Using genome sequencing to assign these strange organisms their own classification, a study team led by the University of Alberta revealed that about 600 seemingly unrelated fungi that never quite found a fit along the fungal family tree shared a common progenitor.
“They lack any distinguishing characteristics that you can perceive with the naked eye that would allow you to classify them as members of the same group.” However, as soon as you access the genome, this appears: “Biological Sciences Department associate professor and project’s primary scientist, Toby Spribille, adds.”
The platypus and echidna of the fungus world, according to the author
Spribille, Canada Research Chair in Symbiosis, is referring to the legendary monotremes of Australia that defy the Linnaean classification system and produce milk and have nipples but lay eggs, despite there being some doubt as to their existence.
No one suspected that our fungi were fake, yet they all have quite distinct appearances.
The scientists discovered that this new family of fungi, the Lichinomycetes, originated from a single source 300 million years ago, or 240 million years before the extinction of the dinosaurs, using DNA-based dating techniques.
These “oddball” fungi were previously dispersed throughout seven different classes, according to David Dáz-Escandón, who conducted the research as part of his PhD thesis. This high-level classification corresponds to the groupings known as mammals or reptiles in animals.
He analyzed 30 Genome studies while working with a group of scientists from seven different nations to collect samples from the fungi and discovered that all classes—aside from one—were descended from a single origin.
They were categorized, but Daz-Escandón claims that because they were divided into such dissimilar groups on the fungal side of the tree of life, no one ever realized that they were linked.
These fungi come in a variety of shapes, including earth tongues, unsettling tongue-shaped fungi that emerge vertically from the ground, bacteria found in beetle guts, and a fungus found in tree sap in northern Alberta. They also contain some rare lichens that can endure in harsh environments, such as the world’s driest non-polar desert, the Atacama Desert in South America.
Despite having such dissimilar appearances, these fungi share a great deal of genetic information, according to Spribille. “Nobody anticipated this.”
The research hypothesizes that this type of fungi is dependent on other creatures for life based on their genomes, which are tiny in comparison to those of other fungi.
Because of their short genome studies, this type of fungi has lost a lot of its capacity to incorporate certain complex sugars, according to Spribille. “Suddenly, we realize that all of these fungi are in some sort of symbiosis when we go back to examine each one individually.”
He points out that the new findings will be crucial to the larger study of fungal evolution, particularly with regard to how fungi inherit crucial biotechnological traits like enzymes that digest plant stuff.
The new group might also be a source of fresh data on previous fungal extinctions.
“The diversity we observe now, in our opinion, is only the very tip of the iceberg that has survived.” Additionally, there aren’t many instances of this kind of event in fungi.”
