The Gigasporaceae 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 ...

of fungi in the order Diversisporales. Species in this family are widespread in distribution, and form

arbuscular mycorrhiza An arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) (plural ''mycorrhizae'') is a type of mycorrhiza in which the symbiont fungus (''Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi'', or AMF) penetrates the cortical cells of the roots of a vascular plant forming arbuscules. Arbuscul ...

in roots. A species under Gigasporaceae is ''Gigaspora gigantea''. The spores of ''G. gigantea'', found in specific sand dunes, commence in a healthy state of newly formed spores to dead and blackened in seven months through four identifiable steps: they begin as healthy greenish-yellow spores, turn into yellow with brown spots, then reddish-orange-brown, and ultimately dead. A cause of the symptoms of death in spores are soil organisms such as bacteria, protists, and microfauna.

References

Diversisporales Fungus families {{Glomeromycota-stub