Genomic analysis of <i>Ancylistes closterii</i> , an enigmatic alga parasitic fungus in the arthropod-associated Entomophthoromycotina
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Abstract Recent advances in fungal genome sequencing have dramatically altered our understanding of the phylogeny and evolution of Fungi. However, there are still many poorly studied obligate parasitic or symbiotic fungi for which we lack any genomic information or knowledge of where they fit in the fungal phylogeny. Ancylistes, an endoparasite of desmid green algae, is such an understudied fungal genus. This genus has been taxonomically placed in the group of arthropod pathogens and saprobes, Entomophthoromycotina in Zoopagomycota. Understanding the phylogenetic position of Ancylistes provides insights into the nutritional evolution of Zoopagomycota, which is primarily composed of animal-associated fungi. In this study, we found and cultivated Ancylistes closterii with its host Closterium sp. and sequenced its genome to investigate its phylogenetic position and evolution. Phylogenetic analyses using rDNA and genome-scale datasets showed that A. closterii was sister to other Entomophthoromycotina fungi, confirming the taxonomic position of Ancylistes . Despite the ecological distinctiveness between Ancylistes and other Entomophthoromycotina fungi, our comparative genomic analyses revealed many shared traits of these fungi such as lineage-specific subtilases and hybrid histidine kinases. Ancylistes also possessed unique genes among Zoopagomycota fungi, such as plant cell wall degrading enzymes which could be important for infection of algae. Significance Improved taxon sampling is important for inferring a robust phylogeny of Fungi. However, there are still poorly studied obligate parasitic taxa whose DNA sequencing is challenging, especially in Zoopagomycota, one of the early diverging lineages of Fungi. This study focused on a long-neglected algal parasite, Ancylistes closterii , which belongs to the arthropod-associated group, Entomophthoromycotina. We rediscovered A. closterii and established a dual culture of fungus and its host alga, which enabled the first molecular analysis of this enigmatic parasite. Our results provide new insights into the nutritional evolution of primarily animal-associated Zoopagomycota.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".