New insights into classification and evolution of the Lecanoromycetes (Pezizomycotina, Ascomycota) from phylogenetic analyses of three ribosomal RNA- and two protein-coding genes

Abstract

The Lecanoromycetes includes most of the lichen-forming fungal species (> 13500) and is therefore one of the most diverse class of all Fungi in terms of phenotypic complexity. We report phylogenetic relationships within the Lecanoromycetes resulting from Bayesian and maximum likelihood analyses with complementary posterior probabilities and bootstrap support values based on three combined multilocus datasets using a supermatrix approach. Nine of 10 orders and 43 of 64 families currently recognized in Eriksson's classification of the Lecanoromycetes (Outline of Ascomycota--2006 Myconet 12:1-82) were represented in this sampling. Our analyses strongly support the Acarosporomycetidae and Ostropomycetidae as monophyletic, whereas the delimitation of the largest subclass, the Lecanoromycetidae, remains uncertain. Independent of future delimitation of the Lecanoromycetidae, the Rhizocarpaceae and Umbilicariaceae should be elevated to the ordinal level. This study shows that recent classifications include several nonmonophyletic taxa at different ranks that need to be recircumscribed. Our phylogenies confirm that ascus morphology cannot be applied consistently to shape the classification of lichen-forming fungi. The increasing amount of missing data associated with the progressive addition of taxa resulted in some cases in the expected loss of support, but we also observed an improvement in statistical support for many internodes. We conclude that a phylogenetic synthesis for a chosen taxonomic group should include a comprehensive assessment of phylogenetic confidence based on multiple estimates using different methods and on a progressive taxon sampling with an increasing number of taxa, even if it involves an increasing amount of missing data.

Interaction type influences ecological network structure more than local abiotic conditions: evidence from endophytic and endolichenic fungi at a continental scale

“…S2; see also U' Ren et al 2010). Plants surveyed by U' Ren et al (2012) represented a much broader phylogenetic and phenotypic range (from Bryophyta to Angiospermae) than did the photobionts or mycobionts present in most lichen thalli (e.g., Miadlikowska et al 2006). Such plant diversity encompasses major differences in structural and chemical defenses, mechanisms for nutrient transfer to fungi, and physiological traits.…”

A further new species in the lichen genus Arctomia: A. borbonica from Reunion (Mascarene archipelago)

“…All ac-cessions available on GenBank of representatives of the Arctomiaceae were included; they represent all species assigned to that family, except for both species of Arctomia described from subantarctic islands by Gremmen (2001, 2006). The outgroup species (Bacidia rosella, Lecanora intumescens and Toninia cinereovirens) were chosen outside the Ostropomycetidae and within the Lecanorales (Miadlikowska et al 2006) to avoid any putative homoplasy problem. Six new sequences were generated for this study, all belonging to the new species described in this paper ( Table 1).…”

Molecular data support placement of Cameronia in Ostropomycetidae (Lecanoromycetes, Ascomycota)

“…1 nuLSU mtSSU e+Ostropomycetidae (Lumbsch et al 2007a;Miadlikowska et al 2006;Spatafora et al 2006;Wedin et al 2005). Sequence data of the two species of Cameronia were assembled with sequences of mitochondrial small subunit (mtSSU) and nuclear LSU rDNA downloaded from Genbank (Table 1).…”