Mucoromycota

Mucoromycota is a division within the kingdom fungi. It includes a diverse group of various molds, including the common bread molds Mucor and Rhizopus. It is a sister phylum to Dikarya.

Informally known as zygomycetes I, Mucoromycota includes Mucoromycotina, Mortierellomycotina, and Glomeromycotina, and consists of mainly mycorrhizal fungi, root endophytes, and plant decomposers. Mucoromycotina and Glomeromycotina can form mycorrhiza-like relationships with nonvascular plants. Mucoromycota contain multiple mycorrhizal lineages, root endophytes, and decomposers of plant-based carbon sources. Mucoromycotina species known as mycoparasites, or putative parasites of arthropods are like saprobes. When Mucoromycota infect animals, they are seen as opportunistic pathogens. Mucoromycotina are fast-growing fungi and early colonizers of carbon-rich substrates. Mortierellomycotina are common soil fungi that occur as root endophytes of woody plants and are isolated as saprobes. Glomeromycotina live in soil, forming a network of hyphae, but depend on organic carbon from host plants. In exchange, the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi provide nutrients to the plant.