Truffles are the fruiting bodies of fungi from which phylum?

Truffles are the fruiting bodies of fungi from the phylum Ascomycota.

The best-known truffles belong to the genus Tuber, whose members are subterranean ascomycete fungi. Their fruiting bodies develop underground, usually in close association with the roots of trees such as oaks, beeches, hazels, and pines. This partnership is called ectomycorrhiza: the fungus helps the tree obtain nutrients and water, while receiving sugars produced by photosynthesis.

Unlike many mushrooms, truffles cannot rely on wind to carry their spores from an exposed cap. Mature truffles release powerful volatile aromas that attract animals such as dogs, pigs, rodents, and other fungivores. The animals eat the truffles and later disperse the durable spores in their dung, helping new fungal partnerships form near tree roots.

Ascomycota means “sac fungi,” referring to the microscopic asci in which sexual spores develop. The culinary term truffle is sometimes applied broadly to unrelated underground fungi, including some basidiomycetes. That explains why Glomeromycota or Basidiomycota can appear in discussions of truffle-like organisms, but the classic edible Tuber truffles are ascomycetes.