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Science 13 May 2005:
Vol. 308. no. 5724, pp. 1017 - 1020
DOI: 10.1126/science.1111347
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Reports

Lichen-Like Symbiosis 600 Million Years Ago

Xunlai Yuan,1 Shuhai Xiao,2* T. N. Taylor3

The fossil record of fungi and lichens is scarce. Here we report the discovery of lichen-like fossils, involving filamentous hyphae closely associated with coccoidal cyanobacteria or algae, preserved in marine phosphorite of the Doushantuo Formation (between 551 and 635 million years old) at Weng'an, South China. These fossils indicate that fungi developed symbiotic partnerships with photoautotrophs before the evolution of vascular plants.

1 Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Nanjing 210008, China.
2 Department of Geosciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA.
3 Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: xiao{at}vt.edu

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)