“Mystery” Fungus Making An Addition To The Fungal Tree Of Life
“Working estimates tell us that there should be more than 5 million species of fungi,” said Cheryl Kuske, a Los Alamos scientist on the project. “We have really only identified and fully described 100,000 of them, though, and new DNA sequencing capabilities show us that many, many specimens in research collections are uncharacterized. Solving this particular mystery shows the potential value of using environmental sequencing to guide taxonomic and ecological discovery.”
Therefore, in a step toward bridging the gap between fungal taxonomy and molecular ecology, researchers from the Los Alamos National Laboratory have characterized a sample of “mystery” fungus collected in North Carolina and found its home in the fungal tree of life.
The sample was given a new name, Bifiguratus adelaidae, as reported recently in the journal Mycologia.
The fungal sample was interesting partly as it represented a major component of the observed fungal population in a pine forest and it responded positively to elevated CO2 and nitrogen amendment treatments that mimic future environmental conditions–yet the sample’s exact placement in the taxonomic order was unknown, according to the new report.
The sample had been cultured successfully in the laboratory only when it was allowed to grow in the company of a species of bacteria, Methylobacterium that antibiotics were unable to kill. Normally the fungal sample would have been cleared of such contaminants, but this one resisted their attempts, according to Los Alamos National Laboratory.
The Bifiguratus adelaidae was named in honor of Adelaida Chaverri Polini. Dr. Chaverri was a world-recognized tropical biologist and role model for women in Latin America in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Her major contributions were in the study and conservation of tropical montane forests and treeless alpine grasslands (páramos). As a biologist, she recognized the importance of mycorrhizal fungi and contributed to the description of a fungus in the Acaulosporaceae, a fungus in the same phylum as the species described in this paper. She supported the creation of Costa Rica’s National Park Service, providing the basis for extensive conservation of biological diversity. In 2013, she was included in the Galería de la Mujer, one of the highest honors given to Costa Rican women for their dedication to defending and improving women human rights.
