Complex evolutionary history of the fungal order Hymenochaetales revealed by analyses of trait evolution and diversification.
Resource type
Journal article
Date published
April 25, 2025
Abstract
The tempo and mode of speciation and extinction of species shape the extant diversity of organisms and hold a footprint of past evolutionary events and adaptive periods. However, in contrast to most animals and plants, fungal diversification patterns are poorly known. Here, using a novel, nearly comprehensive phylogeny, we analyze speciation and extinction patterns of the order Hymenochaetales (Agaricomycetes), which is a speciose group of important wood-decaying fungi and tree pathogens. We show that the Hymenochaetales had a convoluted and eventful evolutionary history, shaped by an early adaptive period, followed by a general rate slowdown interrupted by local rapid radiations in the Cretaceous. We inferred that the ancestor of the order has undergone rapid phenotypic diversification into a range of fruiting body morphologies and lifestyles, of which crust-like morphologies and ‘pileate-sessile’ forms typical of bracket-fungi became dominant among extant taxa. Diversification rate showed significant correlations with paleotemperature, morphological and ecological traits; however, teasing apart the contributions of individual clades revealed that these were mostly driven by the Mid-late Cretaceous rapid radiation of the genus Phylloporia, a taxonomically diverse group of plant parasites. Together, this study unraveled a complex evolutionary history of the Hymenochaetales and uncovered novel patterns of phenotype evolution and diversification in mushroom-forming fungi.
Project(s)
Priority 2: Trait Diversity and Function
Funder
| Funder name | Awards |
National Key Research and Development Program of China, China | No. 2022YFC2601200 |
National Natural Science Foundation of China, China | Project no. 32470003 - Project no. 31970012 - Project no. 32111530245 - Project no. 31570014 |
Biological Resources Programme, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China | CAS-TAX-24-018 |
Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Hungary | LP2019-13/2019 |
National Research, Development and Innovation Office, Hungary | Grant no. OTKA 142188 |
Journal title
Mycosphere
Volume
16
Issue
1
Publisher
Mushroom Research Foundation
Place of publication
[Chiang Rai, Thailand]
eISSN
2077-7019
Date accepted
April 2, 2025
Official URL
Rights statement
In Copyright
Additional information
IF = 10.0 (2023)