Global Biodiversity Patterns of the Photobionts Associated with the Genus Cladonia (Lecanorales, Ascomycota).

ABSTRACT: The diversity of lichen photobionts is not fully known. We studied here the diversity of the photobionts associated with Cladonia, a sub-cosmopolitan genus ecologically important, whose photobionts belong to the green algae genus Asterochloris. The genetic diversity of Asterochloris was screened by using the ITS rDNA and actin type I regions in 223 specimens and 135 species of Cladonia collected all over the world. These data, added to those available in GenBank, were compiled in a dataset of altogether 545 Asterochloris sequences occurring in 172 species of Cladonia. A high diversity of Asterochloris associated with Cladonia was found. The commonest photobiont lineages associated with this genus are A. glomerata, A. italiana, and A. mediterranea. Analyses of partitioned variation were car

SUBMITTER: Pino-Bodas R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8282589 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature