The Ceratobasidiaceae are a

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

fungi A fungus (: fungi , , , or ; or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and mold (fungus), molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as one ...

in the

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood ...

Cantharellales The Cantharellales are an order (biology), order of fungi in the class (biology), class Agaricomycetes. The order includes not only the chanterelles (Cantharellaceae), but also some of the tooth fungi (Hydnaceae), clavarioid fungi (Aphelariaceae ...

. All

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

within the family have

basidiocarps In fungi, a basidiocarp, basidiome, or basidioma () is the sporocarp of a basidiomycete, the multicellular structure on which the spore-producing hymenium is borne. Basidiocarps are characteristic of the hymenomycetes; rusts and smuts do no ...

(fruit bodies) that are thin and effused. They have sometimes been included within the corticioid fungi or alternatively within the " heterobasidiomycetes". Species are

saprotrophic Saprotrophic nutrition or lysotrophic nutrition is a process of chemoheterotrophic extracellular digestion involved in the processing of decayed (dead or waste) organic matter. It occurs in saprotrophs, and is most often associated with fungi ...

, but some are also facultative plant pathogens or are associated with

orchid mycorrhiza Orchid mycorrhizae are endomycorrhizal fungi which develop symbiotic relationships with the roots and seeds of plants of the family Orchidaceae. Nearly all orchids are myco-heterotrophic at some point in their life cycle. Orchid mycorrhizae are ...

. Genera of economic importance include ''

Ceratobasidium ''Ceratobasidium'' is a genus of fungi in the order Cantharellales. Basidiocarps (fruit bodies) are effused and the genus is sometimes grouped among the corticioid fungi, though species also retain features of the heterobasidiomycetes. Anamorph ...

'' and ''

Rhizoctonia ''Rhizoctonia'' is a genus of fungi in the family Ceratobasidiaceae. Species form thin, effused, corticioid basidiocarps (fruit bodies), but are most frequently found in their sterile, anamorph state. ''Rhizoctonia'' species are saprotrophic, ...

'', both of which contain

plant pathogenic Plant diseases are diseases in plants caused by pathogens (infectious organisms) and environmental conditions (physiological factors). Organisms that cause infectious disease include fungus, fungi, oomycetes, bacterium, bacteria, plant virus, vi ...

species causing diseases of commercial crops and

turf grass Sod is the upper layer of turf that is harvested for transplanting. Turf consists of a variable thickness of a soil medium that supports a community of turfgrasses. In British English, British and Australian English, sod is more commonly kn ...

Taxonomy

The family was created in 1948 by American

mycologist Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungi, including their taxonomy, genetics, biochemical properties, and use by humans. Fungi can be a source of tinder, food, traditional medicine, as well as entheogens, poison, and ...

G.W. Martin to accommodate species of corticioid fungi with heterobasidiomycete features (elongated

sterigmata In biology, a sterigma (: sterigmata) is a small supporting structure. It commonly refers to an extension of the basidium (the spore-bearing cells) consisting of a basal filamentous part and a slender projection which carries a spore at the tip ...

and

basidiospores A basidiospore is a reproductive spore produced by basidiomycete fungi, a grouping that includes mushrooms, shelf fungi, rusts, and smuts. Basidiospores typically each contain one haploid nucleus that is the product of meiosis, and they are pr ...

that give rise to secondary spores). He restricted the Ceratobasidiaceae to the genus ''Ceratobasidium'', though including within the genus species later placed in '' Thanatephorus'' and '' Oliveonia''. In 1981, Jülich created the

Ceratobasidiales to accommodate the family. By 1995, the order and the family contained 18 genera, including ''

'', '' Heteroacanthella'', ''Oliveonia'', '' Scotomyces'', ''Thanatephorus'', and their various synonyms and anamorphs.

Current status

Molecular A molecule is a group of two or more atoms that are held together by attractive forces known as chemical bonds; depending on context, the term may or may not include ions that satisfy this criterion. In quantum physics, organic chemistry, ...

research, based on

cladistic Cladistics ( ; from Ancient Greek 'branch') is an approach to biological classification in which organisms are categorized in groups ("clades") based on hypotheses of most recent common ancestry. The evidence for hypothesized relationships is ...

analysis of

DNA sequences A nucleic acid sequence is a succession of bases within the nucleotides forming alleles within a DNA (using GACT) or RNA (GACU) molecule. This succession is denoted by a series of a set of five different letters that indicate the order of the ...

, has now shown that the Ceratobasidiaceae do not belong to a separate order, but are part of the Cantharellales. The genera ''Heteroacanthella'' and ''Oliveonia'' are not closely related to the Ceratobasidiaceae, but have been placed in the

Auriculariales The Auriculariales are an order of fungi in the class Agaricomycetes. Species within the order were formerly referred to the " heterobasidiomycetes" or "jelly fungi", since many have gelatinous basidiocarps (fruit bodies) that produce spores on ...

. No species of the genus ''Scotomyces'' has yet been sequenced. Following changes to the

International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants The ''International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants'' (ICN or ICNafp) is the set of rules and recommendations dealing with the formal botanical names that are given to plants, fungi and a few other groups of organisms, all tho ...

, the practice of giving different names to teleomorph and anamorph forms of the same fungus was discontinued, meaning that ''Thanatephorus'' became a synonym of the earlier name ''Rhizoctonia'', previously used for anamorphic species. DNA evidence also placed most, if not all, ''Ceratobasidium'' species in ''Rhizoctonia''. Research on the septal pore

ultrastructure Ultrastructure (or ultra-structure) is the architecture of cells and biomaterials that is visible at higher magnifications than found on a standard optical light microscope. This traditionally meant the resolution and magnification range of a c ...

of the little-known and atypical type species of ''Ceratobasidium'', '' C. calosporum'', indicates that it is a member of the Auriculariales and is unrelated to other species of ''Ceratobasidium''. Technically, this means that the Ceratobasidiaceae belong within the Auriculariales, but this is a taxonomic problem that has yet to be resolved.

Habitat and distribution

Species are mainly

, occurring in the soil and producing fruit bodies on dead stems and plant detritus. Some occur on attached leaves and stems. Several species have been isolated from

or from diseased crops and turf grass. Distribution appears to be

cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Internationalism * World citizen, one who eschews traditional geopolitical divisions derived from national citizenship * Cosmopolitanism, the idea that all of humanity belongs to a single moral community * Cosmopolitan ...

Economic importance

Several species of ''Ceratobasidium'' and ''Rhizoctonia'' are opportunistic parasites of plants, causing a variety of economically important diseases of crops.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3774448 Cantharellales Ceratobasidiaceae