''Salmacisia'' is a fungal

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

in the family

Tilletiaceae The Tilletiales are an order of smut fungi in the class Exobasidiomycetes. It is a monotypic order, consisting of a single family, the Tilletiaceae, which contains seven genera. The roughly 150 species in the Tilletiales all infect hosts of the g ...

. It is a

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

genus, containing the single species ''Salmacisia buchloëana'', first described as ''Tilletia buchloëana'' in 1889, and renamed in 2008. Plants infected by the fungus undergo a phenomenon known as "parasitically induced hermaphroditism", whereby ovary development is induced in otherwise male plants. Because of the

pistil Gynoecium (; ) is most commonly used as a collective term for the parts of a flower that produce ovules and ultimately develop into the fruit and seeds. The gynoecium is the innermost whorl of a flower; it consists of (one or more) '' pis ...

-inducing effects of the fungus, the authors have named the species pistil smut; it is the only species in the order

Tilletiales The Tilletiales are an order of smut fungi in the class Exobasidiomycetes. It is a monotypic order, consisting of a single family, the Tilletiaceae, which contains seven genera. The roughly 150 species in the Tilletiales all infect hosts of the g ...

known to have

hermaphroditic In reproductive biology, a hermaphrodite () is an organism that has both kinds of reproductive organs and can produce both gametes associated with male and female sexes. Many taxonomic groups of animals (mostly invertebrates) do not have se ...

effects.

Taxonomy and history

In 1889 American mycologist

William Ashbrook Kellerman William Ashbrook Kellerman (May 1, 1850 Ashville, Ohio – March 8, 1908) was an American botanist, mycologist and photographer. Biography Kellerman was born in May 1850 in Ohio, the son of Daniel Kemberling Kellerman and Iva/Ivy Ashbrook Kellerm ...

and his student

Walter T. Swingle Walter Tennyson Swingle (January 8, 1871 – January 19, 1952) was an American agricultural botanist who contributed greatly to the classification and taxonomy of citrus. Biography Swingle was born in Canaan, Pennsylvania, and moved with his f ...

discovered a species of

smut Smut may refer to: * Smut (fungus), a group of plant parasitic fungi * ''Smut'' (comics), an adult British comic title dating back to the 1980s * A colloquial term for obscenity in general or pornography Pornography (often shortened to po ...

that was able to change the sex of its host; the host plant, in this case

buffalograss Buffalo grass may refer to * Buffalo grass, sweet vernal grass or vanilla grass (''Anthoxanthum odoratum'') * Buffalo grass (''Bouteloua dactyloides'') * Buffalo grass (''Brachiaria mutica'') * Buffalo grass or sweet grass (''Hierochloe odorata'') ...

(''Buchloë dactyloides''), produced ovaries in flowers of plants that were otherwise male. They named the fungus ''Tilletia buchloëana'', a

generic Generic or generics may refer to: In business * Generic term, a common name used for a range or class of similar things not protected by trademark * Generic brand, a brand for a product that does not have an associated brand or trademark, other ...

placement they considered apt because of the characteristics of the fungal

teliospore Teliospore (sometimes called teleutospore) is the thick-walled resting spore of some fungi (rusts and smuts), from which the basidium arises. Development They develop in '' telia'' (sing. ''telium'' or ''teliosorus''). The telial host is the pri ...

s. Both Kellerman and Swingle, and later Norton in 1896, were unable to induce teliospores to germinate

in vitro ''In vitro'' (meaning in glass, or ''in the glass'') studies are performed with microorganisms, cells, or biological molecules outside their normal biological context. Colloquially called "test-tube experiments", these studies in biology and ...

. Reinvestigation of the species in 2005 highlighted both the uniqueness of the species and the need for a taxonomic rearrangement, resulting in the description of the new genus ''Salmacisia''. The genus name is derived from

Salmacis Salmacis ( grc, Σαλμακίς) was an atypical Naiad nymph of Greek mythology. She rejected the ways of the virginal Greek goddess Artemis in favour of vanity and idleness. Mythology Ovid's version Salmacis' attempted rape of Hermaphrodi ...

, who, according to

Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities of ...

, transformed the boy

Hermaphroditus In Greek mythology, Hermaphroditus or Hermaphroditos (; grc, Ἑρμαφρόδιτος, Hermaphróditos, ) was a child of Aphrodite and Hermes. According to Ovid, he was born a remarkably handsome boy whom the naiad Salmacis attempted to rape an ...

into an individual with both male and female sexual characteristics.

Description

''Salmacisia'' species are defined as those with fruiting structures (technically known as sori) that originate only in the

ovaries The ovary is an organ in the female reproductive system that produces an ovum. When released, this travels down the fallopian tube into the uterus, where it may become fertilized by a sperm. There is an ovary () found on each side of the bod ...

of infected plants, where clumps of dirty-brown agglutinated spores are formed. The

spores In biology, a spore is a unit of sexual or asexual reproduction that may be adapted for dispersal and for survival, often for extended periods of time, in unfavourable conditions. Spores form part of the life cycles of many plants, algae, ...

are covered with surface ornamentations (spines or reticulations), and arise from cells of spore-creating

mycelia Mycelium (plural mycelia) is a root-like structure of a fungus consisting of a mass of branching, thread-like hyphae. Fungal colonies composed of mycelium are found in and on soil and many other substrates. A typical single spore germinates in ...

, frequently encased in a

translucent In the field of optics, transparency (also called pellucidity or diaphaneity) is the physical property of allowing light to pass through the material without appreciable scattering of light. On a macroscopic scale (one in which the dimensions ...

jelly-like sheath. The spores

germinate Germination is the process by which an organism grows from a seed or spore. The term is applied to the sprouting of a seedling from a seed of an angiosperm or gymnosperm, the growth of a sporeling from a spore, such as the spores of fungi, fer ...

by means of continuous promycelium (the

germ tube A germ tube is an outgrowth produced by spores of spore-releasing fungi during germination. The germ tube differentiates, grows, and develops by mitosis to create somatic hyphae.C.J. Alexopolous, Charles W. Mims, M. Blackwell, ''Introductory My ...

of the spore) that bear primary

basidiospore 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 p ...

s that can be have either one nucleus, which conjugate, or two nuclei, giving rise to secondary basidiospores. The morphological characteristics of ''Salmacisia'' are indistinguishable from species of ''

Tilletia ''Tilletia'' is a genus of smut fungi in the Tilletiaceae family. Species in this genus are plant pathogens that affect various grasses. '' Tilletia indica'', which causes Karnal bunt of wheat, and ''Tilletia horrida'', responsible for rice kerne ...

'', they may be distinguished from this genus and other genera of the

family by differences in their

ribosomal DNA Ribosomal DNA (rDNA) is a DNA sequence that codes for ribosomal RNA. These sequences regulate transcription initiation and amplification, and contain both transcribed and non-transcribed spacer segments. In the human genome there are 5 chrom ...

sequences.

Effect on host

The sex organs in the induced hermaphroditic flowers become sterile as a result of infection, a process known as "

parasitic castration Parasitic castration is the strategy, by a parasite, of blocking reproduction by its host, completely or in part, to its own benefit. This is one of six major strategies within parasitism. Evolutionary strategy The parasitic castration strateg ...

". Ovaries become sterile because they become replaced with teliospores and form "smut balls", making the ovary unable to set seed. The anthers, however, do not show outward signs of teliospore production, but are still effectively sterile because they tend to be small and immature. Consequently, both male and female reproductive organs within induced hermaphroditic flowers of buffalograss become parasitically castrated, but for different reasons. Infection does not kill the host plants (under greenhouse conditions), rather, the plant and fungus coexist, and infected plants sometimes begin to lose symptoms of infection after three years.

References

External links

*
Salmacisia
' at

Index Fungorum ''Index Fungorum'' is an international project to index all formal names (scientific names) in the fungus kingdom. the project is based at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, one of three partners along with Landcare Research and the Institute of M ...

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7405379 Basidiomycota Monotypic Basidiomycota genera