Discomycetes are an artificial grouping of apothecia-producing fungi in the phylum Ascomycota.Molecular-based studies have revealed that the discomycetes can be found among ten classes of Ascomycota.The classification...Discomycetes are an artificial grouping of apothecia-producing fungi in the phylum Ascomycota.Molecular-based studies have revealed that the discomycetes can be found among ten classes of Ascomycota.The classification of discomycetes has been a major challenge due to the lack of a clear understanding of the important morphological characters,as well as a lack of reference strains.In this review,we provide a historical perspective of discomycetes,notes on their morphology(including both asexual and sexual morphs),ecology and importance,an outline of discomycete families and a synoptical cladogram of currently accepted families in Ascomycota showing their systematic position.We also calculated evolutionary divergence times for major discomycetous taxa based on phylogenetic relationships using a combined LSU,SSU and RPB2 data set from 175 strains and fossil data.Our results confirm that discomycetes are found in two major subphyla of the Ascomycota:Taphrinomycotina and Pezizomycotina.The taxonomic placement of major discomycete taxa is briefly discussed.The most basal group of discomycetes is the class Neolectomycetes,which diverged from other Taphrinomycotina around 417 MYA(216–572),and the most derived group of discomycetes,the class Lecanoromycetes,diverged from Eurotiomycetes around 340 MYA(282–414).Further clarifications based on type specimens,designation of epitypes or reference specimens from fresh collections,and multi-gene analyses are needed to determine the taxonomic arrangement of many discomycetes.展开更多
基金This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.31360015)the Autonomous Deployment Program of the Kunming Institute of Botany,Chinese Academy of Sciences(Nos.KIB2016002 and Y62B9111Q1)and the CAS/SAFEA International Partnership Program for Creative Research Teams+2 种基金Peter R.Johnston and Robert Lucking are thanked for providing suggestions during the preparation of this manuscript,Martin Ryberg is thanked for discussion on the evolution of discomycetes and Samantha C.Karunarathna is thanked for suppling some photographs used in this manuscript.Kevin D.Hyde thanks the Chinese Academy of Sciences,Project No.2013T2S0030,for the award of Visiting Professorship for Senior International Scientists at Kunming Institute of BotanyAlan JL Phillips acknowledges the support from Biosystems and Integrative Sciences Institute(BioISI,FCT/UID/Multi/04046/2013)Anusha H.Ekanayaka was supported by a postgraduate scholarship from Professor Gareth Jones.Anusha H.Ekanayaka is grateful to(Late)Mr.W.Ekanayaka and Mrs.C.Ekanayaka and Mr.A.Surasinghe for their valuable support and encouragement.
文摘Discomycetes are an artificial grouping of apothecia-producing fungi in the phylum Ascomycota.Molecular-based studies have revealed that the discomycetes can be found among ten classes of Ascomycota.The classification of discomycetes has been a major challenge due to the lack of a clear understanding of the important morphological characters,as well as a lack of reference strains.In this review,we provide a historical perspective of discomycetes,notes on their morphology(including both asexual and sexual morphs),ecology and importance,an outline of discomycete families and a synoptical cladogram of currently accepted families in Ascomycota showing their systematic position.We also calculated evolutionary divergence times for major discomycetous taxa based on phylogenetic relationships using a combined LSU,SSU and RPB2 data set from 175 strains and fossil data.Our results confirm that discomycetes are found in two major subphyla of the Ascomycota:Taphrinomycotina and Pezizomycotina.The taxonomic placement of major discomycete taxa is briefly discussed.The most basal group of discomycetes is the class Neolectomycetes,which diverged from other Taphrinomycotina around 417 MYA(216–572),and the most derived group of discomycetes,the class Lecanoromycetes,diverged from Eurotiomycetes around 340 MYA(282–414).Further clarifications based on type specimens,designation of epitypes or reference specimens from fresh collections,and multi-gene analyses are needed to determine the taxonomic arrangement of many discomycetes.
