Building a genome-scale evolutionary framework for Mycena

Maartje Cathelyn studying a culture of Panellus stipticus

Fungi have long supported and enriched life on our planet and provide valuable insights to understanding biodiversity and its evolution on earth. Despite their immense ecological and evolutionary significance, fungi have not received the level of scientific attention they warrant. To understand drivers of fungal evolution, their hyper-diverse nature, the versatility of their phenotype and ecology and their essential roles in ecosystems, a robust evolutionary framework is essential.

Project
summary

Mycenas or the bonnet mushrooms

Mycena, a genus with over 1300 known species, is an example of a diverse, common genus with a worldwide distribution and complex ecological functions that lacks a phylogenetic framework. Recent, high-impact publications still rely on the traditional, morphology-based classification designed by Maas Geesteranus in the 1980’s and 90’s for their taxon sampling and interpretation of phylogenetic results. Although this pleads for excellent quality of the work by Maas Geesteranus, who was appointed at the National Herbarium of the Netherlands between 1939 and 1976, an update of this classification to a molecular phylogeny based one is long overdue.

Our approach

Our team will generate a genome-based and richly sampled evolutionary framework for the genus Mycena to gain insight in the delimitation of the genus Mycena and the family Mycenaceae, understand the many morphological transitions in the genus and learn about their bioluminescence. We also aim to support and strengthen the knowledge of the Dutch and Flemish Mycena species by DNA-based species delimitation as a contribution to a volume of the Flora Agaricina Neerlandica.

We combine long-read barcoding, whole genome sequencing and target enrichment via hybridization-based capture with morphological and ecological data. Our data collection strategy encompasses freshly collected Mycena samples provided by expert amateur mycologists, complemented by the vast fungarium collections housed at Naturalis and other institutions.

In this project, PhD candidate Maartje Cathelyn will study the Mycena species in the Netherlands and Flanders in more detail with the help of members of the Dutch and Flemish mycological societies.