Journal
MOLECULAR PHYLOGENETICS AND EVOLUTION
Volume 61, Issue 1, Pages 45-63Publisher
ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2011.04.025
Keywords
Ancestral character state reconstruction; Character evolution; Convergent evolution; Homoplasy; Thelotremataceae
Funding
- NSF [DEB 0206125]
- Phylogeny and Taxonomy of Ostropalean Fungi
- Emphasis on the Lichen-forming Thelotremataceae [DEB 0516116]
- Neotropical Epiphytic Microlichens - An Innovative Inventory of a Highly Diverse yet Little Known Group of Symbiotic Organisms [DEB 715660]
- Direct For Biological Sciences
- Division Of Environmental Biology [1025861] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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A molecular phylogeny of combined mtSSU, nuLSU, and RPB2 data revealed previously unrecognized levels of parallel evolution and phenotypic divergence in the lichen family Graphidaceae. Five clades were supported within the family: the Fissurina, Ocellularia, Graphis, Topeliopsis, and Thelotrema clades, containing 33 of the 42 currently accepted genera within the family. The results for the first time provide a fully resolved phylogeny of this family and confirm the synonymy of Graphidaceae and Thelotremataceae. Ancestral character state reconstruction using likelihood, Bayesian, and parsimony approaches indicate that lirellate ascomata evolved independently in each of the five clades. Carbonized ascomata evolved independently in at least four of the five clades. An unexpected result was the independent evolution of columella structures in the Fissurina and Ocellularia clades. Besides these more general findings, we document several cases in which evolution of several traits in parallel resulted in striking look-alikes within unrelated lineages, such as Topeliopsis muscigena and Chapsa meridensis in the Topeliopsis and Thelotrema clades, Leptotrema wightii, Myriotrema laeviusculum, and Leucodecton phaeosporum in the Ocellularia and Thelotrema clades, Ocellularia stylothecia and Melanotrema meiosporum in the Fissurina and Ocellularia clades, and Myriotrema pycnoporellum, Myriotrema clandestinum and Wirthiotrema glaucopallens in the Fissurina, Ocellularia, and Topeliopsis clades. Pagel's test of independent character evolution suggested that at least for some of the traits involved in these cases, ecological constraints may have caused their evolution in parallel. The most intriguing find is the correlation between gall-forming thalli and vertical columns of calcium oxalate crystals, suggesting that these crystals do not function as light distributors, as previously assumed, but instead stabilize the thalli which are usually hollow beneath, similar to a dome-shaped structure. Ancestral character state reconstruction together with an approach to visualize the phenotype of putative ancestral lineages suggested the alpha-Graphidaceae to resemble some of the extant species currently classified in Myriotrema slat., with pore-like ascomata, and non-amyloid ascospores with lens-shaped lumina. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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