''Endogone'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

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 family

Endogonaceae Endogonales is an order of fungi within the phylum of Zygomycota, and in class Endogonomycetes. It contains 2 families; Endogonaceae, with 6 genera and 38 species and Densosporaceae, with one genera and 4 species. History The Endogales were ori ...

of the division

Mucoromycota Mucoromycotina is a subphylum of uncertain placement in Fungi. It was considered part of the phylum Zygomycota, but recent phylogenetic studies have shown that it was polyphyletic and thus split into several groups, it is now thought to be a para ...

. The genus has a widespread distribution, especially in

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (approximately 23.5° to 66.5° N/S of the Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ran ...

regions, and contains about 20 species. Species of ''Endogone'' form underground structures called '' sporocarps''—fruiting structures measuring between a few millimeters to in diameter, containing densely interwoven

hypha A hypha (; ) is a long, branching, filamentous structure of a fungus, oomycete, or actinobacterium. In most fungi, hyphae are the main mode of vegetative growth, and are collectively called a mycelium. Structure A hypha consists of one o ...

e and

zygospore A zygospore is a diploid reproductive stage in the life cycle of many fungi and protists. Zygospores are created by the nuclear fusion of haploid cells. In fungi, zygospores are formed in zygosporangia after the fusion of specialized budding stru ...

s. Sporocarps are typically found in

humus In classical soil science, humus is the dark organic matter in soil that is formed by the decomposition of plant and animal matter. It is a kind of soil organic matter. It is rich in nutrients and retains moisture in the soil. Humus is the Lati ...

-rich soil or leaf mold, or in

moss Mosses are small, non-vascular plant, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic phylum, division Bryophyta (, ) ''sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Wilhelm Philippe Schimper, Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryo ...

es. Although most species will only produce spores in nature, the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

''E. pisiformis'' can be made to sporulate in

test tube A test tube, also known as a culture tube or sample tube, is a common piece of laboratory glassware consisting of a finger-like length of glass or clear plastic tubing, open at the top and closed at the bottom. Test tubes are usually placed in s ...

culture when grown with

conifer Conifers () are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a sin ...

seedlings.

Taxonomy

''Endogone'' was first circumscribed by

Johann Heinrich Friedrich Link Johann Heinrich Friedrich Link (2 February 1767 – 1 January 1851) was a German natural history, naturalist and botanist. Biography Link was born at Hildesheim as a son of the minister August Heinrich Link (1738–1783), who taught him love ...

in an 1809 publication. In 1922,

Roland Thaxter Roland Thaxter (August 28, 1858 – April 22, 1932) was an American mycologist, plant pathologist, botanist, and entomologist, renowned for his contribution to the insect parasitic fungi—Laboulbeniales. His college education was completed at Har ...

revised the

taxonomy image:Hierarchical clustering diagram.png, 280px, Generalized scheme of taxonomy Taxonomy is a practice and science concerned with classification or categorization. Typically, there are two parts to it: the development of an underlying scheme o ...

of the family

, recognizing four genera: ''Endogone'', ''Sphaerocreas'', ''Sclerocystis'', and ''Glaziella''. In 1935,

Herbert Zycha Herbert may refer to: People * Herbert (musician), a pseudonym of Matthew Herbert * Herbert (given name) * Herbert (surname) Places Antarctica * Herbert Mountains, Coats Land * Herbert Sound, Graham Land Australia * Herbert, Northern Territor ...

transferred the sole species of ''Sphaerocreas'' recognized by Thaxter to ''Endogone''. In their 1974

monograph A monograph is generally a long-form work on one (usually scholarly) subject, or one aspect of a subject, typically created by a single author or artist (or, sometimes, by two or more authors). Traditionally it is in written form and published a ...

of the

, James Gerdemann and James Trappe deviated from Thaxter’s concept of ''Endogone'', which contained taxa with

chlamydospore A chlamydospore is the thick-walled large resting spore of several kinds of fungi, including Ascomycota such as '' Candida'', Basidiomycota such as '' Panus'', and various Mortierellales species. It is the life-stage which survives in unfavourab ...

s and zygospores, including only those species that formed zygospores in sporocarps. In the mid-1990s, Yi-Jian Yao and colleagues further restricted ''Endogone'' to those species that produced

suspensor A suspensor is a temporary anatomical structure in fungi and plants that supports early development. In fungi, it holds the zygospore between hyphae. In plants, it connects the embryo to surrounding tissues and helps position it within the endosp ...

s that were in contact with one another along the entire length. Those taxa in which the suspensors did not touch one another were transferred to a new genus, '' Youngiomyces''. The generic name is derived from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

words ''endo'' (inside) and ''gone'' (reproductive organs).Gerdemann & Trappe, 1974, p. 8.

Description

''Endogone'' species are sporocarpic—they form a fruit body termed a '' sporocarp'', on which spore-bearing structures are borne. The zygospores—a

diploid Ploidy () is the number of complete sets of chromosomes in a cell, and hence the number of possible alleles for autosomal and pseudoautosomal genes. Here ''sets of chromosomes'' refers to the number of maternal and paternal chromosome copies, ...

reproductive stage in the

life cycle Life cycle, life-cycle, or lifecycle may refer to: Science and academia *Biological life cycle, the sequence of life stages that an organism undergoes from conception to reproduction *Life-cycle hypothesis, in economics *Erikson's stages of psy ...

