Journey from the West: did tropical Graphidaceae (lichenized Ascomycota: Ostropales) evolve from a saxicolous ancestor along the American Pacific coast?

Premise Of The Study: This study elucidates the phylogenetic position of a unique taxon of Graphidaceae occurring on rock in coastal desert areas, assessing its importance for our understanding of the evolution of the largest family of tropical lichenized fungi. •

Methods: We used maximum likelihood and Bayesian approaches to reconstruct a three-gene phylogeny of Graphidaceae and a Bayesian molecular clock approach to estimate divergence dates for major clades, as well as Bayesian ancestral ecogeography state analysis. •

Key Results: The new genus Redonographa represents a new subfamily, Redonographoideae, sister to subfamily Graphidoideae.

Parallel evolution and phenotypic divergence in lichenized fungi: a case study in the lichen-forming fungal family Graphidaceae (Ascomycota: Lecanoromycetes: Ostropales).

A molecular phylogeny of combined mtSSU, nuLSU, and RPB2 data revealed previously unrecognized levels of parallel evolution and phenotypic divergence in the lichen family Graphidaceae. Five clades were supported within the family: the Fissurina, Ocellularia, Graphis, Topeliopsis, and Thelotrema clades, containing 33 of the 42 currently accepted genera within the family. The results for the first time provide a fully resolved phylogeny of this family and confirm the synonymy of Graphidaceae and Thelotremataceae.

PHYLOGENETIC DIVERSITY OF TRENTEPOHLIALEAN ALGAE ASSOCIATED WITH LICHEN-FORMING FUNGI(1).

Nearly one-fourth of the lichen-forming fungi associate with trentepohlialean algae, yet their genetic diversity remains unknown. Recent work focusing on free-living trentepohlialean algae has provided a phylogenetic context within which questions regarding the lichenization of these algae can be asked. Here, we concentrated our sampling on trentepohlialean algae from lichens producing a diversity of growth forms (fruticose and crustose) over a broad geographic substratum, ecological, and phylogenetic range.

Fungi evolved right on track.

Dating of fungal divergences with molecular clocks thus far has yielded highly inconsistent results. The origin of fungi was estimated at between 660 million and up to 2.15 billion y ago, and the divergence of the two major lineages of higher fungi, Ascomycota and Basidiomycota, at between 390 million y and up to 1.