18The ascomycete genus Tetracladium is best known for containing aquatic hyphomycetes, which are 19 important decomposers in stream food webs. However, some species of Tetracladium are thought 20 to be multifunctional and are also endobionts in plants. Suprisingly, Tetracladium sequences are 21 increasingly being reported from metagenomics and metabarcoding studies of both plants and soils 22 world-wide. It is not clear how these sequences are related to the described species and little is 23 known about the non-aquatic biology of these fungi. Here, the genomes of 24 Tetracladium strains, 24 including all described species, were sequenced and used to resolve relationships among taxa and to 25 improve our understanding of ecological and genomic diversity in this group. All genome-sequenced 26 Tetracladium fungi form a monophyletic group. Conspecific strains of T. furcatum from both aquatic 27 saprotrophic and endobiont lifestyles and a putative cold-adapted clade are identified. Analysis of 28 ITS sequences from water, soil, and plants from around the world reveals that multifunctionality 29 may be widespread through the genus. Further, frequent reports of these fungi from extreme 30 environments suggest they may have important but unknown roles in those ecosystems. Patterns of 31 predicted carbohydrate active enzymes (CAZyme) and secondary metabolites in the Tetracladium 32 genomes are more similar to each other than to other ascomycetes, regardless of ecology, 33 suggesting a strong role for phylogeny shaping genome content in the genus. Tetracladium genomes 34 are enriched for pectate lyase domains (including PL3-2), GH71 α-1,3-glucanase domains and CBM24 35 α-1,3-glucan/mutan binding modules, and both GH32 and CBM38, inulinase and inulin binding 36 modules. These results indicate that these fungi are well-suited to digesting pectate and pectin in 37 leaves when living as aquatic hyphomycetes, and inulin when living as root endobionts. Enrichment 38 for α-1,3-glucanase domains may be associated with interactions with biofilm forming 39 microorganisms in root and submerged leaf environments. 42 important decomposers in stream ecosystems. The group is polyphyletic, its members are classified 43 in various orders and families of Ascomycetes and Basidiomycetes. These fungi thrive on leaves and 44 other plant debris that enter streams and other water bodies from terrestrial plants. In the process, 45 carbon and nutrients from recalcitrant plant compounds, including cellulose and lignin, become 46 accessible to diverse consumers in the stream food web (reviewed in (1, 2)). Up to 99% of the carbon 47 in some streams enters as plant debris that is largely inaccessible to aquatic consumers without the 48 degradative activity of these fungi (3, 4). Aquatic hyphomycete adaptations to stream environments 49 include the production of asexual propagules (conidia) while under water. These spores are often 50 branched, typically tetraradiate, or sigmoid, readily detachable from the fungus (e.g. from 51 conidiophores) and passi...