Large-scale genome sequencing of mycorrhizal fungi provides insights into the early evolution of symbiotic traits

Mycorrhizal fungi are mutualists that play crucial roles in nutrient acquisition in terrestrial ecosystems. Mycorrhizal symbioses arose repeatedly across multiple lineages of Mucoromycotina, Ascomycota, and Basidiomycota. Considerable variation exists in the capacity of mycorrhizal fungi to acquire carbon from soil organic matter. Here, we present a combined analysis of 135 fungal genomes from 73 saprotrophic, endophytic and pathogenic species, and 62 mycorrhizal species, including 29 new mycorrhizal genomes. This study samples ecologically dominant fungal guilds for which there were previously no symbiotic genomes available, including ectomycorrhizal Russulales, Thelephorales and Cantharellales. Our analyses show that transitions from saprotrophy to symbiosis involve (1) widespread losses of degrading enzymes acting on lignin and cellulose, (2) co-option of genes present in saprotrophic ancestors to fulfill new symbiotic functions, (3) diversification of novel, lineage-specific symbiosis-induced genes, (4) proliferation of transposable elements and (5) divergent genetic innovations underlying the convergent origins of the ectomycorrhizal guild. Mycorrhizal symbioses have evolved repeatedly in diverse fungal lineages. A large phylogenomic analysis sheds light on genomic changes associated with transitions from saprotrophy to symbiosis, including divergent genetic innovations underlying the convergent origins of the ectomycorrhizal guild.Peer reviewe

Factory Animation by Self-Organization Principles

In the paper a novel idea of combining a virtual reality with an automated action control based on selforganization simulation is introduced. The concept provides an intelligent control for entities in the virtual reality enabling the user to participate in real-time to the self-organization simulation through the virtual reality interface. The concept is demonstrated with an implementation in a manufacturing domain, where a real world factory shop-floor is modeled in virtual reality, and factory operations are controlled based on selforganization simulation. The control provides a real time and continuous adaptation of the factory operations to the user interactions and other environmental disturbances. The implementation is based on distributed programming, where the self-organization simulator and the virtual factory are running on a separate computers. Two programs interchange continuously information through a local area network. The first implementation have proved to provide suf..