Of the broader Wiskott–Aldrich syndrome family of proteins, which reorganize the actin cytoskeleton during phagocytosis, the WASP family is conserved across fungi, the WAVE family is only represented in early diverging fungi and non-fungal eukaryotes, whereas the WASH family has been completely lost in fungi (Fig. 4), consistent with recent reports72,73. This evidence concerns the gene WAS and Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome.