Laura Smith
Mushrooms, or fungi, are believed to be older than plants. The origin and evolution of the kingdom Fungi are still very mysterious, with only two percent of the species in this kingdom identified. In 2019, scientists discovered a fossilized fungus in the Canadian Arctic that may have grown on land a billion years ago, before plants were living on land. Another fossilized fungus, found in the Democratic Republic of Congo, was estimated to be between 715 and 810 million years old, dating to a time when life on Earth's surface was just beginning. These discoveries suggest that mushrooms played a crucial role in the evolution of plants and the planet's surface.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Age of earliest known mushroom-forming fungi | 90 million years |
| Age of earliest fossils with features typical of fungi | 2.4 billion years |
| Age of earliest fossilized fungus discovered in Canadian Arctic | 1 billion years |
| Age of earliest terrestrial fungus fossils | 635 million years |
| Age of earliest fossils possessing filamentous fungal remains | 715-810 million years |
| Age of earliest confirmed mushroom fossil | 460 million years |
| Age of earliest fungi based on DNA analysis | 1.2-1.5 billion years |
| Age of land plants | 700 million years |
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What You'll Learn
The oldest mushrooms
The fossil record of fungi pales in comparison to that of plants and animals. This is due to the soft, fleshy, and easily degradable nature of fungal fruiting bodies, as well as the microscopic dimensions of most fungal structures. However, some ancient fossils provide insights into the evolution of fungi and their relationship with plants.
The earliest fossils with features typical of fungi date back to the Paleoproterozoic era, approximately 2.4 billion years ago. These ancient organisms possessed filamentous structures capable of anastomosis, where hyphal branches recombine. Even older evidence of fungi may exist in the form of a 2.4-billion-year-old basalt rock from South Africa, containing filamentous fossils that form mycelium-like structures.
In 2019, scientists discovered a fossilized fungus named Ourasphaira giraldae in the Canadian Arctic. This fungus is estimated to have grown on land a billion years ago, significantly earlier than plants colonized the land. The discovery of Ourasphaira giraldae sheds light on the early evolution of fungi and their role in the spread of plants across the Earth.
The world's oldest fossil mushroom, named Gondwanagaricites magnificus, was discovered in the Crato Formation of northeast Brazil. It is estimated to be roughly 115 million years old, dating back to the Early Cretaceous period when the supercontinent Gondwana was breaking apart. This mushroom was preserved in limestone, an extraordinarily rare event where the mushroom was gradually covered by layer upon layer of fine sediments and mineralized over time.
Fungi play crucial roles in ecosystems, including breaking down organic matter, cycling nutrients, and facilitating plant life through intricate underground networks. They also have important applications in fermentation and food production. Despite their ancient origins and ubiquitous presence, much of the distant history of fungi remains shrouded in mystery.
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The evolution of fungi
Fungi are a highly diverse group of organisms that play a critical role in the planet's ecosystems. They are not plants, but they were once classified as such and are more closely related to animals. Fungi are believed to have diverged from other life forms around 1.2 to 1.5 billion years ago, with evidence suggesting that the earliest fungi lived in water and possessed flagella.
The fossil record of early fungi is scarce, but some of the oldest fossils possessing features typical of fungi date back to the Paleoproterozoic era, approximately 2.4 billion years ago. These early fungi were multicellular benthic organisms with filamentous structures capable of anastomosis, where hyphal branches recombine. The earliest terrestrial fungus fossils, or fungus-like fossils, have been discovered in South China and date back to around 635 million years ago. These early fungi may have contributed to oxygenating the Earth's atmosphere following the Cryogenian glaciations.
Fungi are believed to have colonized land during the Cambrian, over 500 million years ago, and possibly even earlier during the Ediacaran. Terrestrial fossils become more common and uncontroversial during the Devonian, around 400 million years ago. Fossils of Tortotubus protuberans, a filamentous fungus, date to the early Silurian Period (440 million years ago) and are considered the oldest known fossils of a terrestrial organism. Prototaxites, which was likely a fungus or lichen, would have been the tallest organism of the late Silurian.
Fungi play a crucial role in nutrient cycling and have a unique ability to access nutrients in minerals and form symbiotic relationships with plants. They break down organic matter and cycle nutrients throughout the environment, making plant life possible. Vast networks of fungi in the soil transfer chemical signals, food, and water. Fungi also have important roles in fermentation, which creates alcohol and leavened bread. Additionally, they form mutualistic relationships with many animals and plants, such as cows, which grow fungi in their stomachs to aid in digesting grass.
While many fungi are beneficial, some pose significant threats to human health, animal life, and crops. They can act as predators, pathogens, and parasites, and their ability to secrete powerful enzymes that break down cells and even rock can be detrimental to other organisms. Despite their ancient origins, there is still much to learn about fungi and their impact on the world.
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Fungi fossils
Fungal fossils are most easily identified when they resemble extant fungi and are often recovered from permineralized plant or animal hosts. These samples are typically studied using light microscopy or transmission electron microscopy. Compression fossils, on the other hand, are studied by dissolving the surrounding matrix with acid before examining the surface details using light or scanning electron microscopy.
Some of the earliest fossils possessing features typical of fungi date back to the Paleoproterozoic era, approximately 2.4 billion years ago. These multicellular benthic organisms had filamentous structures capable of anastomosis, where hyphal branches recombine. Other studies have estimated the arrival of fungal organisms to be even earlier, ranging from 760 to 1060 million years ago, based on comparisons of the evolution rate in closely related groups.
