Genome studies uncover a new branch in fungal evolution

There are hundreds of species of seemingly unrelated fungi that are closely related to each other, but scientists didn't know they were closely related until now

An international team of researchers led by an Edmonton scientist used gene sequencing to find out what happened before these weird fungi came to be and gave them a new classification

They don't have any special features that you can see with the naked eye, so you can say they are part of the same group. Suddenly, when you go to the genome, this comes to mind

Australia's famed Linnaean classification system-defying monotremes, which produce milk and have nipples, but lay eggs, were the source of debate

Using DNA-based dating techniques, scientists found that the new class of fungi, called Lichinomycetes, had descended from a single origin 300 million years ago

these "oddball" fungi were  sprinkled across seven different classes—a high-level grouping that in animals would be equivalent to the groups called mammals or reptiles

He worked with a team of researchers from seven countries to get material from the fungi, and found that all classes except one were descended from a single origin

Earth tongues, which shoot up vertically out of the ground, and bee gut microbes, which are found in tree sap, are just some of the different forms of these fungi

The similarities between these fungi are what’s so fascinating about them. There is a lot in common when it comes to their genomes

Based on their genome sequences, which are much smaller than those of other fungi, the team predicts that these fungi live in a world dominated by other organisms

Understanding the tiny genomes of these fungi will help researchers understand how fungi inherit important biotechnological features, such as enzymes that break down plant matter

The new group of fungi may be a source of new information about past fungal extinctions. We think it’s likely that the diversity we see today is just the tip of the iceberg that survived

The fungi described here are unlike any that we’ve seen. There are a number of differences between them and the fungi that you might be used to, but we can’t say for sure what they mean.

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