Tremella is a
genus of
fungi in the
familyTremellaceae. All Tremella species are
parasites of other fungi and most produce
anamorphicyeast states.
Basidiocarps (fruit bodies), when produced, are gelatinous and are colloquially classed among the "
jelly fungi". Over 100 species of Tremella (in its wide sense) are currently recognized worldwide. One species, Tremella fuciformis, is commercially cultivated for food.
Taxonomy
History
Tremella was one of the original genera created by
Linnaeus in his Species Plantarum of 1753. The name comes from the
Latintremere meaning "to tremble".[1] Linnaeus placed Tremella in the
algae, including within it a variety of gelatinous growths, including
seaweeds,
cyanobacteria, and
myxomycetes, as well as fungi. Subsequent authors added additional species to this mix, until
Persoon revised Tremella in 1794 and 1801, repositioning the genus within the fungi.[2]
Molecular research, based on
cladistic analysis of
DNA sequences, has shown that Tremella (as previously understood) is
polyphyletic (and hence artificial), with most species not closely related to the
type.[4][5][6][7] Accordingly, some species have been transferred to new genera and new families: Tremella foliacea and related species are now placed in the genus Phaeotremella within the family
Phaeotremellaceae; Tremella encephala and related species are now placed in the genus Naematelia within the
Naemateliaceae; Tremella moriformis and related species are now placed in the genus Pseudotremella within the
Bulleraceae; and Tremella polyporina is now placed in the genus Carcinomyces within the
Carcinomycetaceae.[8] Several other species groups have not yet been renamed, pending further research.[8]
More than 500 species have been described in Tremella, but most of these are old names of doubtful application or old names for species later transferred to other genera. In its strict sense, the genus Tremella now contains some 30-40 species, including the type Tremella mesenterica and the cultivated species T. fuciformis.[9]
Description
Fruit bodies (when present) are gelatinous. In some species they are small (under 5 mm across) and pustular to pulvinate (cushion-shaped). In others they are much larger (up to 150 mm across) and may be variously lobed, cephaliform (like a brain, with folds and ridges), or foliose (with leaf-like or seaweed-like fronds). Many Tremella species, however, are
hymenial parasites, producing spores within the fruit bodies of their hosts, and are only visible microscopically.[4]
Microscopic characters
Tremella species produce
hyphae that are typically (but not always)
clamped and have
haustorial cells from which hyphal filaments seek out and penetrate the hyphae of the host.[10] The
basidia are "tremelloid" (globose to ellipsoid, sometimes stalked, and vertically or diagonally septate), giving rise to long, sinuous
sterigmata or epibasidia on which the
basidiospores are produced. These spores are smooth, globose to ellipsoid, and germinate by hyphal tube or by
yeast cells.
Conidiophores are often present, producing
conidiospores that are similar to yeast cells.[4]
Habitat and distribution
Species are mainly parasitic on
wood-rotting fungi in the
phylaAscomycota and
Basidiomycota,[11] particularly on species that occur on dead attached branches. Hosts include members of the
corticioid fungi and
Dacrymycetales in the Basidiomycota and species of Diaporthe, other
Sordariomycetes, and
lichens in the Ascomycota. Some Tremella species parasitize the fruit bodies of their hosts, others parasitize the mycelium within the wood.
As a group, Tremella species occur worldwide, though individual species may have a more restricted distribution.
Species and hosts
The list below includes species of Tremella (in the wide sense) that have recently been described or redescribed based on fruit bodies. Species based on yeasts are not included. Some additional older species may also be valid, but lack a modern description. The type locality (but not the wider distribution) is given for each species together with the host fungus, where known. Species belonging to Tremella in the strict sense are marked as such, as are those that have been transferred to new genera.
^Sampaio JP, Weiss M, Gadanho M, Bauer R (2002). "New taxa in the Tremellales: Bulleribasidium oberjochense gen. et sp. nov., Papiliotrema bandonii gen. et sp. nov. and Fibulobasidium murrhardtense sp. nov". Mycologia. 94 (5): 873–887.
doi:
10.2307/3761703.
JSTOR3761703.
PMID21156562.
^
abcBandoni RJ, Oberwinkler F (1983). "On some species of Tremella described by Alfred Möller". Mycologia. 75 (5): 854–863.
doi:
10.2307/3792776.
JSTOR3792776.
^
abcdBandoni R, Carranza J, Bandoni AA (1996). "Four new species of Tremella (Tremellales: Basidiomycotina) from Costa Rica". Revista de Biología Tropical. 44 (Suppl. 4): 15–24.
^
abcdefRoberts P, de Meijer AA (1997). "Macromycetes from the state of Paraná, Brazil. 6. Sirobasidiaceae & Tremellaceae". Mycotaxon. 64: 261–283.
