Evolution of ketosynthase domains of polyketide synthase genes in the Cladonia chlorophaea species complex (Cladoniaceae)

•We reconstructed a 13-paralog PKS gene phylogeny of the Cladonia chlorophaea species complex.•We explore the presence of PKS paralogs among 51 individuals representing five species of the C. chlorophaea complex.•The PKS phylogeny showed multiple losses of reducing and methylation domains.•Evolution of the species complex inferred incomplete lineage sorting.•All paralogs were not exclusively present in members of the C. chlorophaea complex.

Lichen-forming fungi synthesize a diversity of polyketides, but only a few non-reducing polyketide synthase (PKS) genes from a lichen-forming fungus have been linked with a specific polyketide. While it is a challenge to link the large number of PKS paralogs in fungi with specific products, it might be expected that the PKS paralogs from closely related species would be similar because of recent evolutionary divergence. The objectives of this study were to reconstruct a PKS gene phylogeny of the Cladonia chlorophaea species complex based on the ketosynthase domain, a species phylogeny of the complex, and to explore the presence of PKS gene paralogs among members of the species complex. DNA was isolated from 51 individuals of C. chlorophaea and allies to screen for the presence of 13 PKS paralogs. A 128 sequence PKS gene phylogeny using deduced amino acid sequences estimated from the 13 PKS paralogs and sequences subjected to BLASTx comparisons showed losses of each of two PKS domains (reducing and methylation). This research provided insight into the evolution of PKS genes in the C. chlorophaea group, species evolution in the group, and it identified potential directions for further investigation of polyketide synthesis in the C. chlorophaea species complex.