Dothideomycetes is the largest and most diverse
class 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 d ...
fungi
A fungus (plural, : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of Eukaryote, eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and Mold (fungus), molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified ...
. It comprises 11
orders
Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to:
* Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood
* Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of ...
90
families, 1300
genera
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 ...
and over 19,000 known
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...
.
[ Traditionally, most of its members were included in the loculoascomycetes, which is not part of the currently accepted classification.][ This indicates that several traditional morphological features in the class are not unique and DNA sequence comparisons are important to define the class.][
The designation loculoascomycetes was first proposed for all fungi which have ascolocular development. This type of development refers to the way in which the sexual structure, bearing the sexual spores (]ascospore
An ascus (; ) is the sexual spore-bearing cell produced in ascomycete fungi. Each ascus usually contains eight ascospores (or octad), produced by meiosis followed, in most species, by a mitotic cell division. However, asci in some genera o ...
s) forms. Dothideomycetes mostly produce flask-like structures referred to as pseudothecia, although other shape variations do exist (e.g. see structures found in Hysteriales
The Hysteriales are an order of fungi in the class Dothideomycetes, subclass Pleosporomycetidae. It consists of a single family, Hysteriaceae
The Hysteriaceae (also known as Dothideomycetes, Ascomycotina, Eumycota) are a taxonomic family of ...
). During ascolocular development pockets (locule
A locule (plural locules) or loculus (plural loculi) (meaning "little place" in Latin) is a small cavity or compartment within an organ or part of an organism (animal, plant, or fungus).
In angiosperms (flowering plants), the term ''locule'' usu ...
s) form first within the vegetative cells of the fungus and then all the subsequent structures form. These include the asci ASCI or Asci may refer to:
* Advertising Standards Council of India
* Asci, the plural of ascus, in fungal anatomy
* Accelerated Strategic Computing Initiative
* American Society for Clinical Investigation
* Argus Sour Crude Index
* Association of ...
which, superficially, have a thicker outer layer through which a thinner inner layer ‘bursts’, like a jack-in-a-box to release the spores. These asci are therefore referred to as bitunicate
An ascus (; ) is the sexual spore-bearing cell produced in ascomycete fungi. Each ascus usually contains eight ascospores (or octad), produced by meiosis followed, in most species, by a mitotic cell division. However, asci in some genera or s ...
(superficially, two layers) or