Uredinales

2 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Uredinales \Uredinales\, prop. n. pl. (Biol.)
     An order of fungi of the phylum Basidiomycota, comprising the
     rust fungi.
     [PJC]
  
           The order {Uredinales} includes between an estimated


           5,000 and 7,000 species of diverse plant pathogens.
           They have been around since the Carboniferous Age
           (250-300 million years ago), and were well established
           on the very first ferns. Members of Uredinales are well
           enough adapted that they inhabit every continent except
           for Antarctica. Commonly known as the "rust fungi,"
           they attack nearly all types of plant life, and are
           economically devastating to many crops. Members of
           Uredinales have a very diverse and complex life
           cycle-that may affect more than one host family and
           include up to five different stages.
           Morphological Features:
           Uredinales includes both autoecious and heteroecious
           parasites. Autoecious genera infect only one plant
           host, while heteroecious genera carry out different
           parts of their life cycle on two different hosts. One
           example of a heteroecious fungus, Puccinia graminis,
           the black stem rust of wheat, requires both the
           barberry bush and a grass to complete its complicated
           life cycle.
           Life cycles of Uredinales are very diverse and complex.
           Some genera have up to five stages of their life cycle:
           Spermagonia, Aecia, Uredinia, Telia, and Basidia.
           Spores are produced in each stage with differing
           ploidy: spermatia (n), aeciospores (n+n),
           unidiniospores (n+n), teliospores (n+n to 2n), and
           basidiospores (n). Genera that do not exhibit all five
           of these stages either show three or four instead.
           Ecology:
           Uredinales comprise the most devastating plant
           pathogens of all Basidiomycota. Genera of Uredinales
           are responsible for diseases such as: coffee rust,
           cedar-apple rust, black stem rust of cereals, carnation
           rust, and peanut rust. There are thousands of other
           rusts that havenšt been listed that are also
           responsible for being seriously detrimental to many
           genera of plants.
           Despite all of the ecological problems that these fungi
           cause to plants, recent efforts have attempted to use
           some of these rusts to control weedy pests.
     --Kari Jensen (University of Wisconsin, course material)
     [available at:
     http://botit.botany.wisc.edu/courses/Botany_332/uredinales.html]
     [PJC]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  Uredinales
       n : rust fungi: parasitic fungi causing rust in plants;
           sometimes placed in [syn: {order Uredinales}]