ibclogo XVI International Botanical Congess

Abstract Number: 6159
Poster No. = 2551


CONTRIBUTION OF LICHENIZATION TO THE DIVERSIFICATION OF ASCOMYCETES


Lutzoni, Francois M.1, Reeb, Valerie C.1,2, Huhndorf, Sabine M.1, Fernandez, Fernando A.1, Platt, Jamie3, Spatafora, Joseph W.3, Gernandt, David S.3, and Stone, Jeffery3 , 1The Field Museum, Dept. of Botany, Chicago, IL 60605, 2University of Illinois at Chicago (M/C 066), Chicago, IL 60607, 3Oregon State University, Dept. of Botany and Plant Pathology, Corvallis, OR 97331


The small and large subunit nrRNA genes were sequenced for mere that 70 species representing approximately 30 orders of Ascomycetes. Twelve of these orders include lichen-forming species. Preliminary phylogenetic analyses of these two data sets clearly show the importance of including lichenized species for a thorough understanding of the evolution and classification of Ascomycetes at the ordinal level. One clear result from this study is that the small subunit has no discriminatory power regard to the origin level of lichen-forming Ascomycetes. The phylogenetic signal provided by these two data sets is more suited to study the loss of licheniztion and its contribution to the diversification of Ascomycetes.

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