Digging Up the Roots: Taxonomic and Phylogenetic Disentanglements in Corticiaceae s.s. (Corticiales, Basidiomycota) and Evolution of Nutritional Modes.

Masoomeh Ghobad-Nejhad,Ewald Langer,Karen Nakasone,Mario Rajchenberg,R Henrik Nilsson,Paul Diederich,James Ginns

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2021.704802

Abstract

Corticiaceae is one of the traditional families of the Agaricomycetes and served for a long time as a convenient placement for basidiomycetes with a resupinate, corticioid form of fruiting body. Molecular studies have helped to assign many corticioid fungi to diverse families and orders; however, Corticiaceae still lacks a phylogenetic characterization and modern circumscription. Here, we provide the first comprehensive phylogenetic and taxonomic revision of the family Corticiaceae based on extensive type studies and sequences of nLSU, ITS, IGS, nSSU, and mtSSU regions. Our analyses support the recognition of ten monophyletic genera in the Corticiaceae, and show that nutritional mode is not a robust basis for generic delimitations in the family. The genus Mycobernardia and the species Corticium thailandicum, Erythricium vernum, and Marchandiomyces allantosporus are described as new to science, and five new combinations are proposed. Moreover, ancestral character state reconstruction revealed that saprotrophy is the plesiomorphic nutritional mode in the Corticiaceae, while several transitions have occurred to diverse nutritional modes in this family. Identification keys are provided to the genera in Corticiaceae s.s. as well as to the species in Corticium, Erythricium, Laetisaria, and Marchandiomyces.

Highlights

The family Corticiaceae has a long taxonomic history yet remains poorly known and understudied
The phylogram depicts an overall topology of the order Corticiales, with the four families Corticiaceae, Punctulariaceae, Vuilleminiaceae, and Dendrominiaceae
The order is rooted with members of Russulales and Gloeophyllales, and the family Corticiaceae is in a well-supported clade indicated with an arrow (Figure 2)

Summary

Introduction

The family Corticiaceae has a long taxonomic history yet remains poorly known and understudied. Corticiaceae was created by Herter (1910) to encompass the vast group of aphyllophoroid fungi with a corticioid or crust form of fruiting body These fungi were formerly referred to Thelephoraceae (Chevallier, 1826), until the name became restricted to a group of mycorrhizal fungi with variable macromorphology but quite uniform in microscopy and recognized by Patouillard (1900) as the “Série des Phylactéries.”. One of the most eminent works on Corticiaceae (sensu Donk) includes the monograph series by John Eriksson et al.—“The Corticiaceae of North Europe” (1973–1988)—which provided detailed information and illustrations on numerous genera and species It initiated a rapid spread in the knowledge of this group of fungi worldwide

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