Unmatched Level of Molecular Convergence among Deeply Divergent Complex Multicellular Fungi
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Merenyi, ZsoltPrasanna, Arun N.
Wang, Zheng
Kovacs, Karoly
Hegedus, Botond
Balint, Balazs
Papp, Balazs
Townsend, Jeffrey P.

Nagy, Laszlo G.

KAUST Department
KAUSTDate
2020Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/631112
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Convergent evolution is pervasive in nature, but it is poorly understood how various constraints and natural selection limit the diversity of evolvable phenotypes. Here, we analyze the transcriptome across fruiting body development to understand the independent evolution of complex multicellularity in the two largest clades of fungi—the Agarico- and Pezizomycotina. Despite >650 My of divergence between these clades, we find that very similar sets of genes have convergently been co-opted for complex multicellularity, followed by expansions of their gene families by duplications. Over 82% of shared multicellularity-related gene families were expanding in both clades, indicating a high prevalence of convergence also at the gene family level. This convergence is coupled with a rich inferred repertoire of multicellularity-related genes in the most recent common ancestor of the Agarico- and Pezizomycotina, consistent with the hypothesis that the coding capacity of ancestral fungal genomes might have promoted the repeated evolution of complex multicellularity. We interpret this repertoire as an indication of evolutionary predisposition of fungal ancestors for evolving complex multicellular fruiting bodies. Our work suggests that evolutionary convergence may happen not only when organisms are closely related or are under similar selection pressures, but also when ancestral genomic repertoires render certain evolutionary trajectories more likely than others, even across large phylogenetic distances.Citation
Merényi, Z., Prasanna, A. N., Wang, Z., Kovács, K., Hegedüs, B., Bálint, B., … Nagy, L. G. (2020). Unmatched Level of Molecular Convergence among Deeply Divergent Complex Multicellular Fungi. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 37(8), 2228–2240. doi:10.1093/molbev/msaa077Sponsors
We acknowledge inspiring discussions of this topic in the Fungal Genomics and Evolution Laboratory (Szeged, Hungary). We are thankful to Marin Talbot Brewer, Gunther Doehlemann, and Jon Magnuson for permission to utilize unpublished genomic data of Exobasidiummaculosum, Exobasidium vaccinii, and Melanotaenium endogenum, respectively. This work was supported by the "Momentum" program of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (contract no. LP2014/12 to L.G.N.) and the European Research Council (grant no. 758161 to L.G.N.); GINOP-2.3.2-15-2016- 00052 (to L.G.N.), "Frontline" Research Excellence Programme of the National Research, Development and Innovation Office, Hungary (KKP-129814 to B.P.), GINOP-2.3.2-15-2016- 00026 (iChamber to B.P.), The European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under Grant Agreement No. 739593 (to B.P.), and National Science Foundation IOS 1457044 and IOS 1916137 (to J.P.T.).Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)Journal
MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND EVOLUTIONAdditional Links
https://academic.oup.com/mbe/article/37/8/2228/5810091ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1093/molbev/msaa077
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