Colacogloea Oberwinkler & Bandoni (1990)

This chapter discusses the genus Colacogloea. It provides a systematic discussion of the species and concludes with comments on the genus. The diagnosis of the genus is done on the basis of asexual, sexual, physiology and biochemistry, and phylogenetic placement. In asexual reproduction yeast cells are subglobose to ovoid or allantoid. Ballistoconidia are not formed. The cultures are cream colored and mucoid. Clamped hyphae can sometimes be formed in culture. In sexual reproduction Colacogloea is mycoparasitic, and the sexual state develops only in the host. Except for C. papilionacea, the species of this genus are found in association with fructifications of Polyporales (e.g., Hyphoderma praetermissum, species of Odontia, Peniophora, Poria, and Tubulicrinis). The basidiocarps are minute, pulvinate to effused, and mucoid-gelatinous. They are formed in and on the surface of host hymenia. Basidia do not have conspicuous probasidia and are transversely three-septate at maturity. Each basidial cell develops one long, tubular sterigma. Basidiospores are forcefully ejected and germinate by repetition or budding. They are thin-walled, smooth, and hyaline. A conidial budding yeast stage can be produced directly by conidiophores in the mycelium or by basidiospore germination. In the hyphae the septal pore is "simple" and has no neighboring electron-opaque structures. The cellular connection between the parasite and the host is a special type of organelle for which the name colacosome was introduced. Cells of the parasite that attach to the host cells form distinct vesicular bodies with electron-dense cores and electron-transparent marginal regions. © 2011