Abstract
Saxicolous rock ripe lichens that grow on rocks in the East Antarctic fellfields were sampled for phylotypic characterization of its constituent mycobionts (fungi) and photobionts (algae and cyanobacteria). The rock tripe lichen-forming fungal and algal phylotypes were classified under the common lichen-forming genera of ascomycetes, namely, Umbilicaria, and green algae, namely, Trebouxia and Coccomyxa. However, phylotypes of the green algal chloroplasts and the lichen-associated cyanobacteria showed unexpectedly high diversity. The detected chloroplast phylotypes were not fully affiliated with the green algal genera Trebouxia or Coccomyxa. The predominant chloroplast phylotype demonstrated maximum resemblance to Neglectella solitaria, which is neither a known Antarctic species nor a typical lichen photobiont. Another dominant chloroplast phylotype belonged to the atypical Antarctic green algae family. Cyanobacterial phylotypes were dominated by those affiliated with the Microcoleus species rather than the well-known lichen-associates, Nostoc species. The occurrences of these Microcoleus-affiliated cyanobacterial phylotypes were specifically abundant within the Yukidori Valley site, one of the Antarctic Specially Protected Areas (ASPA). The ASPA site, along with another 50 km-distant site, yielded most of the cryptic diversity in the phylotypes of chloroplasts and cyanobacteria, which may contribute to the phenotypic variability within the rock tripe lichen photobionts.
Highlights
Lichens are composite organisms that arise from an association between filamentous fungi and photosynthetic organisms, commonly termed as mycobionts and photobionts, respectively, which has often been regarded as a good example of mutualistic symbiosis
It is well known that approximately 90% of lichens have less diverse green algal photobionts compared to the filamentous fungal partner, of which the two major genera include Trebouxia and Trentepohlia, along with the major cyanobacterial genus Nostoc [2]
Overall, a total of 116,937 sequences of rRNA operon components, i.e., near full-length 18S and 16S rRNA genes, eukaryotic internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region between the large and small rRNA genes, and the V3-V4 region of 16S rRNA genes, were obtained from the six lichen samples, which were collected at the six sites within a 50 km-range in East Antarctica (Figure 1; Table 1)
Summary
Lichens are composite organisms that arise from an association between filamentous fungi and photosynthetic organisms, commonly termed as mycobionts and photobionts, respectively, which has often been regarded as a good example of mutualistic symbiosis. It is well known that approximately 90% of lichens have less diverse green algal photobionts compared to the filamentous fungal partner, of which the two major genera include Trebouxia and Trentepohlia, along with the major cyanobacterial genus Nostoc [2]. In Antarctica, approximately 400 species of lichens [23] have been studied for their diversity, ecophysiology, and photobiont diversity, which may eventually respond to environmental gradients and climate changes [24,25]. We conducted phylotypic characterization of the mycobionts and photobionts (algae and cyanobacteria) of rock tripe lichens in Antarctica. During characterization, we encountered unexpected phylotypic diversity of algal chloroplasts and cyanobacteria found in these rock tripe lichens.
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