Molecular phylogenetic analyses support the validity of Ceratiomyxa porioides (Amoebozoa, Eumycetozoa) at species level

Nicholas W Fry; Robert E Jones; Quentin Blandenier; Alexander K Tice; Alfredo L Porfirio-Sousa; Felicity Kleitz-Singleton; Tristan C Henderson; Matthew W Brown

doi:10.1016/j.ejop.2024.126083

Molecular phylogenetic analyses support the validity of Ceratiomyxa porioides (Amoebozoa, Eumycetozoa) at species level

Eur J Protistol. 2024 Apr 12:94:126083. doi: 10.1016/j.ejop.2024.126083. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Nicholas W Fry¹, Robert E Jones², Quentin Blandenier¹, Alexander K Tice³, Alfredo L Porfirio-Sousa⁴, Felicity Kleitz-Singleton¹, Tristan C Henderson¹, Matthew W Brown⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biological Sciences, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS, USA.
² Department of Biological Sciences, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS, USA; Institute for Genomics, Biocomputing & Biotechnology, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS, USA.
³ Department of Biological Sciences, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS, USA; Institute for Genomics, Biocomputing & Biotechnology, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS, USA; Department of Biological Sciences, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, USA.
⁴ Department of Biological Sciences, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS, USA; Department of Zoology, Institute of Biosciences, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
⁵ Department of Biological Sciences, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS, USA; Institute for Genomics, Biocomputing & Biotechnology, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS, USA. Electronic address: matthew.brown@msstate.edu.

PMID: 38640576
DOI: 10.1016/j.ejop.2024.126083

Abstract

The frequently encountered macroscopic slime molds of the genus Ceratiomyxa have long been recognized by mycologists and protistologists for hundreds of years. These organisms are amoebozoan amoebae that live and grow inside and on the surface of decaying wood. When conditions are favorable, they form subaerial sporulating structures called fruiting bodies which take on a variety of forms. These forms are typically some arrangement of column and/or branches, but one is uniquely poroid, forming folds instead. Originally, this poroid morphology was designated as its own species. However, it was not always clear what significance fruiting body morphology held in determining species. Currently, Ceratiomyxa fruticulosa var. porioides, the poroid form, is considered a taxonomic variety of Ceratiomyxa fruticulosa based on morphological designation alone. Despite its long history of observation and study, the genus Ceratiomyxa has been paid little molecular attention to alleviate these morphological issues. We have obtained the first transcriptomes of the taxon C. fruticulosa var. porioides and found single gene phylogenetic and multigene phylogenomic support to separate it from C. fruticulosa. This provides molecular evidence that fruiting body morphology does correspond to species level diversity. Therefore, we formally raise Ceratiomyxa porioides to species level.

Keywords: Amoebae; Phylogenetics; Protist; Slime mold; Taxonomy.