Fungalpedia – Note 137 Thelephora
Thelephora Ehrh. ex Willd.
Citation if using this entry: Bera et al. (in prep) Basidiomycota. Mycosphere
Index Fungorum, Facesoffungi, MycoBank, GenBank, Fig. 1
Basidiomycota, Agaricomycetes, Thelephorales, Thelephoraceae
Thelephora, the type genus of the family Thelephoraceae has unique basidiomata that often resemble intricately folded or convoluted structures. However, the genus exhibits an extensive variety of basidiomata morphology ranging from clavarioid, stereoid, urniform, merismatoid, superposed rosette, or intermediatory forms (Ramírez-López et al. 2015, Yang et al. 2023). Interestingly, two species of Thelephora, T. versatilis Ram.-Lóp. & Villegas and T. pseudoversatilis Ram.-Lóp. & Villegas, exhibited a sub-resupinate to resupinate habit on living plants as well (Ramírez-López et al. 2013). This basidiomycete genus has smooth-surfaced pileus but sometimes strigose, papillose, or faintly ribbed surfaces were also observed (Liu et al. 2021). The hymenophore varies from smooth to faintly wrinkled and stains cyanescent in KOH (Cunningham 1957, Corner 1968, Stalpers 1993). The basidia can be 2–4 sterigmatic (Clémençon 1997) with brown, spinose, verruculose or echinulate, warty, inamyloid basidiospores (Ramírez-López et al. 2015, Liu et al. 2021). The hyphal system is monomitic composed of frequently fibulated and brown-walled, generative hyphae with clamp connections (Cunningham 1963, Corner 1968, Yangdo et al. 2015, Ramírez-López et al. 2015, Das et al. 2018, Liu et al. 2021).
Morphologically, the diverse shapes of basidiomata and the ornamentation of basidiospores easily differentiate Thelephora from other genera of the family Thelephoraceae (Yang et al. 2023). Yet, the phylogenetic analysis revealed that another genus in the family, Tomentella Pers. ex Pat. showed a very close affinity with Thelephora where both these genera lack distinct separate monophyletic clades and always remain intertwined within the same evolutionary lineage (Vizzini et al. 2016, Lu et al. 2022). The microscopical characters such as similar-sized and ornamented basidiospores in some species within these two genera also corroborate this fact (Stalpers 1993, Lee et al. 2010, Yorou et al. 2011, Ramírez-López et al. 2015). Thus, the precise classification boundary between these two genera has been a subject of controversy and remains unsettled (Ramírez-López et al. 2015, Li et al. 2020, Lu et al. 2022).
Thelephora holds a fundamental significance in ecological, medicinal and commercial aspects. The genus is best known for its ectomycorrhizal habit for a single species, T. terrestris Ehrh. ex Fr. which is quite popular as a symbiont especially in the northern hemisphere with conifers (Corner 1968, Marx & Bryan 1970). Some other species like T. vialis Schwein., T. aurantiotincta Corner, and T. ganbajun M. Zang are known for their edibility (Zhou & Wei 1986, Colpaert 1999, Yang et al. 2023). Prominently, T. ganbajun holds high economic value due to the presence of active chemical components such as polysaccharides, phenolic compounds, steroids, and fatty acids, antioxidants which are responsible for immunity, anti-cancer activity and liver protection in humans (Xu et al. 2016, Wang et al. 2017, Zheng et al. 2020, Lu et al. 2022, Yang et al. 2023).
Combined study of morphology and phylogeny (nrITS-LSU) has discovered many species of Thelephora from tropical and temperate forests of Asia, Europe, and North America (Ramírez-López et al. 2013, 2015, Vizzini et al. 2016, Khalid & Muhammad 2017, Das et al. 2018, Li et al. 2020). To date, there is approximately 52 accepted species of this genus worldwide (http://www.indexfungorum.org/Names/Names.asp).
Type species: Thelephora terrestris Ehrh. ex Fr.
Figure 1. Thelephora ganbajun (IFP 19554). a. Basidiomata. b. Basidiospores. c. Hyphae from pileal context. d. section of hymenium and subhymenium. Scale bars: b = 5 μm; c & d = 10 μm. Drawn from Yang et al. 2023.
References
Clémençon H 1997 – Anatomy of the Hymenomycetes: an introduction to the cytology and plectology of crust fungi, bracket fungi, club fungi, Chanterelles, Agarics and Boletes. F. Flück-Wirth, Teufen, Switzerland.