—are formed above the point of union of two

gametangia A gametangium (: gametangia) is a sex organ or cell in which gametes are produced that is found in many multicellular protist A protist ( ) or protoctist is any eukaryotic organism that is not an animal, land plant, or fungus. Protists ...

, or from a

budding Budding or blastogenesis is a type of asexual reproduction in which a new organism develops from an outgrowth or bud due to cell division at one particular site. For example, the small bulb-like projection coming out from the yeast cell is kno ...

from the larger of the two. Species in the genus can be

saprobic 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 ...

, ectomycorrhizal, or both.

Ecology

Depending on the species, sporocarps have been noted to have the odor of onions, burnt sugar, or fish.Gerdemann & Trappe, 1974, pp. 11–19. ''Endogone'' grows in soil, on rotting wood,

sphagnum ''Sphagnum'' is a genus of approximately 380 accepted species of mosses, commonly known as sphagnum moss, also bog moss and quacker moss (although that term is also sometimes used for peat). Accumulations of ''Sphagnum'' can store water, since ...

or other plant material either as saprobes or

ectomycorrhiza An ectomycorrhiza (from Greek ἐκτός ', "outside", μύκης ', "fungus", and ῥίζα ', "root"; ectomycorrhizas or ectomycorrhizae, abbreviated EcM) is a form of symbiotic relationship that occurs between a fungal symbiont, or mycobio ...

l associates. ''Endogone'' is especially important in the ecology of nutrient-poor soils. For example, ''Endogone'' fungi are known to grow in sand dunes, a nutrient-deficient

substrate Substrate may refer to: Physical layers *Substrate (biology), the natural environment in which an organism lives, or the surface or medium on which an organism grows or is attached ** Substrate (aquatic environment), the earthy material that exi ...

. Dune plants are dependent upon the fungus for growth and ecological success: the

mycelium Mycelium (: mycelia) is a root-like structure of a fungus consisting of a mass of branching, thread-like hyphae. Its normal form is that of branched, slender, entangled, anastomosing, hyaline threads. Fungal colonies composed of mycelium are fo ...

of the fungus helps aggregate and stabilize the sand in a network of

e, giving it cohesion and helping early succession plants establish roots. It also traps and binds fragments of

organic material Organic matter, organic material or natural organic matter is the large source of carbon-based compounds found within natural and engineered, terrestrial, and aquatic environments. It is matter composed of organic compounds that have come fro ...

such as decaying roots and

rhizome In botany and dendrology, a rhizome ( ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and Shoot (botany), shoots from its Node (botany), nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from ...

s. Various species of rodents and shrews include ''Endogone'' fungi in their diets, including the southeastern shrew (''Sorex longirostris''), the

masked shrew The cinereus shrew or masked shrew (''Sorex cinereus'') is a small shrew found in Alaska, Canada, and the northern United States. This is the most widely distributed shrew in North America, where it is also known as the common shrew. Descripti ...

(''Sorex cinereus''), the vagrant shrew (''Sorex vagrans''), the

woodland jumping mouse The woodland jumping mouse (''Napaeozapus insignis'') is a species of jumping mouse found in North America. It can jump up to using its extremely strong feet and long tail. Taxonomy Representatives of the family Dipodidae are found in the nort ...

(''Napaeozapus insignis''), the

Siskiyou chipmunk The Siskiyou chipmunk (''Neotamias siskiyou'') is a species of rodent in the family Sciuridae. It is endemic to northern California and central Oregon in the United States. Anatomy and morphology The Siskiyou chipmunk is closest in appearance ...

(''Tamias siskiyou''), and the

marsh rice rat The marsh rice rat (''Oryzomys palustris'') is a semiaquatic North American rodent in the family Cricetidae. It usually occurs in wetland habitats, such as swamps and salt marshes. It is found mostly in the eastern and southern United States, f ...

(''Oryzomys palustris'').

Species

*'' E. acrogena'' Gerd., Trappe & Hosford 1974 *'' E. aggregata'' P.A.Tandy 1975 – Australia *'' E. alba'' (Petch) Gerd. & Trappe 1974 *'' E. arenaria'' Thaxt. 1922 *'' E. aurantiaca'' Blaszk. 1997 *'' E. crassa'' P.A.Tandy 1975 – Australia *'' E. flammicorona'' Trappe & Gerd. 1972 *'' E. incrassata'' Thaxt. 1922 *'' E. irregularis'' Szem. 1965 *'' E. kaiseriana'' Henn. 1908 *'' E. lactiflua'' Berk. 1846 *'' E. lanata'' Harkn. 1899 *'' E. maritima'' Blaszk., Tadych & Madej 1998 *'' E. minutissima'' Beeli 1924 – Europe *'' E. oregonensis'' Gerd. & Trappe 1974 *'' E. pegleri'' Y.J.Yao 1995 *'' E. pisiformis'' Link 1809 *'' E. pseudopisiformis'' Y.J.Yao 1995 *'' E. reticulata'' P.A.Tandy 1975 – Australia *'' E. rosea'' Zeller 1941 *'' E. sphagnophila'' G.F.Atk. 1918 *'' E. tjibodensis'' Boedijn 1935 *'' E. torrendii'' Bres. 1920 *'' E. tuberculosa'' Lloyd 1918 *'' E. verrucosa'' Gerd. & Trappe 1974 *'' E. xylogena'' J.Schröt. 1887

References

Cited literature

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q5376344 Zygomycota genera Taxa named by Johann Heinrich Friedrich Link Taxa described in 1809 Zygomycota