Grosmannia clavigera

Grosmannia clavigera
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Fungi
Division:	Ascomycota
Class:	Sordariomycetes
Order:	Ophiostomatales
Family:	Ophiostomataceae
Genus:	Grosmannia
Species:	G. clavigera
Binomial name
Grosmannia clavigera (Robinson-Jeffrey & R.W.Davidson) Zipfel, Z.W.de Beer & M.J.Wingf. (2006)
Synonyms[1]
Europhium clavigerum Rob.-Jeffr. & R.W. Davidson (1968) Ceratocystis clavigera (Rob.-Jeffr. & R.W.Davidson) H.P.Upadhyay (1981) Ophiostoma clavigerum (Rob.-Jeffr. & R.W.Davidson) T.C.Harr. (1987)

Grosmannia clavigera is a species of sac fungus that causes blue stain in wood. It spreads to lodgepole pine, ponderosa pine, Douglas-fir, and whitebark pine trees from the body and a special structure in the heads of mountain pine beetles. The blue stain fungus has evolved a relationship with mountain pine beetles that allow them to travel from tree to tree on a special structure in the beetle's heads and stops the tree from producing resin to pitch out or kill the beetle, encouraging the pine beetle infestation occurring all along the Rocky Mountains from Mexico into Canada.^[2] The beetles are able to mine and lay eggs while avoiding the tree's defenses.^[3] The 33 Mb genome of this fungus was sequenced in 2009.^[4]

Although previously considered to be asexual, C. clavigera appears to have the potential to reproduce sexually as indicated by the presence of mating type loci in the genome.^[5]

References

1. "GSD Species Synonymy: Grosmannia clavigera (Rob.-Jeffr. & R.W. Davidson) Zipfel, Z.W. de Beer & M.J. Wingf.". Species Fungorum. CAB International. Retrieved 2015-09-21.
2. DiGuistini S, Wang Y, Liao NY, Taylor G, Tanguay P, Feau N, Henrissat B, Chan SK, Hesse-Orce U, Alamouti SM, Tsui CK, Docking RT, Levasseur A, Haridas S, Robertson G, Birol I, Holt RA, Marra MA, Hamelin RC, Hirst M, Jones SJ, Bohlmann J, Breuil C (2011). "Genome and transcriptome analyses of the mountain pine beetle-fungal symbiont Grosmania clavigera, a lodgepole pine pathogen". PNAS. 108 (6): 2504–9. Bibcode:2011PNAS..108.2504D. doi:10.1073/pnas.1011289108. PMC 3038703. PMID 21262841. By applying the genomic and molecular resources developed in this work we have begun to clarify the specialized mechanisms that Gc has developed, which allow it to tolerate terpenoids and grow in its pine host, an evolutionary adaptation that is an important factor in the interaction between host tree, the fungal pathogen, and its beetle vector.
3. Dolgin E (2009). "Fungus genome boosts fight to save North American forests". Nature. doi:10.1038/news.2009.928. Archived from the original on September 23, 2009.
4. Diguistini S, Liao NY, Platt D, et al. (2009). "De novo genome sequence assembly of a filamentous fungus using Sanger, 454 and Illumina sequence data". Genome Biol. 10 (9): R94. doi:10.1186/gb-2009-10-9-r94. PMC 2768983. PMID 19747388.
5. Tsui CK, DiGuistini S, Wang Y, Feau N, Dhillon B, Bohlmann J, Hamelin RC (March 2013). "Unequal recombination and evolution of the mating-type (MAT) loci in the pathogenic fungus Grosmannia clavigera and relatives". G3 (Bethesda). 3 (3): 465–80. doi:10.1534/g3.112.004986. PMC 3583454. PMID 23450093.

External links

• Grosmannia clavigera in MycoBank.
• G. clavigera in Index Fungorum