title: Distribution patterns of haplotypes for symbionts from Umbilicaria esculenta and U. muehlenbergii reflect the importance of reproductive strategy in shaping population genetic structure.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The diversity of lichen fungal components and their photosynthetic partners reflects both ecological and evolutionary factors. In present study, molecular investigations of the internal transcribed spacer of the nuclear ribosomal DNA (ITS nrDNA) region were conducted to analyze the genetic diversity of Umbilicaria esculenta and U. muehlenbergii together with their associated green algae.
  
  
  RESULTS
  It was here demonstrated that the reproductive strategy is a principal reason for fungal selectivity to algae. U. muehlenbergii, which disperses via sexual spores, exhibits lower selectivity to its photosynthetic partners than U. esculenta, which has a vegetative reproductive strategy. The difference of genotypic diversity (both fungal and algal) between these two Umbilicaria species is low, although their nucleotide diversity can vary greatly.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study illustrates that lichen-forming fungi with sexual reproductive strategies are less selective with respect to their photobionts; and reveals that both sexual and vegetative reproduction allow lichens to generate similar amounts of diversity to adapt to the environments. The current study will be helpful for elucidating how lichens with different reproductive strategies adapt to changing environments.
authors.affiliation: SOA Key Laboratory for Polar Science, Polar Research Institute of China, No.451 JinQiao Road, Pudong District, Shanghai, 200136, China. caoshunan@pric.org.cn.|School of Life Science and Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology, 2 Yikuang Street, Harbin, 150080, China. caoshunan@pric.org.cn.
authors.forename: Shunan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: SOA Key Laboratory for Polar Science, Polar Research Institute of China, No.451 JinQiao Road, Pudong District, Shanghai, 200136, China. zhangfang@pric.org.cn.
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Life Science and Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology, 2 Yikuang Street, Harbin, 150080, China. liucp74@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Chuanpeng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Agricultural Product Quality Standard and Testing Research, Tibet Academy of Agricultural and Animal Husbandry Sciences, Lhasa, 850032, China. haozhihuatb@163.com.
authors.forename: Zhihua
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Hao
authors.affiliation: College of Engineering Management, Inner Mongolia Technical College of Construction, Huimin District, Hohhot, 010070, China. tianyuan0406@126.com.
authors.forename: Yuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Genome Sciences and Information, Beijing Institute of Genomics, NO.1 Beichen West Road, Beijing, 100101, China. zhulingxiang@big.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Lingxiang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: School of Life Science and Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology, 2 Yikuang Street, Harbin, 150080, China. zhqm@moon.ibp.ac.cn.|Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.1-3, Beichen West Road, Beijing, 100101, China. zhqm@moon.ibp.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Qiming
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhou
mesh_terms: D001203:Ascomycota / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D000460:Chlorophyta / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D048028:DNA, Algal / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D004271:DNA, Fungal / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D005658:Fungi; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005828:Genetics, Population; D006239:Haplotypes; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013559:Symbiosis
chemical_list: D048028:DNA, Algal; D004271:DNA, Fungal; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer