We report evidence for recombination in lichenized fungi based on sequenced nuclear DNA markers, judging from the incongruence of their gene genealogies. Recombining population structures were found in two phylogenetic species of Letharia, one species that is observed in nature to produce abundant sexual structures (ascomata) and another species that produces abundant clonal reproductive struct...

The "one fungus-two photomorphs" hypothesis suggests that certain lichenized fungi can establish a symbiotic relationship with either a eukaryotic or a prokaryotic photobiont. Such pairs of photomorphs are well know from cephalodiate Peltigerineae. Using an ascomycete-specific primer we amplified the internal transcribed spacer region of the nrDNA repeat of the mycobiont from total "lichen DNA"...

Fungal communities in Norway spruce (Picea abies) logs in two forests in Sweden were investigated by 454-sequence analyses and by examining the ecological roles of the detected taxa. We also investigated the relationship between fruit bodies and mycelia in wood and whether community assembly was affected by how the dead wood was formed. Fungal communities were highly variable in terms of phylog...

Abstract Historically, phytodebris (often considered a type of non-pollen palynomorph – NPP) has played prominent role in research into the fossil record early land plants. This consists cuticles and cuticle-like sheets, various tubular structures (including tracheids tracheid-like tubes) sundry other enigmatic fragments. Initial focused on elucidating their morphology, attempts to identify the...

Despite the recent progress in molecular phylogenetics, many of the deepest relationships among the main lineages of the largest fungal phylum, Ascomycota, remain unresolved. To increase both resolution and support on a large-scale phylogeny of lichenized and non-lichenized ascomycetes, we combined the protein coding-gene RPB2 with the traditionally used nuclear ribosomal genes SSU and LSU. Our...