Paraconiothyrium estuarinum
Paraconiothyrium estuarinum Verkley & Manuela Silva, in Verkley, da Silva, Wicklow & Crous, Stud. Mycol. 50(2): 327 (2004)
Index Fungorum number: IF 500081; Facesoffungi number: FoF xxx, Fig. 1
Description: see Verkley et al. (2004).
Material examined: see Verkley et al. (2004).
Fig. 1. Paraconiothyrium estuarinum (CBS H-10528; re-drawn from Verkley et al. 2004) a. Conidia. Scale bars: a = 10 μm
Importance and role
Importance of genus to ecosystem
Species of Paraconiothyrium are saprobic and seems to have acidophilic properties. They have the ability to degrade polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in estuarine sediment polluted with industrial discharges (Verkley 2004).
Industrial relevance and applications
Paraconiothyrium is a potent bioremediator degrading phenanthrene, pyrene, anthracene and benzo[a]pyrene in relatively high levels (da Silva et al. 2003 b, 2004).
Quarantine significance
No biocontrol agent has been reported from Paraconiothyrium. Further studies are needed.
Biochemical importance of the genus, chemical diversity or applications
Paraconiothyrium may have the ability to produce several chemicals that help them to survive stress conditions such as major enantiomers of phenanthrene trans-9, 10-dihydrodiol, phenanthrene trans-3,4-dihydrodiol and pyrene trans-4,5-dihydrodiol amongst others (da Silva et al. 2004).
Diversity of the genus
Although there are 25 Paraconiothyrium epithets in Index fungorum (2021), the real number of species is less as some have been synonymized and transferred to other genera such as Didymosphaeria, Paracamarosporium, Paraphaeosphaeria and Pseudocamarosporium. Paraconiothyrium comprises seventeen species known on several hosts and six plant families namely Fabaceae, Lycopodiaceae, Magnoliaceae, Poaceae, Rosaceae and Rubiaceae. Many more species of Paraconiothyrium can be discovered in future studies.
Recent News
Recent paper to be publishedRecent Genus
XylopeziaXenosporium
Wettsteinina
Recent Species
Xylopezia hemisphaericaXenosporium mirabile
Wettsteinina gigantospora
