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The Ascomycota tree of life: a phylum-wide phylogeny clarifies the origin and evolution of fundamental reproductive and ecological traits.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Schoch, CL; Sung, G-H; López-Giráldez, F; Townsend, JP; Miadlikowska, J; Hofstetter, V; Robbertse, B; Matheny, PB; Kauff, F; Wang, Z; Trippe, K ...
Published in: Systematic biology
April 2009

We present a 6-gene, 420-species maximum-likelihood phylogeny of Ascomycota, the largest phylum of Fungi. This analysis is the most taxonomically complete to date with species sampled from all 15 currently circumscribed classes. A number of superclass-level nodes that have previously evaded resolution and were unnamed in classifications of the Fungi are resolved for the first time. Based on the 6-gene phylogeny we conducted a phylogenetic informativeness analysis of all 6 genes and a series of ancestral character state reconstructions that focused on morphology of sporocarps, ascus dehiscence, and evolution of nutritional modes and ecologies. A gene-by-gene assessment of phylogenetic informativeness yielded higher levels of informativeness for protein genes (RPB1, RPB2, and TEF1) as compared with the ribosomal genes, which have been the standard bearer in fungal systematics. Our reconstruction of sporocarp characters is consistent with 2 origins for multicellular sexual reproductive structures in Ascomycota, once in the common ancestor of Pezizomycotina and once in the common ancestor of Neolectomycetes. This first report of dual origins of ascomycete sporocarps highlights the complicated nature of assessing homology of morphological traits across Fungi. Furthermore, ancestral reconstruction supports an open sporocarp with an exposed hymenium (apothecium) as the primitive morphology for Pezizomycotina with multiple derivations of the partially (perithecia) or completely enclosed (cleistothecia) sporocarps. Ascus dehiscence is most informative at the class level within Pezizomycotina with most superclass nodes reconstructed equivocally. Character-state reconstructions support a terrestrial, saprobic ecology as ancestral. In contrast to previous studies, these analyses support multiple origins of lichenization events with the loss of lichenization as less frequent and limited to terminal, closely related species.

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Published In

Systematic biology

DOI

EISSN

1076-836X

ISSN

1063-5157

Publication Date

April 2009

Volume

58

Issue

2

Start / End Page

224 / 239

Related Subject Headings

  • Reproduction
  • Phylogeny
  • Genes, Fungal
  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Ecosystem
  • Ascomycota
  • 3105 Genetics
  • 3104 Evolutionary biology
  • 3103 Ecology
  • 0604 Genetics
 

Citation

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Schoch, C. L., Sung, G.-H., López-Giráldez, F., Townsend, J. P., Miadlikowska, J., Hofstetter, V., … Spatafora, J. W. (2009). The Ascomycota tree of life: a phylum-wide phylogeny clarifies the origin and evolution of fundamental reproductive and ecological traits. Systematic Biology, 58(2), 224–239. https://doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/syp020
Schoch, Conrad L., Gi-Ho Sung, Francesc López-Giráldez, Jeffrey P. Townsend, Jolanta Miadlikowska, Valérie Hofstetter, Barbara Robbertse, et al. “The Ascomycota tree of life: a phylum-wide phylogeny clarifies the origin and evolution of fundamental reproductive and ecological traits.Systematic Biology 58, no. 2 (April 2009): 224–39. https://doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/syp020.
Schoch CL, Sung G-H, López-Giráldez F, Townsend JP, Miadlikowska J, Hofstetter V, et al. The Ascomycota tree of life: a phylum-wide phylogeny clarifies the origin and evolution of fundamental reproductive and ecological traits. Systematic biology. 2009 Apr;58(2):224–39.
Schoch, Conrad L., et al. “The Ascomycota tree of life: a phylum-wide phylogeny clarifies the origin and evolution of fundamental reproductive and ecological traits.Systematic Biology, vol. 58, no. 2, Apr. 2009, pp. 224–39. Epmc, doi:10.1093/sysbio/syp020.
Schoch CL, Sung G-H, López-Giráldez F, Townsend JP, Miadlikowska J, Hofstetter V, Robbertse B, Matheny PB, Kauff F, Wang Z, Gueidan C, Andrie RM, Trippe K, Ciufetti LM, Wynns A, Fraker E, Hodkinson BP, Bonito G, Groenewald JZ, Arzanlou M, de Hoog GS, Crous PW, Hewitt D, Pfister DH, Peterson K, Gryzenhout M, Wingfield MJ, Aptroot A, Suh S-O, Blackwell M, Hillis DM, Griffith GW, Castlebury LA, Rossman AY, Lumbsch HT, Lücking R, Büdel B, Rauhut A, Diederich P, Ertz D, Geiser DM, Hosaka K, Inderbitzin P, Kohlmeyer J, Volkmann-Kohlmeyer B, Mostert L, O’Donnell K, Sipman H, Rogers JD, Shoemaker RA, Sugiyama J, Summerbell RC, Untereiner W, Johnston PR, Stenroos S, Zuccaro A, Dyer PS, Crittenden PD, Cole MS, Hansen K, Trappe JM, Yahr R, Lutzoni F, Spatafora JW. The Ascomycota tree of life: a phylum-wide phylogeny clarifies the origin and evolution of fundamental reproductive and ecological traits. Systematic biology. 2009 Apr;58(2):224–239.
Journal cover image

Published In

Systematic biology

DOI

EISSN

1076-836X

ISSN

1063-5157

Publication Date

April 2009

Volume

58

Issue

2

Start / End Page

224 / 239

Related Subject Headings

  • Reproduction
  • Phylogeny
  • Genes, Fungal
  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Ecosystem
  • Ascomycota
  • 3105 Genetics
  • 3104 Evolutionary biology
  • 3103 Ecology
  • 0604 Genetics