The Pyriculariaceae are a family of

ascomycete Ascomycota is a phylum of the kingdom Fungi that, together with the Basidiomycota, forms the subkingdom Dikarya. Its members are commonly known as the sac fungi or ascomycetes. It is the largest phylum of Fungi, with over 64,000 species. The def ...

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

Magnaporthales The Magnaporthales are an order of fungi within the class Sordariomycetes and subclass Diaporthomycetidae. It has several water based species and genera. History Family '' Magnaporthaceae'' was introduced by Cannon in 1994. The placement of the ...

. It was introduced by S. Klaubauf, M.H. Lebrun & P.W. Crous in 2014.

Taxonomy

Type genus: '' Pyricularia'' Sacc. 1880 Type species: ''

Pyricularia grisea ''Magnaporthe grisea'', also known as rice blast fungus, rice rotten neck, rice seedling blight, blast of rice, oval leaf spot of graminea, pitting disease, ryegrass blast, Johnson spot, neck blast, wheat blast and , is a plant-pathogenic fungus ...

'' Sacc. 1880 The

polyphyletic A polyphyletic group is an assemblage that includes organisms with mixed evolutionary origin but does not include their most recent common ancestor. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as Homoplasy, homoplasies ...

nature of ''Pyricularia'' has been resolved in 2014 leading to the definition of a new family, the ''Pyriculariaceae''. Phylogenetic analysis showed that three clear clades could be distinguished. One clade corresponds to

Magnaporthaceae The Magnaporthaceae are a family of fungi in the order Magnaporthales. It was circumscribed by Paul F. Cannon in 1994 for a group of grass-associated fungi centered on ''Magnaporthe'' (''Nakataea''). Magnaporthaceae have a harpophora-like asexua ...

(based on '' Nakataea''), and two other clades were defined as new families: ''Pyriculariaceae'' (based on ''Pyricularia''), and '' Ophioceraceae'' (based on '' Ophioceras'').

Description

The ''Pyriculariaceae'' that reproduce sexually form perithecial fruiting bodies (

ascomata An ascocarp, or ascoma (: ascomata), is the fruiting body (sporocarp (fungi), sporocarp) of an ascomycete phylum fungus. It consists of very tightly interwoven hyphae and millions of embedded ascus, asci, each of which typically contains four to ...

), which are immersed, black and with long cylindrical necks covered in

seta In biology, setae (; seta ; ) are any of a number of different bristle- or hair-like structures on living organisms. Animal setae Protostomes Depending partly on their form and function, protostome setae may be called macrotrichia, chaetae, ...

e. Asci are subcylindrical, unitunicate, short-stipitate and with a large apical ring staining in Meltzer's iodine reagent.

Ascospore In fungi, an ascospore is the sexual spore formed inside an ascus—the sac-like cell that defines the division Ascomycota, the largest and most diverse Division (botany), division of fungi. After two parental cell nucleus, nuclei fuse, the ascu ...

s are septate and fusiform. Asexual morphs are

hyphomycetes Hyphomycetes are a form classification of fungi, part of what has often been referred to as fungi imperfecti, Deuteromycota, or anamorphic fungi. Hyphomycetes lack closed fruit bodies, and are often referred to as moulds (or molds). Most hypho ...

with simple, branched

conidiophores A conidium ( ; : conidia), sometimes termed an asexual chlamydospore or chlamydoconidium (: chlamydoconidia), is an asexual, non- motile spore of a fungus. The word ''conidium'' comes from the Ancient Greek word for dust, ('). They are also ...

. Asexual spores (

conidia A conidium ( ; : conidia), sometimes termed an asexual chlamydospore or chlamydoconidium (: chlamydoconidia), is an asexual, non- motile spore of a fungus. The word ''conidium'' comes from the Ancient Greek word for dust, ('). They are also ...

) are hyaline to brown in colour with transverse septa. The typical pyriform shape and 2-septate conidium morphology is characteristic for ''Pyricularia'' and ''Neopyricularia.'' Other genera have obclavate to more ellipsoid 2-septate conidia. ''Deightoniella'' and ''Macgarvieomyces'' evolved 1-septate conidia. An identification key to genera of ''Pyriculariaceae'' is provided by Maharachchikumbura et al (2016).

