page_title: Marine fungi
section_title: Algae and phytoplankton
hierarchical_section_title: Marine fungi / Algae and phytoplankton
caption_attribution_description: English: Chytrid parasites of marine diatoms. (A) Chytrid sporangia on Pleurosigma sp. The white arrow indicates the operculate discharge pore. (B) Rhizoids (white arrow) extending into diatom host. (C) Chlorophyll aggregates localized to infection sites (white arrows). (D and E) Single hosts bearing multiple zoosporangia at different stages of development. The white arrow in panel E highlights branching rhizoids. (F) Endobiotic chytrid-like sporangia within diatom frustule. Bars = 10 μm. For more details see: Hassett BT, Gradinger R (2016) "Chytrids dominate arctic marine fungal communities". Environ Microbiol, 18(6):2001–2009. doi:10.1111/1462-2920.13216.
context_page_description: Marine fungi are species of fungi that live in marine or estuarine environments. They are not a taxonomic group, but share a common habitat. Obligate marine fungi grow exclusively in the marine habitat while wholly or sporadically submerged in sea water. Facultative marine fungi normally occupy terrestrial or freshwater habitats, but are capable of living or even sporulating in a marine habitat. About 444 species of marine fungi have been described, including seven genera and ten species of basidiomycetes, and 177 genera and 360 species of ascomycetes. The remainder of the marine fungi are chytrids and mitosporic or asexual fungi. Many species of marine fungi are known only from spores and it is likely a large number of species have yet to be discovered. In fact, it is thought that less than 1% of all marine fungal species have been described, due to difficulty in targeting marine fungal DNA and difficulties that arise in attempting to grow cultures of marine fungi. It is impracticable to culture many of these fungi, but their nature can be investigated by examining seawater samples and undertaking rDNA analysis of the fungal material found.
context_section_description: Marine fungi associated with algae are largely unexplored, despite their ecological role and potential industrial applications. For example, it has been shown that fungi associated with algae produce many bioactive secondary metabolites. Algae derived fungi can be associated with a variety of algae, including brown (e.g., Agarum clathratum, Fucus sp., Laminaria sp., Sargassum sp.), green (e.g., Ulva sp., Enteromorpha sp., Flabellia sp.), or red (e.g. Chondrus sp., Dilsea sp., Ceramium sp.) algae.
  Almost one-third of all known marine fungal species are associated with algae. The most commonly described fungi associated with algae belong to the Ascomycota and are represented by a wide diversity of genera such as Acremonium, Alternaria, Aspergillus, Cladosporium, Phoma, Penicillium, Trichoderma, Emericellopsis, Retrosium, Spathulospora, Pontogenia and Sigmoidea.
  Rhyzophydium littoreum is a marine chytrid, a primitive fungus that infects green algae in estuaries. It obtains nutrients from the host alga and produces swimming zoospores that must survive in open water, a low nutrient environment, until a new host is encountered. Another fungus, Ascochyta salicorniae, found growing on seaweed is being investigated for its action against malaria, a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals.
caption: Chytrid parasites of marine diatoms. (A) Chytrid sporangia on Pleurosigma sp. The white arrow indicates the operculate discharge pore. (B) Rhizoids (white arrow) extending into diatom host. (C) Chlorophyll aggregates localized to infection sites (white arrows). (D and E) Single hosts bearing multiple zoosporangia at different stages of development. The white arrow in panel E highlights branching rhizoids. (F) Endobiotic chytrid-like sporangia within diatom frustule. Bars = 10 μm.[48]
exif: {}