Convergent losses of decay mechanisms and rapid turnover of symbiosis genes in mycorrhizal mutualists

By A. Kohler, A. Kuo, L. Nagy, E. Morin, Kerrie W. Barry, F. Buscot, Björn Canbäck, C. Choi, Nicolas Cichocki, Alicia Clum and 42 more. Nature Genetics, 2015

1,001 citations recorded by the source corpus.

To elucidate the genetic bases of mycorrhizal lifestyle evolution, we sequenced new fungal genomes, including 13 ectomycorrhizal (ECM), orchid (ORM) and ericoid (ERM) species, and five saprotrophs, which we analyzed along with other fungal genomes. Ectomycorrhizal fungi have a reduced complement of genes encoding plant cell wall–degrading enzymes (PCWDEs), as compared to their ancestral wood decayers. Nevertheless, they have retained a unique array of PCWDEs, thus suggesting that they possess diverse abilities to decompose lignocellulose. Similar functional categories of nonorthologous genes are induced in symbiosis. Of induced genes, 7–38% are orphan genes, including genes that encode secreted effector-like proteins. Convergent evolution of the mycorrhizal habit in fungi occurred via the repeated evolution of a 'symbiosis toolkit', with reduced numbers of PCWDEs and lineage-specific suites of mycorrhiza-induced genes.

Subfields: Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Molecular Biology, Plant Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/6537dd6798d82f1bfa4ec87f79f66e02437778ef

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

In Molecular Biology

In Plant Science

Citations in the corpus

Lignin degradation: microorganisms, enzymes involved, genomes analysis and evolution (2017, background): “Further molecular clock analyses revealed that the Pezizomycotina and Agaricomycetes are ∼400 and 300 million years old, respectively (Kohler et al. 2015).”
Plant intraspecific variation modulates nutrient cycling through its below ground rhizospheric microbiome (2019, background): “…traits) and regulating metabolic functions are highly conserved across the prokaryotic phylogeny (Goberna & Verdú, 2016), and to some extent across saprotrophic or symbiotic fungal lineages (i.e. nutrient cycling‐related traits) (Hugoni, Luis, Guyonnet, & Haichar, 2018; Kohler et al., 2015).”
A phylum-level phylogenetic classification of zygomycete fungi based on genome-scale data (2016, background): “…analyses have transformed our understanding of phylogenetic relationships and evolutionary processes (e.g. Floudas et al. 2012, Nagy et al. 2014, Kohler et al. 2015), genome data for zygomycetes have been sparse with respect to phylogenetic depth and breadth (Gryganskyi and Muszewska 2014).”
Reviews and syntheses: Biological weathering and its consequences at different spatial levels – from nanoscale to global scale (2020, background): “…for hydrolytic decomposition of cellulose and other plant cell wall components has contracted in comparison with their saprotrophic ancestors (Kohler et al., 2015; Martin et al., 2016), saprotrophic fungi also exude the same types of carbon compounds as ectomycorrhizal fungi, including…”
How mycorrhizal associations drive plant population and community biology (2020, background): “fungi (51) and dominance ofmycorrhizal plants in most terrestrial ecosystems (12).”
Forest microbiome: diversity, complexity and dynamics. (2016, background): “However, there are no ECM fungi that assimilate significant amounts of soil or litter C because all of their evolutionary lineages lost the ability to utilise biopolymers (Kohler et al. 2015).”
Tales from the crypt: genome mining from fungarium specimens improves resolution of the mushroom tree of life (2016, background): “…power of phylogenomics for reconstructing evolutionary histories in Fungi (Fitzpatrick et al., 2006; Binder et al., 2013; Floudas et al., 2015; Kohler et al., 2015), yet, thus far, Agaricales have not been tested with these methods and, to date, publicly available Agaricales genomes are very…”