Glomeromycota PHYLOGENY

Phylogeny and taxonomy of Glomeromycota ('arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) and related fungi')

'The study of plants without their mycorrhizas is the study of artefacts.
The majority of plants, strictly speaking, do not have roots; they have mycorrhizas.'
BEG-Committee, 25th May 1993

Phylogenetic trees (based on SSU rDNA sequences, click on titles to jump to trees):

• 1) Including recent (2007&2008) taxa within the Glomeromycota

• 2) New classification of the order Diversisporales (2004)

• 3) Non-monoyphyletic 'genus' Glomus & 'Glomus Group' (GlGrA-C) terminology

1) Phylogenetic tree implementing the recent changes in the taxonomy of the Glomeromycota. Other taxa please see the papers linked in the species list (link at the left). In the tree below, some often investigated 'model species' are shown in the boxes to indicate that these species are widely separated within the phylum. E.g. 'Glomus' versiforme is closer related to Acaulosporaceae then to G. mosseae or G. intraradices, which are also relatively distantly related to G. etunicatum. It is important to keep in mind that with the 'genus Glomus' we still deal with a morphotaxon that is not at all comparable with the other genera in the Glomeromycota, with respect to a natural systematics. The phylogenetic position of the recently erected family Entrophosporaceae (containing two Entrophospora species) is unclear, therefore it is not shown here. Note that the genus Appendicispora was illegitimate, since already existing, therefore Ambispora and Ambisporaceae had to be resurrected recently (Walker 2008).

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2) New classification of the order Diversisporales. The new families Pacisporaceae and Diversisporaceae contain species formerly described as 'Glomus'. The numbers above the branch show the support (NJ,MP,ML,ML-QP analysis, respectively) of the sister-group relationship of Pacisporaceae (= Gerdemanniaceae) and Gigasporaceae, see: Walker C, Blaszkowski L, Schwarzott D, Schüßler A (2004) Gerdemannia gen. nov., a genus separated from Glomus, and Gerdemanniaceae fam. nov., a new family in the Glomeromycota. Mycological Research 108(6): 707-718 [full text paper linked from the 'species list']; Walker C, Schüßler A (2004) Nomenclatural clarifications and new taxa in the Glomeromycota. Mycological Research 108: 981-982 [full text paper linked from the 'species list'].

A remark: After we had submitted our paper describing the genus Gerdemannia and the new family Gerdemanniaceae, other authors also submitted a paper to a different journal, describing the same genus as Pacispora (erroneously placing it in the Glomeraceae). This was done despite those authors being informed of our intentions to describe Gerdemannia and of some of our evidence of the need for a new higher taxon placing. They chose not to inform us either of their plans to publish, or of their submission, until their paper was in press. At that point we might still have been able to modify our paper (which also was in press) by changing the taxon names or adding a note in proof, but since the authors did not agree to show us their proof script this was not possible. The 'Pacispora paper' was published shortly before ours, and therefore, under the rules of the Botanical Code, the genus name Gerdemannia is now a later synonym of Pacispora and the latter takes precedence. Consequently, Pacispora is the correct generic name to be used for the former Glomus scintillans, G. dominikii, G. chimonobambusae, and similar organisms, see: Walker C, Schüßler A (2004) Nomenclatural clarifications and new taxa in the Glomeromycota. Mycological Research 108: 981-982 [full text paper linked from the 'species list']

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3) Phylogenetic tree of AM fungi with focus on the non-monoyphyletic 'genus' Glomus
Schwarzott D, Walker C, Schüßler A (2001) Glomus, the largest genus of the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (Glomales), is non-monophyletic. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 21: 190-197 Abstract, 'downloads'

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