page_title: Ustilaginomycotina
section_title: Life cycle
hierarchical_section_title: Ustilaginomycotina / Life cycle
caption_attribution_description: Biologische Schemata, gezeichnet und freigegeben von M. Piepenbring
context_page_description: The Ustilaginomycotina is a subdivision within the division Basidiomycota of the kingdom Fungi. It consists of the classes Ustilaginomycetes and Exobasidiomycetes, and in 2014 the subdivision was reclassified and the two additional classes Malasseziomycetes and Moniliellomycetes added. The name was first published by Doweld in 2001; Bauer and colleagues later published it in 2006 as an isonym. Ustilagomycotina and Agaricomycotina are considered to be sister groups, and they are in turn sister groups to the subdivision Pucciniomycotina.
  Ustilaginomycotina comprises 115 genera with more than 1700 species. The subdivision is mostly plant parasites on vascular plants, and the distribution of the subdivision is therefore restricted to the distribution of the host. The group is also called the true smut fungi because of the production of teliospores. The name smut is still used as a term since it circumscribes the organization and life cycle of Ustilaginomycotina, but it is not a taxonomic term. Ustilaginomycotina has some of the best known and studied genera of plant parasites like Ustilago and Tilletia and it is also of great economic importance.
context_section_description: The life cycle of the subdivision is dimorphic and it consists of two phases in the life cycle. One saprobic haploid phase and a parasitic (biotrophic) dikaryotic phase.
  The saprobic phase is initiated by the production of haploid yeasts, which fuses with another spore and produce the n+n hyphae which will infect the host. The infection happens with the production of a structure called appressoria, which is a specialized cell that is used to penetrate the host cuticle. Inside the host, the fungi will produce hyphae and another specialized structure called haustoria. This will take nutrition from the plant, and is a parasitic feature. Almost all of the Ustilaginomycotina will then sporulate inside the host, and this happens with the spore becoming thick-walled and will separate, now called a teliospore. The teliospore is the most conspicuous part of the individual and represent the smut syndrome. This teliospore is a specialized resting spore that can survive outside their host. The teliospore is released from the host, and it will produce a diploid basidium and the cycle starts over.
  Species from the subdivision obtained from the nature will often be in the yeast-like state.
caption: Life cycle of Ustilago maydis
exif: {}