Laccaria

Laccaria
Laccaria squarrosa
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Basidiomycota
Class: Agaricomycetes
Order: Agaricales
Family: Hydnangiaceae
Genus: Laccaria
Berk. & Broome
Type species
Laccaria laccata
Species

See text

Laccaria is a genus around 75 species of fungus found in both temperate and tropical regions of the world.[1][2] They are mycorrhizal. The type species is Laccaria laccata, commonly known as the deceiver. Other notable species include L. bicolor, and the amethyst deceiver (L. amethystina), sometimes incorrectly written as L. amethystea. Because some Laccaria species have the ability to grow vegetatively and/or germinate from basidiospores in culture, they are often used as experimental systems for studies of ectomycorrhizal basidiomycetes.[3] They have a tetrapolar mating system, meaning that there the mating type is controlled by 2 loci. Recently, the genome of L. bicolor has been sequenced.[4]

  1. ^ Kirk PM, Cannon PF, Minter DW, Stalpers JA (2008). Dictionary of the Fungi (10th ed.). Wallingford: CABI. p. 357. ISBN 978-0-85199-826-8.
  2. ^ Mueller GM. (1985). Numerical taxonomic analyses on Laccaria (Agaricales). Mycologia 77: 121-129.
  3. ^ Podila GK, Zheng J, Balasubramanian S, Sundaram S, Hiremath S, Brand JH, Hymes MJ. (2002). Fungal gene expression in early symbiotic interactions between Laccaria bicolor and red pine. Plant and Soil 244: 117–128.
  4. ^ Martin F, Selosse MA. (2008). The Laccaria genome: a symbiont blueprint decoded. New Phytologist 180(2):296-310.