Fabian van Beveren
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fabianvanbeveren.bsky.social
Fabian van Beveren
@fabianvanbeveren.bsky.social
130 followers 100 following 8 posts
Evolutionary biologist / bioinformatician

#EVOLF
#symbiosis
#algae
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fabianvanbeveren.bsky.social
Using comparative genomics, we find more evidence for these independent origins. We detected several genes that are convergently duplicated in different ECM lineages. Several of these are related to cell wall remodeling, which can be important for symbiosis!

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Phylogeny of rosids showing the genome completeness and symbiotic status of each species. On the right of the tree, presence/absence is shown for a variety of genes. On the left of the tree, duplications of specific gene families are shown in a set of nodes representing multiple ectomycorrhizal and non-ectomycorrhizal lineages.
March 12, 2025 at 8:17 PM
fabianvanbeveren.bsky.social
Many plants form mutualistic relationships with ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi  – fungi that enter the root but stay extracellular. Even in just the rosids, 17 different ECM plant lineages are known. We reconstructed their evolution and found that ECM symbiosis originated at least 16 times.

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Phylogeny of rosid species. Ectomycorrhizal status is shown for all species, including estimations for this trait for all nodes in the phylogeny.
March 12, 2025 at 8:17 PM