Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41034649›Full record

ArticleNature ecology & evolution2025

A timetree of Fungi dated with fossils and horizontal gene transfers.

Lénárd L Szánthó, Zsolt Merényi, Philip Donoghue, Toni Gabaldón, László G Nagy, Gergely J Szöllősi, Eduard Ocaña-Pallarès

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature ecology & evolution, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
8citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

8 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. The Origin and Early Evolution of Fungi: Challenges, Inferences, and Principles.Annual review of cell and developmental biology · 2026
    Review
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Combined generalist and host-specific transcriptional strategies enable host generalism in the fungal pathogenProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026
    Article
  5. Earth's biodiversity: How much is there?Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026
    Article
  6. Article
  7. Review
  8. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Lénárd L Szánthó *Model-Based Evolutionary Genomics Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Okinawa, Japan.
Zsolt Merényi *HUN-REN Biological Research Center, Institute of Biochemistry, Synthetic and Systems Biology Unit, Szeged, Hungary.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1114-3739
Philip DonoghueBristol Palaeobiology Group, School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3116-7463
Toni GabaldónInstitute for Research in Biomedicine, The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Barcelona, Spain.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0019-1735
László G NagyHUN-REN Biological Research Center, Institute of Biochemistry, Synthetic and Systems Biology Unit, Szeged, Hungary. lnagy@fungenomelab.com.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4102-8566
Gergely J SzöllősiModel-Based Evolutionary Genomics Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Okinawa, Japan. gergely.szollosi@oist.jp.
Eduard Ocaña-PallarèsInstitute for Research in Biomedicine, The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Barcelona, Spain. ed3716@gmail.com.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6040-4216

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Dating the tree of Fungi has been challenging due to a paucity of fossil calibrations and high taxonomic diversity of the group. Here we reconstructed and dated a comprehensive phylogeny comprising 110 fungal species, utilizing 225 phylogenetic markers and accounting for across-site compositional heterogeneity in amino acid sequences. To address uncertainties in fungal dating, we sampled chronograms from four relaxed molecular clock analyses, each integrating distinct sets of calibrations and relative time-order constraints. The first analysis used a core set of 27 calibrations alongside 17 relative constraints derived from fungi-to-fungi horizontal gene transfer events. Three further analyses extended this core set with additional timing information identified in our reevaluation of the evolution of pectin-specific enzymes in Fungi. Our timetree, integrating analytic uncertainties, suggests older ages for crown Fungi (1,401-896 Ma) than recently reported, providing a minimum age for ancient interactions involving fungi and the algal ancestors of embryophytes in terrestrial ecosystems (1,253-797 Ma). This supports a protracted gap between the onset of these interactions and the rise of modern land plants. Altogether, our study provides a refined timescale for fungal diversification and a temporal framework for future investigations into early interactions involving fungi and the algal ancestors of embryophytes.

Indexed as

FossilsFungiGene Transfer, HorizontalPhylogenyEvolution, Molecular

Identifiers

PMID41034649
PMCPMC12592215

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.