Abstract
A lichen is a composite organism formed of algae or cyanobacteria that live in a mutually advantageous symbiotic relationship with the filaments (hyphae) of fungus. Three lichen samples were obtained from diverse sites at a terrestrial habitat located in Coimbatore and coastal habitats located in Kanyakumari and Nagapattinam districts of Tamil Nadu. Amplification and sequencing of 16S rRNA V3-V4 regions were used for metagenomic study. Aside from the Next-Generation Sequencing data (NGS), distinct types of lichen microbiome profiles were clearly revealed. The bacterial diversity in the lichen genera of Roccella montagnei growing in coastal and terrestrial environments was further investigated using common and unique operational taxonomic units (OTUs) and the QIIME pipeline (1.9.1). Using similarity clustering, the heat map analysis depicts the abundance information of chosen OTUs as well as the similarity and difference between OTUs and lichen samples. Using multiple methods, the alpha and beta diversity analysis revealed that there were differences in all of the samples. However, UPGMA tree inference of comparable bacterial community in coastal habitat lichen samples compared to terrestrial habitat validates their evolutionary lineage. As a result, the bacterial population associated with corticolous lichen is dependent on geographic locations, growth substrate, and climatic circumstances of similar lichen genera produced in different habitats and tree substrates.
Highlights
Lichens are symbiotic organisms, which were formed by the mycobiont and photobiont partner
Three lichen samples were obtained from diverse sites at Kuppanasamy temple, Pollachi, a terrestrial habitat located in Coimbatore, Nithiravilai, Nagercoil, and Ramarpatham, Vedaranyam, both coastal habitats located in Kanyakumari and Nagapattinam districts of Tamil Nadu, for this study
We have examined the bacterial community profiling of the Roccella montagnei collected from the different habitat, corticolous lichen grown under different and same tree substrate in distinct geographical locations (Table S1)
Summary
Lichens are symbiotic organisms, which were formed by the mycobiont and photobiont partner. The photobiont has an impact on lichen ontogeny, and the lichen structure is not fully grown until each partner contributes (Budel & Scheidegger 2008). In their early stages, the partners create a tangled cell mass, eventually creating the lichen structure, which is largely made up of fungal mycelia, as well as the majority of biomass made up of mycobionts (Gilbert 2000). The top cortex is made up of densely packed blood cells that cover the lichen structure's highest point This lichen component layer can be hundreds of micrometres thick, yet it can appear as a thin coating
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