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A timetree of Fungi dated with fossils and horizontal gene transfers

Summary

Scientists created a detailed family tree of fungi showing when different fungal groups evolved, dating back up to 1.4 billion years ago. They used information from fossils, genes shared between distantly related fungi, and chemical evidence to figure out the timeline. The results suggest that fungi interacted with early algae ancestors of plants for a very long time before modern plants took over land.

Background

Fungi are a diverse kingdom that evolved to inhabit nearly all of Earth’s ecosystems and have been proposed to have colonized land as mutualistic partners with plants. Dating the fungal tree has been challenging due to limited fossil calibrations and high taxonomic diversity. Previous timetrees have relied on narrow sets of calibration points with limited exploration of additional fossil evidence.

Objective

To reconstruct and date a comprehensive fungal phylogeny using multiple calibration sources including fossils and horizontal gene transfer events. The study aimed to address uncertainties in fungal dating through integration of distinct sets of calibrations and relative time-order constraints across four relaxed molecular clock analyses.

Results

The timetree suggests crown Fungi originated between 1,401-896 million years ago, substantially older than recently reported estimates. Ancient fungal-algal interactions occurred between 1,253-797 million years ago, supporting a protracted gap between early fungal-algal interactions and the rise of modern land plants. Four chronogram sets were produced integrating different calibration scenarios related to pectin-specific enzyme evolution in fungi.

Conclusion

This comprehensive study provides a refined timescale for fungal diversification with broader taxon sampling and more calibration points than previous studies. The timetree integrating analytic uncertainties suggests older ages for crown Fungi and establishes a temporal framework for understanding early interactions between fungi and embryophyte ancestors in terrestrial ecosystems.
  • Published in:Nature Ecology & Evolution,
  • Study Type:Phylogenetic and Molecular Dating Study,
  • Source: 10.1038/s41559-025-02851-z; PMID: 41034649
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