^Bandoni RJ, Zang M (1990). "On an undescribed Tremella from China". Mycologia. 82 (2): 270–273.
doi:
10.2307/3759859.
JSTOR3759859.
^
abLowy B. (1980). Flora Neotropica 6: Tremellales (supplement). New York: New York Botanical Garden.
^
abKobayasi Y (1939). "On the genus Tremella and its allies from Japan". Science Report of the Tokyo Bunrika Diagaku. 4: 1–26.
^
abcBandoni R, Ginns J (1998). "Notes on Tremella mesenterica and related species". Canadian Journal of Botany. 76 (9): 1544–1557.
doi:
10.1139/b98-094.
^
abcdeRoberts P. (2001). "British Tremella species III: Tremella callunicola sp, nov., T. invasa, T. sarniensis sp, nov.,T. simplex & T. versicolor". Mycologist. 15 (4): 146–150.
doi:
10.1016/S0269-915X(01)80002-1.
^
abcdHauerslev K. (1999). "New and rare species of heterobasidiomycetes". Mycotaxon. 72: 465–486.
^
abcdLowy B. (1971). Flora Neotropica 6: Tremellales. New York: Hafner.
ISBN0-89327-220-5.
^Bandoni RJ. (1958). "Some tremellaceous fungi in the C.G. Lloyd collection". Lloydia. 21: 137–151.
^Zamora JC. (2009). "Tremella dactylobasidia, una nueva especie de Tremella con basidios de morfología peculiar". Boletín de la Sociedad Micológica de Madrid (in Spanish). 33: 49–58.
^Van de Put K. (2004). "Drie nieuwe heterobasidiomyceten uit Noord-België". Sterbeeckia. 24: 12–16.
^
abRoberts P. (1999). "British Tremella species II: T. encephala, T. steidleri & T. foliacea". Mycologist. 13 (3): 127–131.
doi:
10.1016/S0269-915X(99)80044-5.
^
abPeng Y (1982). "Two new species of Tremella from China". Acta Mycologica Sinica. 1: 68–71.
^Lindgren, Hanna; Diederich, Paul; Goward, Trevor; Myllys, Leena (2015). "The phylogenetic analysis of fungi associated with lichenized ascomycete genus Bryoria reveals new lineages in the Tremellales including a new species Tremella huuskonenii hyperparasitic on Phacopsis huuskonenii". Fungal Biology. 119 (9): 844–856.
Bibcode:
2015FunB..119..844L.
doi:
10.1016/j.funbio.2015.06.005.
PMID26321732.
^
abDueñas M. (2001). "Iberian intrahymenial species of Platygloeales, Tremellales and Tulasnellales". Nova Hedwigia. 72 (3–4): 441–459.
doi:
10.1127/nova.hedwigia/72/2001/441.
^
abcPippola E, Kotiranta H (2008). "The genus Tremella (Basidiomycota, Tremellales) in Finland". Annales Botanici Fennici. 45 (6): 401–434.
doi:
10.5735/085.045.0601.
S2CID86032093.
^Diederich, Paul; Millanes, Ana; Coppins, Brian; Wedins, Mats (2020). "Tremella imshaugiae and T. tubulosae (Tremellomycetes, Basidiomycota), two new lichenicolous fungi on Imshaugia aleurites and Hypogymnia tubulosa". Bulletin de la Société des naturalistes luxembourgeois. 122: 239–246.
^Diederich P. (2003). "Neue Arten und neue Funde von amerkanischen lichenicolen Pilzen". Herzogia. 16: 41–90.
^
abcdeBandoni R, Ginns J (1993). "On some species of Tremella associated with Corticiaceae". Transactions of the Mycological Society of Japan. 34: 21–36.
^
abcDiederich P. (2007). "New or interesting lichenicolous heterobasidiomycetes". Opuscula Philolichenum. 4: 11–22.
^Chen C-J.; Oberwinkler, Franz; Chen, Zuei-Ching (1999). "Tremella occultifuroidea sp. nov., a new mycoparasite of Dacrymyces". Mycoscience. 40 (2): 137–143.
doi:
10.1007/BF02464292.
S2CID86538058.
^Bandoni RJ. (1985). "Sirotrema: a new genus in the Tremellaceae". Canadian Journal of Botany. 64 (3): 668–676.
doi:
10.1139/b86-085.
^
abFan LF, Pu JB, Wu F, Dai YC (2021). "A new species of Tremella s.s. (Tremellaceae, Basidiomycota) from southeastern China". Phytotaxa. 502: 208–216.
doi:
10.11646/phytotaxa.502.2.9.
S2CID236355814.