346회 Phylogenetic studies, basidiomycete evolution, and ectomycorrhiza…

346회

연사 :  David J. McLaughlin, Dept. of Plant Biology and Bell Museum of Natural History, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, USA

제목: Phylogenetic studies, basidiomycete evolution, and ectomycorrhizal biodiversity

Abstract

Modern phylogenetic studies have provided startling new insights into fungal evolution, fungal ecology, and the extent of fungal biodiversity. Molecular analyses are bringing about a revolution in fungal systematics often leaving us without obvious morphological or other characters to explain the new taxonomic relationships. Subcellular and biochemical examination of these new fungal groups is required to understand the evolutionary events that shaped them. In the last decade fungal ecology has emerged as an exciting new discipline fueled by the ability to identify fungal mycelium in the absence of reproductive structures, using species specific sequences, such as the internal transcribed spacers (ITS), or to determine relationships with sequence based phylogenetic trees. Similarly, these new tools have supported a greater diversity of fungi through unmasking cryptic species with similar or limited morphology, or obtaining them in environmental samples. The changes that have occurred in our understanding of the Basidiomycota in general and of the class Urediniomycetes in particular will be the focus of this talk. In this class we will consider how subcellular characters and molecular sequence data provide complimentary views of fungal phylogeny, and identify  problems with the phylogenies. Then, we will look at a specific example of the use of phylogenetic data to analyze the biodiversity of ectomycorrhizal fungi.