Capnodiales » Teratosphaeriaceae » Acrodontium

Acrodontium crateriforme

Acrodontium crateriforme (J.F.H. Beyma) de Hoog, Stud. Mycol. 1: 26 (1972).

≡ Chloridium crateriforme J.F.H. Beyma, Centbl. Bakt. ParasitKde, Abt. II 89: 241 (1933).

Index Fungorum number: IF 308226; Facesoffungi number: FoF 09159, Fig. 1

Description: see Koukol (2010); Videira et al. (2016).

Material examined: see Koukol (2010); Videira et al. (2016).

Fig. 1 Acrodontium crateriforme (CBS 144.33, redrawn from Videira et al. 2016). a–c Conidiophores, conidiogenous cells and conidia. d Conidia. Scale bars = 10 μm.

Importance and distribution

As saprobes, species of Acrodontium play a role in nutrient recycling in the environment. Being mycophylic, they are either biotrophic fungi that do not kill host cells but live only in mutual association with their host substrate or are necrotrophic that kill host cells and utilize them as food (Rudakov 1978). Some Acrodontium sp. have been isolated from soil in Antarctica demonstrating that some species in the genus are cold tolerant (Vanderwolf et al. 2016). Acrodontium crateriforme also forms part of the pitcher plant trap biota which is reported to trap insects and provide nutrition to plants, habitat for several species of inquilines ranging from bacteria to vertebrates which live in pitcher trap liquid (Prabhugaonkar and Pratibha 2017). Acrodontium has been reported as abundant species in fungal composts (Tiscornia et al. 2009). Some species of Acrodontium are allergenic and can produce trichothecene toxin (AEL 2020). Acrodontium is pathogenic to human causing nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, eumycotic mycetoma endophthalmitis, meningitis amongst others. Acrodontium salmoneum has been isolated from air, seeds and mites and is pathogenic to human (Kubátová et al. 2001). Acrodontium crateriforme has the ability to parasitize powdery mildew pathogens (Kiss 2003). Acrodontium simplex cause leaf speckle in Musae species (Jones 2000). Acrodontium comprises seventeen species known on eight plant hosts within Caryophyllaceae, Fabaceae, Fagaceae, Juncaceae, Lauraceae, Pinaceae, Stemonitidaceae and Tremellaceae. Acrodontium is reported from Antarctica, Asia (India), Australia (New South Wales), Europe (Finland, former Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, United Kingdom), North America (Canada, New York) and South America (Brazil).

Biochemical importance of the genus, chemical diversity or applications

A strain of Acrodontium salmoneum found in grotto soil in France is reported to produce acrodontiolamide, a secondary metabolite with antifungal properties (Buarque de Gusmáo et al. 1993). Acrodontiolamide is a chlorinated compound that inhibits Pathogenic and entomopathogenic fungi (Steiman et al. 2010).

References

Advance Restoration Remediation. 2022 – Types of Mold. Available at: https://advanceresto.com/types-of-mold/

Buarque de Gusmáo N, Kaouadji M, Seigle-Murandi F, Steiman R, Thomasson F. 1993 –Acrodontiolamide, a Chlorinated Fungal Metabolite from Acrodontium salmoneum, Spectroscopy Letters 26, 8,1373–1380.

Hwang SC, Chen CL. 2013 – New leaf-speckle disease of banana caused by Acrodontium simplex in Taiwan [1986]. Plant Protection Bulletin 28, 413–416.

Kiss L. 2003 – A review of fungal antagonists of powdery mildews and their potential as biocontrol agents. Pest Management Science 59, 475–483.

Koukol O. 2010 – What do we know about Acrodontium crateriforme? Mykologick Listy 111, 12–18.

Kubátová A, Černý M, Novakova A. 2002 – New records of micromycetes from the Czech Republic. IV. Acrodontium salmoneum, Chaunopycnis alba and Cylindrocarpostylus gregarius, and notes on Dactylaria lanosa and Trichoderma saturnisporum. Czech Mycology 53, 237–255.

Prabhugaonkar A, Pratibha J. 2017 – Isolation of Acrodontium crateriforme as a pitcher trap inquiline. Current Research in Environmental & Applied Mycology 7, 203–207.

Rudakov O. 1978 – Physiological Groups in Mycophilic Fungi. Mycologia 70, 150–159.

Steiman R, Benoit-Guyod JL, Guiraud P, Seigle-Murandi F. 1995 – Evaluation of acrodontiolamide, a chlorinated compound produced by Acrodontium salmoneum de Hoog for cytotoxicity and antimicrobial activity. Die Pharmazie 50, 693–695.

Tiscornia S, Seguĺ C, Bettucci L. 2009 – Composition and characterization of fungal communities from different composted materials. Cryptogamie Mycologie 30, 363–376.

Vanderwolf KJ, Malloch D, McAlpine DF. 2016 – Ectomycota Associated with Arthropods from Bat Hibernacula in Eastern Canada, with Particular Reference to Pseudogymnoasucs destructans. Insects 7, 16.