The Melaniellaceae are a

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

fungi A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from ...

in the division

Basidiomycota Basidiomycota () is one of two large divisions that, together with the Ascomycota, constitute the subkingdom Dikarya (often referred to as the "higher fungi") within the kingdom Fungi. Members are known as basidiomycetes. More specifically, Basi ...

and order of

Doassansiales The Doassansiales are an order of fungi in the class Exobasidiomycetes. The order consist of three families: the Doassansiaceae, the Melaniellaceae, and the Rhamphosporaceae (which is a monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonom ...

. The family contains 1

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 nomenclat ...

and 2 species. They have a distribution in south and south-east Asia.

History

In 1999, mycologists using

rRNA Ribosomal ribonucleic acid (rRNA) is a type of non-coding RNA which is the primary component of ribosomes, essential to all cells. rRNA is a ribozyme which carries out protein synthesis in ribosomes. Ribosomal RNA is transcribed from ribosoma ...

gene sequencing and morphology analysis on two known smut species on ''Selaginella'' plants, ''Melanotaenium oreophilum'' and ''Melanotaenium selaginellae'', and the host-parasite interaction with the Doassansiales. They found the new species were different and created a new genus ''Melaniella'' and 2 new species to place them. They are highly unusual, as there are only five out of the 1200 estimated known species of smut fungus that are found on hosts that are not flowering plants. They are

biotrophic Symbiosis (from Ancient Greek, Greek , , "living together", from , , "together", and , bíōsis, "living") is any type of a close and long-term biological interaction between two different Organism, biological organisms, be it Mutualism (biolog ...

(living in symbiosis) in leaves and stems of (fern-like) ''

Selaginella ''Selaginella'' is the sole genus of vascular plants in the family Selaginellaceae, the spikemosses or lesser clubmosses. This family is distinguished from Lycopodiaceae (the clubmosses) by having scale-leaves bearing a ligule and by having ...

'' species. They are also found on the genus ''

Lycopsida Lycopodiopsida is a class of vascular plants known as lycopods, lycophytes or other terms including the component lyco-. Members of the class are also called clubmosses, firmosses, spikemosses and quillworts. They have dichotomously branching s ...

'' plants.

Description

They are

lycophytes The lycophytes, when broadly circumscribed, are a vascular plant (tracheophyte) subgroup of the kingdom Plantae. They are sometimes placed in a division Lycopodiophyta or Lycophyta or in a subdivision Lycopodiophytina. They are one of the oldest ...

, with sori forming irregular black spots in leaves and stems, not breaking down. They have

hyphae 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 or ...

with clamp connections, exclusively intercellular, septal pore simple with membrane caps, but the

haustoria In botany and mycology, a haustorium (plural haustoria) is a rootlike structure that grows into or around another structure to absorb water or nutrients. For example, in mistletoe or members of the broomrape family, the structure penetrates t ...

is absent but specialized interaction apparatus present with non-homogenous contents. The

teliospores 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 p ...

are embedded in the host tissue, they are variable in shape and size, often polyhedral due to compression, dark brown, thick walled, smooth or tuberculate. The

basidia A basidium () is a microscopic sporangium (a spore-producing structure) found on the hymenophore of fruiting bodies of basidiomycete fungi which are also called tertiary mycelium, developed from secondary mycelium. Tertiary mycelium is highly-c ...

(a spore-producing structure) is formed directly from germinating teliospores, aseptate (exobasidium type), hypha like, thin walled, usually with a cluster of 4 apical (top of apex),

sterigmata In biology, a sterigma (pl. sterigmata) is a small supporting structure. It commonly refers to an extension of the basidium (the spore-bearing cells) consisting of a basal filamentous part and a slender projection which carries a spore at the ti ...

. The

basidiospores 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 pro ...

(a reproductive spore) are discharged actively, fusiform (spindle-like) to cylindrical, 2 celled, hyaline and germinating in turn to produce narrow cylindrical yeast-like cells.P. F. Cannon and P. M. Kirk (editors)

Genera

As accepted by the

GBIF The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) is an international organisation that focuses on making scientific data on biodiversity available via the Internet using web services. The data are provided by many institutions from around the ...

; * '' Melaniella'' ** ''Melaniella oreophila'' (syn. ''Melanotaenium oreophilum'' ) ** ''Melaniella selaginellae'' (syn. ''Melanotaenium selaginellae'' ) Type species: ''Melaniella oreophila'' They have been recorded in India, Jawa, Zimbabwe and South Africa.Geoffrey Clough Ainsworth ''Melaniella selaginellae'' has been listed as a potential control agent for ''Selaginella kraussiana'' as it can severely reduce the growth and the reproduction abilities of the host plant.

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q10580373, from2=Q10580370 Ustilaginomycotina Fungal plant pathogens and diseases Basidiomycota families