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Lichen photobionts of the rocky outcrops of Karadag massif (Crimean Peninsula)

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Abstract

Despite the fact that lichen algae have been explored for over100 years, their diversity, taxonomy and ecology still remains understudied. In present study we analyzed 114 specimens representing 72 lichen taxa collected on the Crimean Peninsula, culturing and sequencing their algal partners. In total we identified 26 taxa of photobionts representing 10 algal genera (Asterochloris, Chloroidium, Dilabifilum, Diplosphaera, Gloeocapsa, Myrmecia, Nostoc, Printzina, Stichococcus, Trebouxia). As most of the studied lichens (more than 80 % of studied lichen species) contained Trebouxia, for which morphology-based identification is often difficult and insufficient, we additionally used molecular methods. According to the molecular phylogeny of internal transcribed spacer (ITS) rDNA, Trebouxia species were related to three main clades: “Arboricola” (88.9 % of the investigated Trebouxia-containing lichens), “Impressa” (4.4 %) and “Simplex” (6.7 %). Based on results of molecular phylogeny and morphology three new species of Trebouxia, namely T. solaris, T. vagua and T. cretacea were described. In several lichens, two coexisting Trebouxia species were revealed in the same thallus.

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Notes

  1. The authentic strain of T. jamesii (UTEX 2233), is related to the “Arboricola” -group (Beck 2002; Hauck et al. 2007).

Abbreviations

SAG:

Culture Collection of Algae at Göttingen University

CCAP:

Culture Collection of Algae and Protozoa

CTAB:

Cetyltrimethylammonium bromide

IBASU-A:

Culture Collection of Algae at Institute of Botany, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine

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Acknowledgments

We thank Sergey Kondratyuk and Olga Nadyeina for the help with field work, and Rebecca Yahr for improving the English text. This work was financially supported by an INTAS Fellowship Grant for Young Scientists (Ref. Nr 05-109-4888) and by the Bayerisches Staatsministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst for a visiting scientist fellowship to A.V.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Lichenology and Bryology, M.G. Kholodny Institute of Botany, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Tereschenkivska str. 2, Kyiv, 01601, Ukraine

    A. Voytsekhovich

  2. Department of Lichenology and Bryology, Botanische Staatssammlung München, Menzinger Str. 67, 80638, München, Germany

    A. Voytsekhovich & A. Beck

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  1. A. Voytsekhovich
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  2. A. Beck
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Correspondence to A. Beck.

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Presented at the 8th Congress of the International Symbiosis Society, Lisbon, Portugal, 12-18 July 2015

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Voytsekhovich, A., Beck, A. Lichen photobionts of the rocky outcrops of Karadag massif (Crimean Peninsula). Symbiosis 68, 9–24 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13199-015-0346-y

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