Microbotryum violaceum

Microbotryum violaceum, also known as the anther smut fungus, was formerly known as Ustilago violacea. It is a basidiomycete obligate parasite of many Caryophyllaceae. But it has now separated into many species due to its host specificity.

Microbotryum violaceum
Microbotryum violaceum on Silene alba
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Fungi
Division:	Basidiomycota
Class:	Microbotryomycetes
Order:	Microbotryales
Family:	Microbotryaceae
Genus:	Microbotryum
Species:	M. violaceum
Binomial name
Microbotryum violaceum (Pers.) G. Deml & Oberw., (1982)
Synonyms
Caeoma antherarum (DC.) Nees (1816) Caeoma violaceum (DC.) Nees (1816) Microbotryum antherarum (DC.) Lév., (1847) Uredo antherarum DC., (1815) Uredo antherarum var. antherarum DC., (1815) Uredo antherarum a silenes-nutantis DC., (1815) Uredo violacea Pers., (1797) Ustilago antherarum (DC.) Fr., (1832) Ustilago silenes-nutantis (DC.) Liro, (1924) Ustilago violacea (Pers.) Roussel, (1806) Ustilago violacea var. silenes-nutantis (DC.) Durrieu & Zambett., (1973)

Meiosis in M. violaceum produces a tetrad of four haploid meiotic products. Pairwise intra-tetrad mating can occur between these meiotic products.^[1]

Examples

Microbotryum violaceum can infect and sterilize the plant species Silene latifolia by acting like a sexually transmitted infection.