Cystostereaceae Fomitopsidaceae Fragiliporiaceae[1] Ganodermataceae Gelatoporiaceae Meripilaceae Meruliaceae Phanerochaetaceae Polyporaceae Sparassidaceae Steccherinaceae Xenasmataceae The Polyporales are an order of about 1,800 species of fungi in the division Basidiomycota.
Some genera, such as Ganoderma and Fomes, contain species that attack living tissues and then continue to degrade the wood of their dead hosts.
The order was originally proposed in 1926 by Swiss mycologist Ernst Albert Gäumann to accommodate species within the phylum Basidiomycota producing basidiocarps (fruit bodies) showing a gymnocapous mode of development (forming the spore-bearing surface externally).
As such, the order included the ten families Brachybasidiaceae, Corticiaceae, Clavariaceae, Cyphellaceae, Dictyolaceae, Fistulinaceae, Polyporaceae, Radulaceae, Tulasnellaceae, and Vuilleminiaceae, representing a mix of poroid, corticioid, cyphelloid, and clavarioid fungi.
[9] Phanerochaetaceae Irpicaceae Meruliaceae Candelabrochaete africana Steccherinaceae Cerrenaceae* Panaceae* Hyphodermataceae Meripilaceae Podoscyphaceae /hypochnicium & /climacocystis Polyporaceae Grifolaceae Gelatoporiaceae* Mycoleptodonoides vassiljevae Auriporia aurea Fomitopsidaceae Laetiporaceae /fibroporia + amyloporia Dacryobolaceae Sparassidaceae Incrustoporiaceae Ischnodermataceae Molecular research, based on cladistic analysis of DNA sequences, has resurrected and redefined the Polyporales (also known as the polyporoid clade).
It also includes polypores in the Ganodermataceae, which were previously assigned to their own separate order, the Ganodermatales, based on their distinctive basidiospore morphology.
[13] Extending this work, Alfredo Justo and colleagues proposed a phylogenetic overview of the Polyporales that included a new family-level classification.
[16][24][25] Oxidase enzymes, including members of the glucose-methanol-choline oxidoreductase family, play a key role in the breakdown of plant polymers because they generate hydrogen peroxide, which acts as the ultimate oxidizer in both white-rot and brown-rot decay.
[26] Two species of Polyporales, Daedalea quercina and Fomitopsis pinicola, use paralysing toxins to destroy and colonize nematodes that feed on their fruit bodies.
[27] Many wood-decay fungi in the genera Fomes, Fomitopsis and Ganoderma are pathogenic, causing butt and root rot of living trees and consequent losses in forestry plantations.
[28] Several of the Polyporales, notably Ganoderma lucidum (ling-zhi), Grifola frondosa (maitake),[29] Taiwanofungus camphoratus (niú zhāng zhī),[30] Lignosus rhinocerotis,[31] and Trametes versicolor (yun-zhi),[32] are commercially cultivated and marketed for use in traditional Chinese medicine.
[40] Several member of the Polyporales have had their genomes sequenced to help understand the genetic basis for the production of enzymes involved in the synthesis of bioactive compounds, or to elucidate the metabolic pathways of wood decay, including Ganoderma lucidum,[41] Lignosus rhinocerotis,[42] Dichomitus squalens,[16] Fomitopsis pinicola,[16] Trametes versicolor,[16] and Wolfiporia cocos.