Genetic diversity in Xanthoria parietina (L.) Th. Fr. (lichen-forming ascomycete) from worldwide locations

Abstract

Specimens of Xanthoria parietina were collected from worldwide locations and ascospore discharge used to establish axenic cultures of the mycobiont. DNA was extracted and RAPD-PCR fingerprinting of 59 isolates was successfully achieved, resulting in 58 unique fingerprints. 110 multilocus RAPD markers were generated and used to construct a dendrogram. Two main groups were distinguished (75% bootstrap support): the first comprising samples from the Iberian Peninsula, the Balearic and Canary Islands; the second comprising all other worldwide samples including isolates from throughout Europe and North America. Samples from Australia and New Zealand clustered with the second group except one additional, phenotypically distinct specimen, not belonging to X. parietina, which formed an outgroup. However, comparative DNA sequence analyses are required to verify this interpretation.

Population genetics of lichen-forming fungi – a review

“…The choice of a particular marker should be based on i) technical complexity of (Murtagh et al 1999;Printzen et al 1999;Dyer et al 2001;Honegger et al 2004a;Honegger et al 2004b;Seymour et al 2005a 16 † S, sexual; V, vegetative; V(S), predominantly vegetative dispersal; S/V, thalli either sexual or vegetative; -, no information available; ‡ mt, mitochondrial locus; mtr, locus belonging to the mitochondrial ribosomal DNA cluster; nr, locus located within the nuclear ribosomal DNA cluster; LSU, large subunit; SSU, small subunit; intron, intron polymorphism; flp, fragment length polymorphism; ITS, internal transcribed spacer; IGS, intergenic spacer; RPB2, RNA polymerase subunit 2; CHS1, chitin synthase 1; SSR, simple sequence repeat (microsatellite); COX1, cytochrome c oxidase, subunit 1; EFA, Elongation factor 1-; GPD, Glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase; UID, an unidentified locus highly similar to glycine dehydrogenase; ¶ 0·019 ns if multiple alleles were included. § Overall measure across continents * P % 0·05; +, 0·05< P < 0·1; ns, not significant at P % 0·05 » CH, Switzerland; BC, British Columbia, Canada.…”

“…From these pure sterile cultures, fungal DNA can be extracted which is suitable for universal fingerprinting techniques. Mycobiont isolates have recently been successfully used in combination with fingerprinting techniques to characterize lichen populations across their world distribution (Honegger et al 2004b) and to make inferences on mating systems (Dyer et al 2001;Honegger et al 2004a;Seymour et al 2005a, b). For lichenized fungi, Dyer et al (2001) reviewed the use of RAPD fingerprinting and Murtagh et al (1999) reported a RAPD protocol.…”

“…Gene flow in the species was found to be asymmetric among sites, indicating high gene flow from Greenland into Europe, and higher gene flow from Greenland and continental Canada into Baffin Island than vice versa. Honegger et al (2004b) investigated worldwide samples of populations of Xanthoria parietina using RAPD fingerprints run on DNA isolated from fungal axenic cultures. They found two main clades, one restricted to the Iberian Peninsula, the Canary and the Balearic Islands, and a second clade containing all other isolates including those from Europe, North America and the southern Hemisphere.…”

Population genetics in the homothallic lichen-forming ascomyceteXanthoria parietina

“…RAPD-PCR markers; Murtagh et al 2002;Scherrer & Honegger 2003;Honegger et al 2004b) than with comparative sequence analysis. The present study aims to increase the resolution and expand the geographic range by analysing the genetic diversity within four populations of X. parietina in coastal, rural and urban areas in NW, SW and central France and NE Switzerland at the subspecific level with a fingerprinting technique (RAPD-PCR) applied to sterile cultured multispore isolates.…”

Trichoconis hafellnerisp. nov. onAthallia pyraceaandXanthoria parietina, a Generic Discussion ofTrichoconisand Keys to the Species of this Genus

“…They try to answer various questions on various taxonomic levels. Some have the entire family in focus (Gaya et al 2008), others concentrate on traditional genera or species groups (Fedorenko et al 2009, Franc & Kärnefelt 1998, Gaya 2009, Gaya et al 2003, Lindblom & Ekman 2005, Søchting & Lutzoni 2003, Søchting et al 2002 and several on the infraspecific genetic diversity, namely of Xanthoria parietina (Honegger et al 2004, Lindblom 2009). …”