Development of the Conidial State of Myriogenospora atramentosa

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Abstract
A liquid medium and a corn meal-malt agar medium were developed for culturing M. atramentosa, a systemic parasite of pasture grasses. On living leaves the conidiomata that are produced in stromata precede the perithecia and are irregularly hysteriform and ephemeral. Conidia are acicular, 1-celled and hyaline. In culture, polar or lateral germ tubes from ascospore part-spores or conidia give rise to secondary conidia or develop into a mycelium. Aggregations of hyphae resembling sporodochia form in the mycelium. Simple conidiophores develop on both the sporodochia and the mycelium. The presence of an ephelidial conidial state like that in species of Balansia supports the classification of M. atramentosa in the tribe Balansiae, subfamily Clavicipitoideae, Clavicipitaceae. Light and scanning electron microscopy showed that the conidia are holoblastic on sympodial conidiophores. The occurrence of holoblastic as well as phialidic conidia indicates that conidiogenesis must be considered in the classification of the Clavicipitaceae.

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