Large Chinese fungus reveals an ancient evolutionary lineage
中国の大型菌類、新たな科として分類テクノロジー
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Researchers have described Dianjunus rex, a fungus from Yunnan in southwest China, and placed it in a newly established family. Its upright fruiting bodies can reach 50 cm in height and weigh up to 2.2 kg. The specimens were found growing on the woody roots of Chinese cork oak in Yunnan.
The team, with members from China, Thailand and Mexico, used spore culture, morphological examination and genome sequencing. The new family, Dianjunaceae, belongs to the order Xylariales. A DNA molecular clock comparison estimates that its evolutionary lineage dates back about 65 million years.
The estimate falls near the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction, around 66 million years ago. Researchers suggest that dead plant material after the extinction may have offered opportunities for fungi that decompose wood. Indunil C. Senanayake of the Kunming Institute of Botany is the corresponding researcher for the work on the newly described fungus.