Data from: The Paleozoic origin of enzymatic lignin decomposition reconstructed from 31 fungal genomes

Wood is a major pool of organic carbon that is highly resistant to decay, owing largely to the presence of lignin. The only organisms capable of substantial lignin decay are white rot fungi in the Agaricomycetes, which also contains non–lignin-degrading brown rot and ectomycorrhizal species. Comparative analyses of 31 fungal genomes (12 generated for this study) suggest that lignin-degrading peroxidases expanded in the lineage leading to the ancestor of the Agaricomycetes, which is reconstructed as a white rot species, and then contracted in parallel lineages leading to brown rot and mycorrhizal species. Molecular clock analyses suggest that the origin of lignin degradation might have coincided with the sharp decrease in the rate of organic carbon burial around the end of the Carboniferous period.木材是主要的有机碳库，其具有高度的抗降解性，这在很大程度上源于木质素（lignin）的存在。目前仅伞菌纲（Agaricomycetes）中的白腐真菌能够实现大规模木质素降解，该纲类群同时涵盖不具备木质素降解能力的褐腐真菌与外生菌根物种。对31个真菌基因组（本研究新生成12个）的比较分析表明，木质素降解过氧化物酶在通往伞菌纲祖先的演化谱系中发生了扩增；该伞菌纲祖先被重构为白腐真菌类群，随后在通往褐腐真菌和菌根真菌的平行演化谱系中该酶系发生了收缩。分子钟分析结果显示，木质素降解能力的起源可能与石炭纪（Carboniferous）末期前后有机碳埋藏速率的急剧下降相吻合。