Taphrina is a fungal

Fungus

A fungus is a member of a large group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds , as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, Fungi, which is separate from plants, animals, and bacteria...

 genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 within the Ascomycota

Ascomycota

The Ascomycota are a Division/Phylum of the kingdom Fungi, and subkingdom Dikarya. Its members are commonly known as the Sac fungi. They are the largest phylum of Fungi, with over 64,000 species...

 that causes leaf and catkin curl diseases and witch's broom

Witch's broom

A Witch's broom is a disease or deformity in a woody plant, typically a tree, where the natural structure of the plant is changed. A dense mass of shoots grows from a single point, with the resulting structure resembling a broom or a bird's nest....

s of certain flowering plants. One of the more commonly observed species causes peach leaf curl

Leaf curl

Leaf curl is a plant disease caused by a fungus or virus and characterized by curling of leaves...

. Taphrina typically grow as yeast

Yeast

Yeasts are eukaryotic micro-organisms classified in the kingdom Fungi, with 1,500 species currently described estimated to be only 1% of all fungal species. Most reproduce asexually by mitosis, and many do so by an asymmetric division process called budding...

s during one phase of their life cycles

Biological life cycle

A life cycle is a period involving all different generations of a species succeeding each other through means of reproduction, whether through asexual reproduction or sexual reproduction...

, then infect plant tissues in which typical hyphae are formed, and ultimately they form a naked layer of asci

Ascus

An ascus is the sexual spore-bearing cell produced in ascomycete fungi. On average, asci normally contain eight ascospores, produced by a meiotic cell division followed, in most species, by a mitotic cell division. However, asci in some genera or species can number one , two, four, or multiples...

 on the deformed, often brightly pigmented surfaces of their hosts. No discrete fruit body is formed outside of the gall

Gall

Galls or cecidia are outgrowths on the surface of lifeforms caused by invasion by other lifeforms, such as parasites or bacterial infection. Plant galls are abnormal outgrowths of plant tissues and can be caused by various parasites, from fungi and bacteria, to insects and mites...

-like or blister-like tissues of the hosts. The asci form a layer lacking paraphyses

Paraphyses

Paraphyses are part of the fertile spore-bearing layer in certain fungi. More specifically, paraphyses are sterile filamentous hyphal end cells composing part of the hymenium of Ascomycota and Basidiomycota interspersed among either the asci or basidia respectively, and not sufficiently...

, and they lack croziers

Crozier (mycology)

A crozier is an anatomical feature of many fungi in the phylum Ascomycota that form at the base of asci and look like hook-topped shepherd’s staffs or stylized religious crosiers...

. The ascospore

Ascospore

An ascospore is a spore contained in an ascus or that was produced inside an ascus. This kind of spore is specific to fungi classified as ascomycetes ....

s frequently bud into multiple yeast cells within the asci. Phylogenetically, Taphrina is a member of a basal

Basal (phylogenetics)

In phylogenetics, a basal clade is the earliest clade to branch in a larger clade; it appears at the base of a cladogram.A basal group forms an outgroup to the rest of the clade, such as in the following example:...

 group within the Ascomycota, and type genus for the subphylum Taphrinomycotina

Taphrinomycotina

Taphrinomycotina is one of three subphyla constituting the Ascomycota and is more or less synonymous with the slightly older invalid name Archiascomycetes...

, the class Taphrinomycetes

Taphrinomycetes

The Taphrinomycetes are a class of ascomycete fungi belonging to the subdivion Taphrinomycotina. It includes the single order Taphrinales, which includes 2 families, 8 genera and 140 species....

, and order Taphrinales.

Species

• Taphrina alni
  Alder tongue gall
  Taphrina alni is a fungal plant pathogen that causes Alder tongue gall, a chemically induced distortion of female alder catkins ....
  
  (Berk. & Broome) Gjaerum
• Taphrina aurea
  Taphrina aurea
  Taphrina aurea is an ascomycete fungus that is a plant pathogen. It causes leaf blisters on poplar trees.- External links :* *...
  
  (Pers.) Fr.
• Taphrina betulina Rostr.
• Taphrina bullata
  Taphrina bullata
  Taphrina bullata is an ascomycete fungus that is a plant pathogen. It causes leaf blisters on pear trees.- External links :* *...
  
  (Berkeley) Tulasne
• Taphrina caerulescens
  Taphrina caerulescens
  Taphrina caerulescens is a species of fungus in the Taphrinaceae family. A plant pathogen, it causes leaf blisters on oak trees . The associated anamorph species is Lalaria coccinea, described in 1990....
  
  (Desmaz. & Mont.) Tul.
• Taphrina coryli
  Taphrina coryli
  Taphrina coryli is an ascomycete fungus that is a plant pathogen.- External links :* *...
  
  
• Taphrina deformans
  Taphrina deformans
  Taphrina deformans is a fungus and plant pathogen, one of the causal agents of peach leaf curl, the other being a virus.-Life Cycle:T.deformans infects species of the genus Prunus including P. amygdalus and P. persica . Infected leaves develop a whitish bloom as infection progresses...
  
  (Berk.) Tul.
• Taphrina entomospora
  Taphrina entomospora
  Taphrina entomospora is a fungal plant pathogen that infects the leaves of Nothofagus. T. entomospora infection results in chlorosis and changes in parenchyma structure of the leaf causing premature senescence. The species was first described scientifically by mycologist Roland Thaxter in...
  
  Thaxter
• Taphrina johansonii
  Taphrina johansonii
  Taphrina johansonii is an ascomycete fungus that is a plant pathogen. It causes "tongue" galls on poplar trees.- External links :* *...
  
  Sadebeck
• Taphrina maculans Butler
• Taphrina piri
• Taphrina populina (Fr. ex Fr.) Fr.
• Taphrina potentillae
  Taphrina potentillae
  Taphrina potentillae is a species of fungus in the Taphrinaceae family. A plant pathogen, it infects the flowers and leaves of species of the genera Potentilla and Parageum. The species was first described under the name Exoascus deformans var. potentillae by American botanist William Farlow in...
  
  (Farl.) Johans.
• Taphrina pruni
  Taphrina pruni
  Taphrina pruni is a fungal plant pathogen that causes the Pocket or bladder Plum gall, a chemically induced distortion of the fruit, producing swollen on one side, otherwise deformed and flattened fruit gall without a stone. The twigs on infected plants may also be deformed with small strap-shaped...
  
  Tul.
• Taphrina sadebeckii Johans.
• Taphrina tosquinetii (WestendD.) Magnus
• Taphrina ulmi
  Taphrina ulmi
  Taphrina ulmi is a species of fungus in the Taphrinaceae family. A plant pathogen, it causes leaf blister galls on elm trees....
  
  (Fuckel) Johans.
• Taphrina wiesneri
  Taphrina wiesneri
  Taphrina wiesneri is a plant pathogen causing witch's broom formations on Cherry trees . It is a important pest species of the ornamental cherry Cerasus X yedoensis in Japan.- Life Cycle :...
  
  (Rathay) Mix