Abstract
Patterns of geographic distribution and composition of fungal communities are still poorly understood. Widespread occurrence in terrestrial ecosystems and the unique richness of interactions of Sebacinales with plants make them a target group to study evolutionary events in the light of nutritional lifestyle. We inferred diversity patterns, phylogenetic structures and divergence times of Sebacinales with respect to their nutritional lifestyles by integrating data from fossil-calibrated phylogenetic analyses. Relaxed molecular clock analyses indicated that Sebacinales originated late Permian within Basidiomycota, and their split into Sebacinaceae and Serendipitaceae nom. prov. likely occurred during the late Jurassic and the early Cretaceous, coinciding with major diversifications of land plants. In Sebacinaceae, diversification of species with ectomycorrhizal lifestyle presumably started during the Paleocene. Lineage radiations of the core group of ericoid and cavendishioid mycorrhizal Sebacinales started probably in the Eocene, coinciding with diversification events of their hosts. The diversification of Sebacinales with jungermannioid interactions started during the Oligocene, and occurred much later than the diversification of their hosts. Sebacinales communities associated either with ectomycorrhizal plants, achlorophyllous orchids, ericoid and cavendishioid Ericaceae or liverworts were phylogenetically clustered and globally distributed. Major Sebacinales lineage diversifications started after the continents had drifted apart. We also briefly discuss dispersal patterns of extant Sebacinales.
Highlights
Geographic distributions of fungi on a large scale are strongly influenced by their respective lifestyles [1], dispersal limitation, surrounding plant communities, as well as by climate and habitat
We identified one core group for each nutritional trait that was phylogenetically clustered in order to discuss divergence times for the respective traits
Sebacinales forming cavendishioid, ericoid and ectomycorrhiza, as well as Sebacinales associated with liverworts, were phylogenetically clustered as shown by significant mean nearest taxon distance (MNTD) and mean pairwise distance (MPD) values
Summary
Geographic distributions of fungi on a large scale are strongly influenced by their respective lifestyles [1], dispersal limitation, surrounding plant communities, as well as by climate and habitat (see e.g. [2,3,4]). The most important biotrophic association between fungi and plants are mycorrhizae [5]. Most mycorrhizal basidiomycetes form ectomycorrhiza, a type of mycorrhiza that evolved several times independently. Divergence Times and Phylogenetic Patterns of Sebacinales in plants and fungi. It can be found in about 80 different, mainly woody plant lineages and primarily in association with Basidiomycota, and with Ascomycota [6]. Basidiomycota form various other mycorrhizal types, such as orchid, ericoid and arbutoid mycorrhiza. These types are mainly restricted to a single host plant family. Sebacinales forming cavendishioid mycorrhiza are closely related to ericoid forming Sebacinales and seem to be able to form both types [8]
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