Figure 1) Sporangia of Gilbertella persicaria var. persicaria displaying a circumscissile zone of dehiscense, a common trait across Choanephoraceae. Fig 2) Striate sporangiospores that bear hair-like polar appendages. Figs 3 and 4) Zygospores produced during sexual reproduction of G. persicaria. Figures 1,2 and 4 provided by Kerry O'Donnell. Figure 3 provided by Nhu Nguyen, University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Gilbertella persicaria is a morphologically distinct member of the Choanephoraceae, a monophyletic family within the order Mucorales (Walther et al. 2013).  This species has been reported as a post-harvest soft rot pathogen of several fruits, including tomato (Mehrotra 1964), peaches (Ginting et al. 1996), jambolan (Syzygium cumini; Pinho et al. 2014), dragon fruit (Hylocereus costaricensis; Guo et al. 2016) and papaya (Carica papaya L.; Cruz-Lachica et al. 2016).  Colonies of Gilbertella form a white mycelium that darkens as the black multispored sporangia are formed during the asexual phase of the life cycle. The sporangia are distinctive in that the wall possesses a circumscissile zone of dehiscence (Fig. 1), a trait shared by all members of the Choanephoraceae.  Sporangia at maturity are filled with striate sporangiospores that bear hair like polar appendages (Fig. 2).  When compatible strains of this self-sterile or heterothallic zygomycete fuse during the sexual cycle, they produce black, ornamented zygospores between opposed suspensors (Figs. 3-4). The whole-genome of Gilbertella persicaria CBS 190.32 (= NRRL 2700), the ex-type strain, was sequenced as part of the 1000 Fungal Genome Project to provide a representative of the Choanephoraceae to help elucidate the evolution of early diverging fungi.

References:
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Pinho DB, Pereira OL, Soares DJ. 2014. First report of Gilbertella persicaria as the cause of soft rot of fruit of Syzygium cumini.  Australasian Plant Disease Notes 9:143.
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