Ultrastructure of spore ontogeny in Trichophaea brunnea (Pezizales)
Journal
International Journal of Plant Sciences
Journal Volume
155
Journal Issue
4
Pages
453-459
Date Issued
1994-07
Author(s)
Chi-Guang Wu
James W. Kimbrough
Abstract
Trichophaea brunnea is a small, pyrophylic, operculate discomycete with hyaline, uniguttulate ascospores and an excipulum fringed with short, brownish, tapering hairs. Most recent literature places the species in Sphaerosporella because of its smooth spherical spores, as opposed to ellipsoid spores of other species of Trichophaea. Ellipsoid-spored species of Trichophaea have both smooth and ornamented ascospores with variable guttulation and other apothecial characters. These differences raise questions as to the relationship of T. brunnea to other species of Trichophaea. In this article we examine the fine structure of spore wall development in T. brunnea to determine if it is comparable to that of ellipsoid-spored species. We found that while early stages of spore ontogeny are similar, there are differences in staining properties of the primary wall of three species compared, but wall development in T brunnea is much like that in the type T. abundans The pattern of deposition and staining properties of various wall layers support other conclusions that Sphaerosporella should not be recognized as a distinct genus.
Publisher
The University of Chicage Press
Type
journal article