In May 2019, scientists reported the discovery of a fossilized fungus named Ourasphaira giraldae in the Canadian Arctic. This fungus is estimated to have grown on land a billion years ago, significantly earlier than the colonization of land by plants. This discovery challenges the previous presumption that fungi colonized the land during the Cambrian period, long before land plants.
The study of fungal fossils has important implications for understanding the evolution of life on Earth. Fungi play a crucial role in breaking down detritus and dead organic matter, cycling nutrients throughout the environment, and even making plant life possible through their vast underground networks. However, some fungi pose significant threats to animal and plant life, including crops and human health.
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Fungi and plants co-existing
The origin and evolution of the kingdom Fungi, more commonly known as mushrooms, remain largely mysterious. Only two percent of the species in this kingdom have been identified, and their delicate nature means that fossils are extremely rare and difficult to distinguish from other microorganisms.
However, recent studies have shed light on the presence of fungi before 400 million years ago, the age of the oldest, non-controversial fungal fossils. In 2019, scientists reported the discovery of a fossilized fungus, Ourasphaira giraldae, in the Canadian Arctic, that may have grown on land a billion years ago, well before plants inhabited the land. Fossilized hyphae and spores recovered from the Ordovician of Wisconsin (460 million years ago) resemble modern-day Glomerales and existed at a time when the land flora likely consisted of only non-vascular bryophyte-like plants.
The fossilized remains of mycelium, a network of interconnected microscopic strands, were discovered in rocks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, dated to between 715 and 810 million years ago. This discovery suggests that microscopic mushrooms were important partners of the first plants that colonized the Earth's surface around 500 million years ago. Fungi and plants co-existed and played a crucial role in the evolution of life on Earth.
Fungi and plants have a complex relationship, with fungi being both beneficial and detrimental to plants. Fungi can form symbiotic relationships with plants, such as mycorrhizal associations, where the fungi colonize plant roots and enhance nutrient uptake. This mutualistic relationship is essential for the growth and survival of many plant species. Fungi also contribute to the decomposition of organic matter, breaking down dead plants and recycling nutrients back into the soil, which benefits the ecosystem as a whole. However, some fungi can be pathogenic to plants, causing diseases and damaging crops, which can have significant ecological and economic impacts.
Additionally, fungi play a vital role in the carbon cycle, reducing carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. They achieve this by breaking down rocks and organic matter, releasing carbon that was previously stored and contributing to the Earth's cooling. This reduction in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels has implications for climate change and the evolution of life. Fungi also contribute to the oxygen cycle, with certain fungi, such as lichens, producing acids that dissolve rocks and release calcium, ultimately leading to the formation of calcium carbonate limestone in the ocean. This process prevents carbon atoms from forming greenhouse gases and further contributes to the Earth's cooling.
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Fungi's role in the evolution of life on Earth
Fungi are neither plants nor animals, but they are more closely related to animals than to plants. They are believed to have diverged from other life forms around 1.2 to 1.5 billion years ago, and the earliest fossils possessing features typical of fungi date to the Paleoproterozoic era, some 2,400 million years ago. At this time, they were likely aquatic and consisted of organisms with flagellum-bearing spores.
Fungi play a vital role in the carbon cycle as the primary decomposers of organic matter. They break down detritus and dead things, cycle nutrients, provide shelter and sustenance to animals, invertebrates, and microbes, promote disease resilience, and conserve soil. They also have highly symbiotic relationships with many plants and algae, with most plants intertwining their roots with networks of underground fungal threads that supply nutrients. This ability to form symbiotic relationships with the first plants was key to the major evolutionary transition of plants spreading across the Earth.
Fungi were also likely important in oxygenating the Earth's atmosphere in the aftermath of the Cryogenian glaciations. Fossilized fungus, named Ourasphaira giraldae, discovered in the Canadian Arctic, may have grown on land a billion years ago, well before plants were living on land. This discovery suggests that fungi colonized the land during the Cambrian (over 500 million years ago), also long before land plants.
Fungi have also played a role in the evolution of life through their ability to form lichens. Lichens are macroscopic formations that are particularly abundant and diverse in environments hostile to other photosynthetic life forms, such as high-elevation mountains, tundra, and deserts. They cover around 6-8% of the land surface of the Earth and play important global biogeochemical roles.
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Frequently asked questions
Yes, according to a new study, the first mushrooms were already present on Earth between 715 and 810 million years ago, 300 million years earlier than previously believed.
The fossilized remains of mycelium (a network of interconnected microscopic strands) were discovered in rocks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. These rocks are between 715 and 810 million years old.
Multiple molecular analysis techniques were used at a microscopic scale, including synchrotron radiation spectroscopy, confocal microscopy, fluorescence microscopy, and electron microscopy.
The findings suggest that mushrooms were important partners for the first plants that colonized the continental surface. They may have played a role in oxygenating the Earth's atmosphere and reducing carbon dioxide, which would have had a profound effect on the climate and the evolution of life.
Mushrooms and plants have a symbiotic relationship. Mushrooms break down rock and other materials, cycling nutrients throughout the environment, while plants intertwine their roots with networks of underground fungal threads to access these nutrients.
