Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42263716›Full record

ReviewAnnual review of cell and developmental biology2026

The Origin and Early Evolution of Fungi: Challenges, Inferences, and Principles.

Antonis Rokas

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Annual review of cell and developmental biology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing 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

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

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

1 author.

Antonis RokasDepartment of Biological Sciences and Evolutionary Studies Initiative, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, USA; email: antonis.rokas@vanderbilt.edu.

Funding

Deciphering the phenotypic and genomic traits that underlie the evolution of pathogenicity differences among Aspergillus fumigatus and its close relativesR01AI153356 · NIAID · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY · PI Antonis Rokas · 2022 to 2026
$3.5M
NIAID NIH HHS R01 AI153356
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Fungi are widespread on our planet and essential for life as we know it, but how did they come about? Their last common ancestor lived hundreds of millions of years ago, but its characteristics, and the contours of early fungal evolution, remain mysterious. This review synthesizes information from fungal and eukaryotic microbial diversity, geology, fossils, and evolutionary genomics to infer the early evolution of fungi, identify challenges and major gaps in our knowledge, dispel misconceptions, and propose general evolutionary principles exemplified by the fungal lineage. Even though fungi likely emerged earlier than animals or land plants, their origins and early evolution are the least studied. Reconstruction of the evolutionary and ecological portrait of the first fungi is key for deciphering life in ancient ecosystems, for understanding how fungi eventually facilitated the advent of life on land, and for inferring principles that govern fungal evolution.

Indexed as

Biological EvolutionFungiAnimalsEvolution, MolecularFossilsPhylogenyconvergent evolutionfossilfungal phylogenygeochemistrylast common ancestorProterozoicreductive evolution

Identifiers

PMID42263716
PMCPMC13285959

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
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Registered trials

None linked

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.