Phylogenetic classification of the frog pathogen Amphibiothecum (Dermosporidium) penneri based on small ribosomal subunit sequencing.

We determined 1,600 base pairs of DNA sequence in the 18S small ribosomal subunit from two geographically distinct isolates of Dermosporidium penneri. Maximum likelihood and parsimony analysis of these sequences place D. penneri in the order Dermocystida of the class Mesomycetozoea. The 18S rRNA sequences from these two isolates only differ within a single region of 16 contiguous nucleotides. Based on the distant phylogenetic relationship of these organisms to Amphibiocystidium ranae and similarity to Sphaerothecum destruens we propose the organism be renamed Amphibiothecum penneri.