Crystallicutis damiettensis
Crystallicutis damiettensis El-Gharabawy, Leal-Dutra & G.W. Griff. 2021, in El-Gharabawy et al., Fungal biology, 125, 447-458 (2021)
Etymology: The species epithet “damiettensis” refers to Damietta University (North Nile Delta, Egypt), close to the location where the fungus was first discovered.
Diagnosis: Basidiome resupinate, honey-yellow, tuberculate to papillate-warty, with waxy texture, white margin. Basidia clavate (6.0-7.5 × 12.0-15.0 mm), smooth, thin-walled, 4-spored. Basidioles similar in shape but smaller (4e5 mm diameter). Basidiospores short, ovoid to ellipsoid, tear-shaped, smooth, sometimes thick-walled (3.0-3.5 × 4.0-5.0 mm), non-amyloid and nondextrinoid. Cystidia abundant, long, smooth, hyaline, thin-walled, septate (2-celled), spear-shaped (4.0-5.0 × 22-25 mm). Cystidioles are fusiform, 3.0-4.0 × 18-22 mm. Monomitic hyphal system, with generative hyphae bearing abundant clamps and frequent stumpy branches. Brown, resinous agglomerations and large irregularly-shaped hyaline crystals (10-30 × 20-50 mm) are present on the hymenium surface, subhymenium and subiculum. Smaller (1-4 mm) rhomboid-shaped hyaline crystals are present forming encrustations of hyphae. Differs from other members of this genus in having abundant cystidia and cystidioles.
Index Fungorum Number: IF557790
Notes: White-rot decay mechanism with secretion of Mn-dependent and Mn-independent peroxidases, but only low and transient secretion of laccase (El-Gharabawy et al., 2016).
Figure 1. Crystallicutis damiettensis in pure culture on PDA. Floccose appearance of young colonies of isolate UN63A (2 weeks old), with slight yellow colouration (A). Colonies incubated in the light exhibited pigmentation similar to that seen in basidiomes (B). Assessment of somatic incompatibility between isolates from Kafr El-Sheikh (UN63A, UN63B, UN63C). Yellow pigmentation after incubation in the light for 4 weeks is visible on the upper surface (C), with zone lines between genetically different cultures (B vs A/C), more clearly visible from beneath (D).
Figure 2. Micromorphology of Crystallicutis damiettensis. In pure culture, abundant clamp connections are visible in brightfield (A) and under epifluorescence microscopy with Calcofluor B staining (B,C; arrowed). Spherical-ellipsoid chlamydospores, both intercalary and terminal, are abundant (BeD), alongside brown resinous agglomerations (D) and encrustation by small crystals of individual hyphae (D, inset). In basidiomes examined by scanning electron microscopy, large crystals are visible, embedded in the matrix of the hymenium surface (E; arrowed) and smaller crystals encrusting the surface of hyphae in the subhymenium and subiculum (F). Scale bar indicates 10 mm.
Figure 3. Diagram of microscopic structures of Crystallicutis damiettensis basidiome. Hymenium layer with clavate 4-spored basidia, thick-walled basidiospores, smaller basidioles and basal clamps (A). Cystidia are spear-shaped (B) or fusiform (C), with cystidioles also present (D). Large and small hyaline crystals (E) and other encrustation on hyphae were observed (F). Generative hyphae with abundant clamps (G) and pseudo-skeletoid subicular hyphae (H) are present. Scale bar indicates 10 mm.
Figure 4. Multigene maximum-likelihood tree of Irpicaceae. Support values are presented as numbers (UFBoot/BPP) on branches and shown only for UFBoot ≥ 70 and BPP ≥ 0.70. Type species for other genera within Irpicaceae are represented by a star. Outgroups are Bjerkandera adusta and Terana caerulea (Phanerochaetaceae). Crystallicutis gen. nov. is boxed in red. Asterisks (*) represent maximum UFBoot/BPP values, dashes (-) represent values below the cut-off threshold (70%), and dots (.) represent ML clades that were not recovered in the BI tree Scale bar indicates number of substitutions per site.
Reference:
El-Gharabawy, H. M., Leal-Dutra, C. A., & Griffith, G. W. (2021). Crystallicutis gen. nov. (Irpicaceae, Basidiomycota), including C. damiettensis sp. nov., found on Phoenix dactylifera (date palm) trunks in the Nile Delta of Egypt. Fungal biology, 125(6), 447-458.
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