Myxomycetes (Amoebozoa) diversity in global drylands

We investigated the diversity of dark-spored Myxomycetes (Fuscisporidia, Myxogastria, Amoebozoa), a very common group of soil amoebae, in the worlwide dryland samples used for the project described in Maestre et al. (2012 doi:10.1126/science.1215442). Myxomycetes are known to be widely distributed in drylands by inventories based on fruiting bodies, but are overlooked by ePCR surveys. This is because they possess highly divergent 18S rRNA genes sequences. We designed primers specifically targeting the V4 region of the 18S to investigate the diversity of Fuscisporidia in the global drylands and the environmental factors shaping their communities.