Abstracts |
Mycorrhizal fungi account for about 10% of identified fungal species, including essentially all of the Glomeromycota and substantial fractions of the Ascomycota and Basidiomycota. Several distinct types of mycorrhizal associations exist, including arbuscular, ericoid, orchid and ectomycorrhiza. Although arbuscular mycorrhiza evolved first, ectomycorrhizal and orchid mycorrhizal fungi are the most speciose types, and each of these types arose from multiple independent evolutionary events, followed by convergent evolution. Coevolution between mycorrhizal fungi and plants has played a key role in fungal diversification, but fungal diversification generally has not paralleled plant diversification, and relatively few fungi show strict host specificity. |