| Glomerales | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Glomus mosseae | |
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Glomeromycota |
| Class: | Glomeromycetes |
| Order: | Glomerales Morton & Benny, 1990[1] |
| Families and genera | |
| Synonyms | |
Glomales | |
Glomerales is an order ofsymbioticfungi within the phylumGlomeromycota.
These fungi are allbiotrophicmutualists. Most employ thearbuscular mycorrhizal method of nutrient exchange with plants. They produce large (.1-.5mm) spores (azygospores andchlamydospores) with thousands of nuclei.[2]
All members of their phylum were once thought to be related to theEndogonaceae, but have been found through molecular sequencing data, to be a closer relation to theDikarya.[3] Their fossil record extends back to theOrdovician period (460 million years ago).[2]
Glomerales fungi were thought to have reproduced clonally for several hundred million years and are therefore an ancientasexual lineage.[4] However,homologs of 51meiotic genes, including seven genes specific for meiosis, were found to be conserved in the genomes of four Glomus species.[4] Thus it now appears that these supposedly ancient asexual fungi may be capable of meiosis and perhaps also of a cryptic sexual or parasexual cycle.[4]
The family nameGlomeraceae upon which this order level name is based, was incorrectly spelled 'Glomaceae', hence the order name was incorrectly spelled 'Glomales'. Both are correctable errors, toGlomeraceae and Glomerales, as governed by theInternational Code of Botanical Nomenclature. The incorrect spellings are commonplace in the literature.