title: Algal and fungal diversity in Antarctic lichens.
abstract: The composition of lichen ecosystems except mycobiont and photobiont has not been evaluated intensively. In addition, recent studies to identify algal genotypes have raised questions about the specific relationship between mycobiont and photobiont. In the current study, we analyzed algal and fungal community structures in lichen species from King George Island, Antarctica, by pyrosequencing of eukaryotic large subunit (LSU) and algal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) domains of the nuclear rRNA gene. The sequencing results of LSU and ITS regions indicated that each lichen thallus contained diverse algal species. The major algal operational taxonomic unit (OTU) defined at a 99% similarity cutoff of LSU sequences accounted for 78.7-100% of the total algal community in each sample. In several cases, the major OTUs defined by LSU sequences were represented by two closely related OTUs defined by 98% sequence similarity of ITS domain. The results of LSU sequences indicated that lichen-associated fungi belonged to the Arthoniomycetes, Eurotiomycetes, Lecanoromycetes, Leotiomycetes, and Sordariomycetes of the Ascomycota, and Tremellomycetes and Cystobasidiomycetes of the Basidiomycota. The composition of major photobiont species and lichen-associated fungal community were mostly related to the mycobiont species. The contribution of growth forms or substrates on composition of photobiont and lichen-associated fungi was not evident.
authors.affiliation: Division of Polar Life Sciences, Korea Polar Research Institute, 26 Songdomirae-ro, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon, 406-840, Korea; School of Biological Sciences, College of Natural Science, Seoul National University, 599 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Chae Haeng
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Kyung Mo
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Arve
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Elvebakk
authors.forename: Ok-Sun
authors.initials: OS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Gajin
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Jeong
authors.forename: Soon Gyu
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Hong
mesh_terms: D000864:Antarctic Regions; D044822:Biodiversity; D000460:Chlorophyta / Q000145:classification; D017753:Ecosystem; D005658:Fungi / Q000145:classification*; D020459:Genes, rRNA; D005838:Genotype; D008011:Lichens / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
keywords: Cladonia; Umbilicaria; Usnea; lichen-associated fungi; microalgae