Fungi have crucial roles in modern ecosystems as decomposers and pathogens, and they engage in various mutualistic associations with other organisms, especially plants. They have a lengthy geological history, and there is an emerging understanding of their impact on the evolution of Earth systems on a large scale. In this Review, we focus on the roles of fungi in the establishment and early evolution of land and freshwater ecosystems. Today, questions of evolution over deep time are informed by discoveries of new fossils and evolutionary analysis of new genomes. Inferences can be drawn from evolutionary analysis by comparing the genes and genomes of fungi with the biochemistry and development of their plant and algal hosts. We then contrast this emerging picture against evidence from the fossil record to develop a new, integrated perspective on the origin and early evolution of fungi.

真菌作为分解者和病原体在现代生态系统中起着至关重要的作用，它们与其他生物，尤其是植物，进行各种互利共生的联系。它们有着漫长的地质历史，人们对它们对地球系统大规模演化的影响有了新的认识。在这篇综述中，我们关注真菌在陆地和淡水生态系统的建立和早期进化中的作用。今天，新化石的发现和新基因组的进化分析揭示了深度进化的问题。通过将真菌的基因和基因组与其植物和藻类宿主的生物化学和发育进行比较，可以从进化分析中得出推论。然后，我们将这一新出现的图片与化石记录中的证据进行对比，以开发出一种新的、