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Sci Rep 2022 Jun 30;12(1):11048. Epub 2022 Jun 30.

Botany Unit, Finnish Museum of Natural History, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 7, 00014, Helsinki, Finland.

We show that obligate lignicoles in lichenized Micarea are predominately asexual whereas most facultative lignicoles reproduce sexually. Our phylogenetic analyses (ITS, mtSSU, Mcm7) together with ancestral state reconstruction show that the shift in reproduction mode has evolved independently several times within the group and that facultative and obligate lignicoles are sister species. The analyses support the assumption that the ancestor of these species was a facultative lignicole. Read More

Sci Total Environ 2022 Aug 27;835:155372. Epub 2022 Apr 27.

MOE Key Laboratory of Cell Activities and Stress Adaptations, Center of Grassland Microbiome, School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, PR China. Electronic address:

Fungi, cyanobacteria and algae are specific microbial groups associated with the deterioration and safety of stone monuments. In this study, high-throughput sequencing analysis was used to investigate the diversity, distributions, ecological functions, and interaction patterns of both the fungal and microalgal (including cyanobacteria and algae) communities on sandstone in the Beishiku Temple, located on the ancient Silk Road. The results showed that the core phyla of fungi were affiliated with unclassified Lecanoromycetes, Engyodontium, Knufia, Epicoccum, Endocarpon, and Cladosporium of Ascomycota whereas the phyla of microalgae were dominated by prokaryotic Cyanobacteria and eukaryotic Chlorophyta. Read More

Biology (Basel) 2022 Apr 11;11(4). Epub 2022 Apr 11.

Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, The Farlow Reference Library and Herbarium of Cryptogamic Botany, Harvard University, 22 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.

Closed cleistothecia-like ascomata have repeatedly evolved in non-related perithecioid and apothecioid lineages of lichenized and non-lichenized . The evolution of a closed, darkly pigmented ascoma that protects asci and ascospores is conceived as either an adaptation to harsh environmental conditions or a specialized dispersal strategy. Species with closed ascomata have mostly lost sterile hymenial elements (paraphyses) and the capacity to actively discharge ascospores. Read More

J Fungi (Basel) 2022 Apr 12;8(4). Epub 2022 Apr 12.

Korean Lichen Research Institute, Suncheon National University, Suncheon 57922, Korea.

Lee is described as a new lichen species from a wetland forest in South Korea. The new species is distinct from (Orange) Henssen by little projections locally present on the thallus; smaller, paler, and globose perithecia; smaller asci; and smaller ascospores generally 3-septate. Molecular analyses employing internal transcribed spacer (ITS), mitochondrial small subunit (mtSSU), and nuclear large subunit ribosomal RNA (LSU) sequences strongly support as a nonidentical species in the genus . Read More

Phytochemistry 2022 Aug 16;200:113210. Epub 2022 Apr 16.

Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Iceland, 107, Reykjavik, Iceland.

Usnic acid is an antibiotic metabolite produced by a wide variety of lichenized fungal lineages. The enantiomers of usnic acid have been shown to display contrasting bioactivities, and hence it is important to determine their spatial distribution, amounts and enantiomeric ratios in lichens to understand their roles in nature and grasp their pharmaceutical potential. The overall aim of the study was to characterise the spatial distribution of the predominant usnic acid enantiomer in lichens by combining spatial imaging and chiral chromatography. Read More