A funncial
plant pathogen preserved in the fossil collections of the Natural History
Museum has been identified as the oldest disease-causing fungus.
Potteromyces
asteroxylicla, who is 407 million years old, has been named after the
celebrated author of Peter Rabbit’s history and mushroom enthusiast, Beatrix
Potter. The discovery is published in Nature Communications.
Beatrix’s
drawings and his study on the growth of fungi, which in some cases advanced
decades to scientific research, have earned him the reputation of being an
important figure in mycology.
Potteromyces
was discovered in fossil samples from Rhynie Chert, a fossil site in Scottland.
The site is known to a community of early devonic plants and animals, including
bacteria and fungi.
The new
study, completed in collaboration with mycologists from the Royal Botanic
Garden of Kew, suggests that fungi that cause diseases, such as ash, that
currently decimate native ash in the United Kingdom, and fungi that can circulate
the nutrients on which plants and other organism depend to survive, have a
historical precedent in Potteromyces.
The Dr.
Christine Strullu-Derrien, a scientist associate at Natural History Museum and
lead author of the study describing the new species, say in a statement: “Although
other fungal parasites have been found in this area before, this is the first
case of one that cause a disease in a plant. Moreover, Potteromyces can provide
a valuable point from which to date the evolution of different groups of fungi,
such as Ascomycota, the largest fungal edge”.
Strullu-Derrien
found the first Potteromyces specimen in 2015. Their reproductive structures,
known as coniioforos, had a unusual shape and formation as had never been seen
before.
Equally unusual
was the fact that this mysterious fungus was found attacking an old plant called
Asteroxylon mackiei. The plant had responded by developed dome-shaped growths,
proving it must have been alive while the fungus attacked.
In order
for the team to determine that it was indeed a new species, another case of the
fungus needed to be found. This is because the nature of fungi differs greatly
among individuals.
Confirmation
was achieved when a second specimen was found in the collections of the
National Museums of Scotland in another slide from Rhyne Chert.
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