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Some species of fungi have a much larger genetic diversity than expected. The mycena genus has many genes for diverse function such as decaying many types of matter and even bioluminescence(lighting up). Scientists do not exactly know why the genome has been expanded. Some of these genes are horizontally transferred genes from other species. These fungi appear to secrete more compounds for decomposition such as proteases(enzymes that break down protein) and lipases(enzymes that break down lipids). The ability to break down polymers of such a diverse range is caused by the large genome and gives the fungus a major ecological function. A reason they may have such large genomes is to adapt to many different conditions. A lot of jumping genes(genes that move from one organism to another) appear to be many of the adapting genes such as the ones that allow for them to be parasitic to plants. Jumping genes are common in fungi but in most cases(not this one), it is not for adaptation. It appears that most gene jumping in fungi takes place before the mating types combine(fungi have multiple mating types for spores but its more than 2, however 2 mating types always combine). Over all, mycena have a much more expanded genome than other fungi, a lot of it is because they horizontally acquired jumping genes to adapt.

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