@article {4125, title = {Slippery when wet: phylogeny and character evolution in the gelatinous cyanobacterial lichens (Peltigerales, Ascomycetes).}, journal = {Molecular and Phylogenetic Evolution}, volume = {53}, year = {2009}, pages = {862-871}, abstract = {

Many lichen fungi form symbioses with filamentous Nostoc cyanobacteria, which cause the lichen to swell and become extremely gelatinous when moist. Within the Lecanoromycetes, such gelatinous lichens are today mainly classified in the Collemataceae (Peltigerales, Ascomycota). We performed Bayesian MCMC, maximum likelihood, and maximum parsimony analyses of three independent markers (mtSSU rDNA, nuLSU rDNA, and RPB1), to improve our understanding of the phylogeny and classification in the Peltigerales, as well as the evolution of morphological characters that have been used for classification purposes in this group. The Collemataceae and the non-gelatinous Pannariaceae are paraphyletic but can be re-circumscribed as monophyletic if Leciophysma, Physma, Ramalodium and Staurolemma are transferred to the Pannariaceae. The gelatinous taxa transferred to the Pannariaceae deviate from other Collemataceae in having simple ascospores, and several also have a ring-shaped exciple as in other Pannariaceae, rather than the disc-shaped exciple found in the typical Collemataceae. Both Collema and Leptogium are non-monophyletic. The re-circumscribed Collemataceae shares a distinct ascus type with the sister group Placynthiaceae and the Coccocarpiaceae, whereas Pannariaceae includes a variety of structures. All Pannariaceae have one-celled ascospores, whereas all Collemataceae have two- or multi-celled spores. Reconstructions of the number of character state transformations in exciple structure, thallus gelatinosity, and ascus apex structure indicate that the number of transformations is distinctly higher than the minimum possible. Most state transformations in the exciple took place from a ring-shaped to a disc-shaped exciple. Depending on the reconstruction method, most or all transformations in thallus structure took place from a non-gelatinous to a gelatinous thallus. Gains and losses of internal structures in the ascus apex account for all or a vast majority of the number of transformations in the ascus, whereas direct transformations between asci with internal structures appear to have been rare.

}, issn = {1095-9513}, doi = {10.1016/j.ympev.2009.08.013}, author = {Wedin, M. and Wiklund, E. and J{\o}rgensen, P.M. and Ekman, S.} } @article {3817, title = {Contributions of North American endophytes to the phylogeny, ecology, and taxonomy of Xylariaceae (Sordariomycetes, Ascomycota).}, journal = {Molecular and Phylogenetic Evolution}, volume = {98}, year = {2016}, pages = {210-232}, abstract = {

The Xylariaceae (Sordariomycetes) comprise one of the largest and most diverse families of Ascomycota, with at least 85 accepted genera and ca. 1343 accepted species. In addition to their frequent occurrence as saprotrophs, members of the family often are found as endophytes in living tissues of phylogenetically diverse plants and lichens. Many of these endophytes remain sterile in culture, precluding identification based on morphological characters. Previous studies indicate that endophytes are highly diverse and represent many xylariaceous genera; however, phylogenetic analyses at the family level generally have not included endophytes, such that their contributions to understanding phylogenetic relationships of Xylariaceae are not well known. Here we use a multi-locus, cumulative supermatrix approach to integrate 92 putative species of fungi isolated from plants and lichens into a phylogenetic framework for Xylariaceae. Our collection spans 1933 isolates from living and senescent tissues in five biomes across the continental United States, and here is analyzed in the context of previously published sequence data from described species and additional taxon sampling of type specimens from culture collections. We found that the majority of strains obtained in our surveys can be classified in the hypoxyloid and xylaroid subfamilies, although many also were found outside of these lineages (as currently circumscribed). Many endophytes were placed in lineages previously not known for endophytism. Most endophytes appear to represent novel species, but inferences are limited by potential gaps in public databases. By linking our data, publicly available sequence data, and records of ascomata, we identify many geographically widespread, host-generalist clades capable of symbiotic associations with diverse photosynthetic partners. Concomitant with such cosmopolitan host use and distributions, many xylariaceous endophytes appear to inhabit both living and non-living plant tissues, with potentially important roles as saprotrophs. Overall, our study reveals major gaps in the availability of multi-locus datasets and metadata for this iconic family, and provides new hypotheses regarding the ecology and evolution of endophytism and other trophic modes across the family Xylariaceae.

}, issn = {1095-9513}, doi = {10.1016/j.ympev.2016.02.010}, author = {U{\textquoteright}Ren, J.M. and Miadlikowska, J. and Zimmerman, N.B. and Lutzoni, F. and Stajich, J.E. and Arnold, A.E.} } @article {3384, title = {Testing morphology-based hypotheses of phylogenetic relationships in Parmeliaceae (Ascomycota) using three ribosomal markers and the nuclear RPB1 gene}, journal = {Molecular and Phylogenetic Evolution}, volume = {44}, year = {2007}, pages = {812-824}, abstract = {

Parmeliaceae is the largest family of lichen-forming fungi with more than 2000 species and includes taxa with different growth forms. Morphology was widely employed to distinguish groups within this large, cosmopolitan family. In this study we test these morphology-based groupings using DNA sequence data from three nuclear and one mitochondrial marker from 120 taxa that include 59 genera and represent the morphological and chemical diversity in this lineage. Parmeliaceae is strongly supported as monophyletic and six well-supported main clades can be distinguished within the family. The relationships among them remain unresolved. The clades largely agree with the morphology-based groupings and only the placement of four of the genera studied is rejected by molecular data, while four other genera belong to clades previously unrecognised. The classification of these previously misplaced genera, however, has already been questioned by some authors based on morphological evidence. These results support morphological characters as important for the identification of monophyletic clades within Parmeliaceae.

}, issn = {1055-7903}, doi = {10.1016/j.ympev.2006.11.029}, author = {Crespo, A. and Lumbsch, H.T. and Mattsson, J.-E. and Blanco, O. and Divakar, P.K. and Articus, K. and Wiklund, E. and Bawingan, P.A. and Wedin, M.} }