Tahromyces is one of the seven genera that was identified as part of a collaborative multi-year isolation effort that targeted a wide range of wild and zoo-kept herbivores (Hanafy et al, 2020). Tahromyces was isolated from the feces of Nilgiri Tahr, a mountain goat indigenous to India. Tahromyces is a monocentric fungus with a filamentous rhizoidal system and monoflagellated zoospores.
The genus name, Tahromyces, is derived from the host Nilgiri Tahr from which it was isolated. The type species is called T. munnarensis, referring to the town (Munnar) where the goat was located that the type species was isolated from. The type strain for this genus is TDFKJa193. To date, no other species have been described for this genus.
Interestingly, sequences affiliated to the genus Tahromyces have not been encountered before in any culture-independent surveys. This suggests that Tahromyces has a limited ecological distribution.
Morphology
Images are shown above of Tahromyces munnarensis strain TDFKJa193.
On solid roll agar medium, Tahromyces forms small white colonies with compact and fluffy centers (Image 1). In liquid medium, Tahromyces produces a thin fungal biofilm (Image 2).
Microscopically, Tahromyces produces mainly monoflagellated zoospores (Image 3), although zoospores with two flagella can be observed (Image 4).
Tahromyces has a monocentric thalli with a filamentous anucleated rhizoidal systems, as shown by the DAPI overlay of a light microscopy image (Image 5). Both endogenous (Image 6) and exogenous (Image 7) sporangia are produced by Tahromyces.
Sequence Information
No sequenced genome is currently available for Tahromyces. For the latest update regarding publically available genomes for this genus, please see here.
For the Tahromyces munnarensis strain TDFKJa193 that is pictured above, the LSU sequence is available in the NCBI database (accession number MK775310).