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Niesslia exilis by Derek Johnson
Niesslia exilis by Derek Johnson

Niesslia exilis (Hypocreales, Niessliaceae) is a saprotrophic filamentous fungus commonly found associated with coniferous leaf litter, and woody debris. Although the Niessliaceae have been hypothesized as one of the earlier diverging lineages of the Hypocreales, robust support for the placement of the family with the other early diverging Hypocreales has not been firmly established. Lineages in Hypocreales have undergone major nutritional shifts from saprotrophy to plant and animal pathogenicity, but the order and patterns of these nutritional transitions remains unclear due to these poorly resolved early diverging clades. Sequencing the genome of N. exilis will allow a genome scale phylogeny to clarify these transitions and allow deeper examinations of CAZyme and protease diversification and evolution as a response to nutritional and host shifts.