PREMISE OF THE STUDY Colonists of even the most inhospitable environments, lichens are present in all terrestrial ecosystems. Because of their ecological versatility and ubiquity, they have been considered excellent candidates for early colonizers of terrestrial environments. Despite such predictions, good preservation potential, and the extant diversity of lichenized fungi, the fossil record o...

Permafrost represents a largely understudied genetic resource. Thawing of permafrost with global warming will not only promote microbial carbon turnover with direct feedback on greenhouse gases, but also unlock an unknown microbial diversity. Pioneering metagenomic efforts have shed light on the permafrost microbiome in polar regions, but temperate mountain permafrost is largely understudied. W...

Lichens are predominant and important components of flora in the terrestrial ecosystem of Antarctica. However, relatively few researches on the phylogenetic position of Antarctic lichen-forming fungi have been accomplished. In this study, partial sequences of nuclear large subunit rDNAs from 50 Antarctic specimens were obtained and the phylogeny was reconstructed. Antarctic lichen species were ...

Lichens are intimate and long-term symbioses of photosynthetic, unicellular algae or cyanobacteria and heterotrophic fungi joined to form a new biological entity different from its individual components. Specificity required for the lichen association can be defined in this context as the preferential, but not exclusive, association of a biont with another. Recognition of compatible algal cells...

BACKGROUND At initial steps of rehydration from cryptobiosis of anhydrobiotic organisms or at rehydration of dry tissues the liquid 1H NMR signal increased anomaly. The surplus in liquid signal may appear if some solid constituents dissolved, or if they were decomposed by enzymatic action. METHODS Hydration kinetics, sorption isotherm, 1H NMR spectra and high power relaxometry were applied to...

As part of ongoing studies the lichenized mycobiota Aotearoa / New Zealand archipelago we provide formal documentation occurrence Alyxoria ochrocheila, Anisomeridium anisolobum, Fissurina dumastii, Porina americana and Zwackhia viridis. Through their in peer-reviewed literature these species can now be accepted as new additions to that region.