Colpaert JV 1999 – Thelephora. In Ectomycorrhizal fungi key genera in profile (325–345). Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-662-06827-4_14
Corner EJH 1968 – A monograph of Thelephora (Basidiomycetes). https://www.schweizerbart.de/publications/detail/isbn/9783768254274/Nova_Hedwigia_Beiheft_27_vergriffen
Cunningham GH 1957 – Thelephoraceae of New Zealand (parts XII, XIII). Part XII: the genera Thelephora and Tomentella. Transact. R. Soc. N. Zeal., 84, 479–496. https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/TPRSNZ1956-84.2.9.2
Cunningham GH 1963 – The Thelephoraceae of Australia and New Zealand (No. 145). RE Owen, Government printer. https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/2196059
Kanad D, Hembrom ME, Aniket G, Arvind P, Kuhar F 2018 – Thelephora sikkimensis sp. nov. (Thelephoraceae) from the eastern Himalayas (India). Nova Hedwigia, 107(3/4), 337–347. https://www.cabdirect.org/cabdirect/abstract/20203306705
Khalid AN, Muhammad H 2017 – Thelephora iqbalii sp. nov. from the Himalayan moist temperate forests of Pakistan. Mycotaxon, 132(4), 943–950. https://www.cabdirect.org/cabdirect/abstract/20193291247
Lee SS, Thi BK, Patahayah M 2010 – An ectomycorrhizal thelephoroid fungus of Malaysian dipterocarp seedlings. J. Trop. For. Sci., 22, 355–363. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23616890
Li T, Li T, Song B, Hosen MI 2020 – Thelephora austrosinensis (Thelephoraceae), a new species close to T. ganbajun from southern China. Phytotaxa, 471(3), 208–220. https://phytotaxa.mapress.com/pt/article/view/phytotaxa.471.3.3
Liu XF, Tibpromma S, Xu JC, Kumla J, Karunarathna SC, Zhao CL 2021 – Taxonomy and phylogeny reveal two new potential edible ectomycorrhizal mushrooms of Thelephora from East Asia. Diversity, 13(12), 646. https://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/13/12/646
Lu X, Cao T, Nguyễn TTT, Yuan HS 2022 – Six new species of Tomentella (Thelephorales, Basidiomycota) from tropical pine forests in Central Vietnam. Frontiers in Microbiology, 13, 864198. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2022.864198/full
Marx DH, Bryan WC, Davey CB 1970 – Influence of temperature on aseptic synthesis of ectomycorrhizae by Thelephora terrestris and Pisolithus tinctorius on loblolly pine. Forest Science, 16(4), 424–431. https://academic.oup.com/forestscience/article-abstract/16/4/424/4709813
Ramírez-López I, Villegas Ríos M, Cano-Santana Z 2013 – Phenotypic plasticity of the basidiomata of Thelephora sp. (Thelephoraceae) in tropical forest habitats. Revista de Biología Tropical, 61(1), 343–350. https://www.scielo.sa.cr/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0034-77442013000100029
Ramírez-López I, Villegas-Ríos M, Salas-Lizana R, Garibay-Orijel R, Alvarez-Manjarrez J 2015 – Thelephora versatilis and Thelephora pseudoversatilis: two new cryptic species with polymorphic basidiomes inhabiting tropical deciduous and sub-perennial forests of the Mexican Pacific coast. Mycologia, 107(2), 346–358. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3852/14-151
Stalpers JA 1993 – The aphyllophoraceous fungi I. Keys to the species of the Thelephorales. Stud. Mycol., 35, 1–168. https://www.studiesinmycology.org/content/73/1/37.short
Vizzini A, Angelini C, Losi C, Ercole E 2016 – Thelephora dominicana (Basidiomycota, Thelephorales), a new species from the Dominican Republic, and preliminary notes on thelephoroid genera. Phytotaxa, 265(1), 27–38. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Enrico-Ercole/publication/303862744_Thelephora_do minicana_Basidiomycota_Thelephorales_a_new_species_from_the_Dominican_Republic_and_preliminary_notes_on_ thelephoroid_genera/links/5c0932f292851c39ebd79969/Thelephora-dominicana-Basidiomycota-Thelephorales-a-new-species-from-the-Dominican-Republic-and-preliminary-notes-on-thelephoroid-genera.pdf
Wang P, Zhang Y, Sha T, Xu J 2017 – The complete mitochondrial genome of the edible Basidiomycete mushroom Thelephora ganbajun. Mitochondrial DNA Part B, 2(1), 103–105. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23802359.2017.1289344
Yang SR, Wei YL, Yuan HS 2023 – Molecular phylogeny and morphology reveal four new species of Thelephora (Thelephorales, Basidiomycota) from subtropical China, closely related to T. ganbajun. Frontiers in Microbiology, 14, 1109924. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2023.1109924/full
Yangdo R, Kumar S, Sharma YP 2015 – Three hitherto unreported macrofungi from cold arid region of Ladakh Province, Jammu and Kashmir, India. Kavaka, 44, 42–44. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Pavan-Agrawal/publication/298971465_Optimization_of_culture_condition_for_amylase_production_by_Penicillium_freque ntans_AVF2/links/5981b44ca6fdccb310052e5f/Optimization-of-culture-condition-for-amylase-production-by-Penicillium-frequentans-AVF2.pdf#page=46
Yorou NS, Guelly AK, Agerer R 2011 – Anatomical and ITS rDNA-based phylogenetic identification of two new West African resupinate thelephoroid species. Mycoscience, 52(6), 363–375. https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/mycosci/52/6/52_MYC52363/_article/-char/ja/
Zheng L, Ma Y, Zhang Y, Meng Q, Yang J, Gong W, … Yang Y 2020 – Distribution of zinc in mycelial cells and antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of mycelia zinc polysaccharides from Thelephora ganbajun TG-01. Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity, 1–17. https://www.hindawi.com/journals/omcl/2020/2308017/
Zhou T, Wei R 1986 – Taxonomic study on two edible species of Thelephora in Yunnan, China. Acta Bot Yunnanica, 8, 295–297. https://journal.kib.ac.cn/EN/Y1986/V8/I03/1
Entry by
Ishika Bera, Center of Excellence in Fungal Research, Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai 57100, Thailand
(Edited by Kevin D Hyde)