Zygosporangial hyphal mantle encircling a Jimgerdemannia flammicorona zygosporangium in a spiral as seen in scanning electron microscopy. Image by Quinn Hanses.

The genome of Jimgerdemannia flammicorona GMNB39 was sequenced by JGI in the framework of the ‘ZyGoLife’ project and Community Sequencing Project 1978 – “Genomics of the early diverging lineages of fungi and their transition to terrestrial, plant-based ecologies” (http://zygolife.org/home/), then assembled and annotated by Ying Chang at Oregon State University (Chang et al., under revision). JGI tools were used to automatically annotate predicted proteins. Please note that Ying does not maintain this copy of the genome and therefore it is not automatically updated.

Zygomycete fungi are an ancient and diverse group, whose evolutionary history and ecological associations remain poorly resolved. The NSF-funded ‘ZyGoLife’ project aims to: 1) reconstruct the genealogical relationships of this early diverging branch in the fungal tree of life; 2) resolve the origins of symbiotic relationships between plants and zygomycete fungi; 3) reveal how complex body plans evolved in the group; 4) elucidate mechanisms of mating genetics between organisms with complex and differing life cycles, and; 5) develop genomic barcodes to facilitate identification of unknown fungi. Towards these goals we are sequencing genomes of diverse representative zygomycete taxa, including Jimgerdemannia flammicorona.

Jimgerdemannia flammicorona GMNB39 is a member of the family Endogonaceae (Mucoromycotina). Species in genus Jimgerdemannia are putatively ectomycorrhizal (EcM) with several species of Pinaceae. They usually form hypogeous sporophores whose zygospores differ from the ones of Endogone by pairing a large gametangium with a small one (Desirò et al., 2017). Together with some other members of Endogonaceae, they are the only known EcM fungi outside Dikarya, representing a different origin of EcM lifestyle. Members of Endogonaceae are also one of the few non-Dikarya lineages that produce “truffle-like” sporophores, making them an interesting system to explore the evolution of complex reproductive structures in fungi. All members of this family are difficult to maintain in culture. Taxa in the family Endogonaceae can host in their zygospores and mycelia Mycoplasma-related endobacteria (MRE) (Desirò et al., 2015). Hypogeous sporophores of J. flammicorona GMNB39 were collected under Picea abies and Picea pungens in Haslett, Michigan, USA.