Phylogeny

Ancestry (Phylogeny)

It has been discovered that Archaea are actually more closely related to plants. There are a number of factors that go into this decision but one major similarity between Archaea and Eukaryotes is that there are several complex RNA polymerases and translation begins with the amino acid methionine. This differs from bacteria because bacteria have one simple RNA polymerase and translation begins with formylmethionine.

There are eight major lineages of eukaryotes; fungi fall under the opisthokonts--reproductive cells have a single flagellum at their base. Although this a misconception; because there are many fungi that have lost their flagellated reproductive cells.

Originally it was thought that there were four phyla of fungi based on their reproductive structures. Chytridiomycota produce swimming gametes and swimming spores (asexually). Zygomycota fuse hyphae to from zygotes called zygospores. Basidiomycota form spores on structures called basidia. Ascomyctoa form spores inside of sacs called asci. The problem is that another group known as Glomeromycota were thought to be part of the Zygomycota but through DNA sequencing it was proven that they are actually monophyletic with Basdiomycota and Ascomycota.