Differentiation from other families

''Pyriculariaceae'' is distinguished from ''

'' by their asexual morphs. ''Pyricularia'' or pyricularia-like species are characterised by pyriform 2-septate conidia and rhexolytic secession. In the case of ''Magnaporthaceae'', morphology of phialophora- or harpophora-like species is characterised by falcate versicoloured conidia on brown, erect conidiophores.

Genera

* '' Bambusicularia'' * '' Barretomyces'' * '' Macgarvieomyces'' * '' Neocordana'' * '' Neopyricularia'' * '' Proxipyricularia'' * '' Pseudopyricularia'' * '' Pyricularia'' * '' Xenopyricularia''

Ecology

''Pyriculariaceae'' are saprobic or plant pathogenic fungi on various plant hosts, commonly on

monocots Monocotyledons (), commonly referred to as monocots, ( Lilianae '' sensu'' Chase & Reveal) are flowering plants whose seeds contain only one embryonic leaf, or cotyledon. A monocot taxon has been in use for several decades, but with various ranks a ...

. Their host spectrum includes many

grasses Poaceae ( ), also called Gramineae ( ), is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos, the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in ...

(''Poaceae''), and also

ginger Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice and a folk medicine. It is an herbaceous perennial that grows annual pseudostems (false stems made of the rolled bases of l ...

sedges The Cyperaceae () are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large; botanists have described some 5,500 known species in about 90 generathe largest being the "true sedges" (genu ...

, rushes and

commelina ''Commelina'' is a genus of approximately 208 species commonly called dayflowers due to the short lives of their flowers. They are less often known as widow's tears. It is by far the largest genus of its family, Commelinaceae. The Swedish taxonom ...

. Blast diseases by ''Pyriculariaceae'' are caused by use of an

appressorium An appressorium is a specialized cell typical of many fungal plant pathogens that is used to infect host plants. It is a flattened, hyphal "pressing" organ, from which a minute infection peg grows and enters the host, using turgor pressure capable ...

to penetrate the host.

Economic significance

Species of ''Pyriculariaceae'' cause major diseases on grasses, among which '' Pyricularia oryzae'' (sexual morph ''Magnaporthe oryzae'') is responsible for the devastating disease of rice (rice blast). ''P. oryzae'' can also infect other host plants, such as ''

Eleusine ''Eleusine'' is a genus of Asian, African, and South American plants in the grass family,Oryza ''Oryza'' is a genus of plants in the grass family. It includes the major food crop rice (species '' Oryza sativa'' and '' Oryza glaberrima''). Members of the genus grow as tall, wetland grasses, growing to tall; the genus includes both annua ...

'', ''

Setaria ''Setaria'' is a widespread genus of plants in the grass family. The name is derived from the Latin word ''seta'', meaning "bristle" or "hair", which refers to the bristly spikelets. The genus includes over 100 species distributed in many t ...

'' or ''

Triticum Wheat is a group of wild and domesticated grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known wheat species and hybrids include the most widely grown comm ...

''. Other ''Pyricularia'' species can infect ''

Cenchrus ''Cenchrus'' is a widespread genus of plants in the grass family, native to tropical and warm temperate regions of the world. Its species are native to many countries in Asia, Africa, Australia, the Americas, and various oceanic islands. Comm ...

'', ''

Echinochloa ''Echinochloa'' is a very widespread genus of plants in the grass family and tribe Paniceae. Some of the species are known by the common names barnyard grass or cockspur grass. Some of the species within this genus are millets that are grown ...

'', ''

Lolium ''Lolium'' is a genus of tufted grasses in the bluegrass subfamily (Pooideae). It is often called ryegrass, but this term is sometimes used to refer to grasses in other genera. They are characterized by bunch-like growth habits. ''Lolium'' ...

'', ''

Pennisetum ''Cenchrus'' is a widespread genus of plants in the grass family, native to tropical and warm temperate regions of the world. Its species are native to many countries in Asia, Africa, Australia, the Americas, and various oceanic islands. Comm ...

'' or ''

Zingiber ''Zingiber'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Zingiberaceae. It is native to China, the Indian subcontinent, New Guinea, and Southeast Asia, especially Thailand. It contains the true gingers, plants grown the world over for their culi ...

''.

References

External links

*
Pyriculariaceae
' in

MycoBank MycoBank is an online database, documenting new mycological names and combinations, eventually combined with descriptions and illustrations. It is run by the Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute in Utrecht. Each novelty, after being screene ...

B#810202
Biolib
{{Taxonbar, from=Q21398147 Magnaporthales Ascomycota families