title: The sister-group relationships of the largest family of lichenized fungi, Parmeliaceae (Lecanorales, Ascomycota).
abstract: Parmeliaceae is the largest family of lichen-forming fungi. In spite of its importance for fungal diversity, its relationships with other families in Lecanorales remain poorly known. To better understand the evolutionary history of the diversification of lineages and species richness in Parmeliaceae it is important to know the phylogenetic relationships of the closest relatives of the family. A recent study based on two molecular loci suggested that either Protoparmelia s. str. or a group consisting of Gypsoplaca and Protoparmelia s. str. were the possible sister-group candidates of Parmeliaceae, but that study could not distinguish between these two alternatives. Here, we used a four-locus phylogeny (nuLSU, ITS, RPB1, MCM7) to reveal relationships of Parmeliaceae with other potential relatives in Lecanorales. Maximum likelihood and Bayesian analyses showed that Protoparmelia is polyphyletic, with Protoparmelia s. str. (including Protoparmelia badia and Protoparmelia picea) being most closely related to Parmeliaceae s. str., while the Protoparmelia atriseda-group formed the sister-group to Miriquidica. Gypsoplaca formed the sister-group to the Parmeliaceae s. str. + Protoparmelia s. str. clade. Monophyly of Protoparmelia as currently circumscribed, and Gypsoplaca as sister-group to Parmeliaceae s. str. were both significantly rejected by alternative hypothesis testing.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Institute of Ecology, Evolution and Diversity, Goethe Universität, Max-von-Laue-Str. 13, D-60438 Frankfurt, Germany; Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK-F), Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung, Senckenberganlage 25, D-60325 Frankfurt, Germany. Electronic address: gsingh458@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Garima
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.forename: Pradeep K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Divakar
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Dal Grande
authors.forename: Jürgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Otte
authors.forename: Sittiporn
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Parnmen
authors.forename: Mats
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wedin
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Crespo
authors.forename: H Thorsten
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Lumbsch
authors.forename: Imke
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Schmitt
mesh_terms: D001203:Ascomycota / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D004271:DNA, Fungal / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D056426:Genetic Loci; D058885:Multilocus Sequence Typing; D010802:Phylogeny
chemical_list: D004271:DNA, Fungal
keywords: Lichen-forming fungi; Miriquidica; Phylogeny; Protoparmelia; Secondary metabolites