmaceuticals, this research is important to development of protection strategies for these industries. With greater knowledge of Cryptomycota diversity, their environmental impacts on host populations, food webs, and sustainability of life in nature can be explored. This project will train graduate students and undergraduate students in methods to collect, observe, and describe Cryptomycota, providing the next generation of experts. This project aims to discover and culture described and new species of Cryptomycota, characterizing them with developmental, ultrastructural and molecular features. Algal and zoosporic fungal hosts of Cryptomycota will be collected from diverse habitats in eastern and southern United States. It is hypothesized that motile cells of Cryptomycota harbor ultrastructural architectural patterns in organellar arrangements which reflect evolutionary relationships. Analyses of seven genes will reveal phylogenetic relationships and permit mapping of host, nutritional and ultrastructural character state evolution, thereby generating hypotheses about early fungal evolution and divergence of Cryptomycota from protists and animals. A Cryptomycota website will include images, taxonomic summaries, interactive identification keys, and applications of ultrastructural and molecular characters in phylogenetic analyses, making this group more tractable for future studies. The research is transformative because cultures of Cryptomycota will be available to the community for even more extensive research. Undergraduate students in freshman biology will be given an authentic research experience making field collections of host organisms, screening for presence of Cryptomycota endoparasites, and characterizing with gene sequences, stimulating students' interest in research careers in biodiversity and conservation.