When Did Lignin Evolve?

Lignin evolved concomitantly with the rise of vascular plants on planet earth ∼450 million years ago. Several iterations of exploiting ancestral phenylpropanoid metabolism for biopolymers occurred prior to lignin that facilitated early plants' adaptation to terrestrial environments.

When did white rot fungi evolve?

The evolution of white rot

Results of molecular clock analyses suggest that the oldest ancestor of the Agaricomcyetes was a white rot species that possessed multiple lignin-degrading enzymes and lived roughly 300 million years ago.

When did fungi start breaking down lignin?

Such an analysis suggests that an ancestral white rot fungi developed this lignin-degrading ability roughly 290 million years ago, a conclusion backed by comparison with the appearance in the fossil record of three other types of fungi (although the first definitive white rot fossil does not appear until roughly 260 ...