Coelomycetes

Coelomycetes [¦sē·lō·mī′sēd‚ēz]

(mycology)

A group set up by some authorities to include the Sphaerioidaceae and the Melanconiales.

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Coelomycetes

Mitosporic or anamorphic (asexual or imperfect) fungi (Deuteromycotina) with sporulation occurring inside fruit bodies (conidiomata) that arise from a thallus consisting of septate hyphae. About 1075 genera containing more than 10000 species are recognized.

The Coelomycetes, like other groups of deuteromycetes, is artificial, comprising almost entirely anamorphic fungi of ascomycete affinity. Some are known anamorphs of Ascomycotina, although there are a few (Fibulocoela, Cenangiomyces) with Basidiomycotina affinities because they have clamp connections or dolipore septa. Taxa are referred to as form genera and form species because the absence of a teleomorph (sexual or perfect) state means that they are classified and identified by artificial rather than phylogenetic means. The unifying feature of the group is the production of conidia inside cavities lined by fungal tissue, or by a combination of fungal and host tissue which constitutes the conidioma. See Ascomycota

Differences in conidiomatal structure traditionally have been used to separate three orders: the Melanconiales, the Sphaeropsidales, and the Pycnothyriales. However, differences in the ways that conidia are produced are now used in classification and identification.

Coelomycetes are known mainly from temperate and tropical regions. They grow, reproduce, and survive in a wide range of ecological situations and can be categorized as either stress-tolerant or combative species. They are commonly found in and recovered from soils, leaf litter and other organic debris from both natural and manufactured sources (as biodeteriogens and biodegradative organisms), and saline and fresh water; and on other fungi and lichens. Several are of medical importance, associated with acute conditions in humans and animals, often as opportunistic organisms causing infection in immunocompromised patients. Coelomycetes are consistently isolated from or associated with disease conditions in all types of vascular plants, often in association with other organisms. See Plant pathology