Reconstructing the early evolution of Fungi using a six-gene phylogeny

Abstract

The ancestors of fungi are believed to be simple aquatic forms with flagellated spores, similar to members of the extant phylum Chytridiomycota (chytrids). Current classifications assume that chytrids form an early-diverging clade within the kingdom Fungi and imply a single loss of the spore flagellum, leading to the diversification of terrestrial fungi. Here we develop phylogenetic hypotheses for Fungi using data from six gene regions and nearly 200 species. Our results indicate that there may have been at least four independent losses of the flagellum in the kingdom Fungi. These losses of swimming spores coincided with the evolution of new mechanisms of spore dispersal, such as aerial dispersal in mycelial groups and polar tube eversion in the microsporidia (unicellular forms that lack mitochondria). The enigmatic microsporidia seem to be derived from an endoparasitic chytrid ancestor similar to Rozella allomycis, on the earliest diverging branch of the fungal phylogenetic tree.

DNA barcoding of the fungal genus Neonectria and the discovery of two new species

“…Furthermore, morphological identification is somewhat time-consuming especially of species that lack sufficient diagnostic features, such as unicellular groups or those that fail to sporulate. In the past two decades, analysis of DNA sequences has been incorporated to establish phylogenetic relationships among groups and to aid species delimitation [8][9][10][11][12]. Nowadays, efforts have been made to seek a short, standardized, and universal gene marker for rapid species identification of diverse groups of fungi [5,[13][14][15][16][17][18][19].…”

The Environmental Clade LKM11 and Rozella Form the Deepest Branching Clade of Fungi

“…Their phylogenetic position as the most basal branch of fungi, or as their sister group, depending on how fungi are to be defined, gives them special importance. This is further reinforced by the suggestion, on the basis of protein-coding genes, that Microsporidia could be related to Rozella allomycis (James et al 2006b). This hypothesis is particularly attractive given the likely parasitic nature of the two groups.…”

Phylogeny of ambrosia beetle symbionts in the genus Raffaelea

“…This distinction is difficult to discern microscopically, and its utility to distinguish the two genera has been questioned Oberwinkler 2005, Harrington et al 2008). Molecular phylogenetic approaches have been used to clarify the taxonomic relationships of most groups of fungi, including the Ophiostomatales (Duong et al 2012, Farrell et al 2001, James et al 2006, Slippers et al 2013. Ribosomal DNA sequence data have confirmed that the two genera are not closely related, as Raffaelea resides in the Ophiostomatales and Ambrosiella in the Microascales (Cassar & Blackwell 1996;Jones & Blackwell 1998;De Beer et al 2013a).…”