Fungos endolinquênios associados á Cladonia curta Ahti & Marcelli no pampa gaúcho- Brasil

Abstract

Lichens are considered a symbiotic association between a mycobionte, one or more photobionts and even a third Basidiomycota symbiont, represent one of the most successful lifestyles for fungi and one of the most successful forms of symbiosis in nature. Lichens explore all natural environments and adapt to extreme conditions such as those caused by human disturbances, becoming important bioindicators of environmental quality. Short Cladonia & Marcelli is a species of scaly lichen of the family Cladoniaceae distributed in three places to the southeast of Brazil, in forests and in the Cerrado and collected in the Pampa biome during the present study, becoming a record of new occurrence. On the other hand, there are studies that demonstrate the presence of fungi that occur within apparently healthy lichens of lichens, known as endolynetics, associated mainly with photobiont. During the last 30 years, endoliquenic fungi have been studied based on in vitro culture-dependent methods and the use of molecular tools mainly used for their detection and identification. Thus the objective of the present work was to know the diversity of endoliquenic fungi harbored in Cladonia curta thallus and their phylogenetic relationships with other endophytic fungi. Phylogenetic analyzes based on the amplification of the ITS regions of the rDNA and the β-Tubulin gene infer the endolichenic fungi lineages in the genus Xylaria. Likewise, the morphological characteristics of the colonies and the anamorphic stromatas obtained in culture confirm this classification. Our results based on molecular markers provide evidence that isolated endolivhenic fungi of C. curta are closely related to endophytic and saprophytic fungi; However, isolates are more closely related to endophyte fungi, suggesting that their association to the stem is not purely accidental and supporting the phylogenetic relationship between three lifestyles, as previously reported by other authors. Additional studies are needed to demonstrate that isolated Xylaria spp. And Xylaria berteri are conspecific. In addition, we suggest the use of the MS culture medium as an alternative in efforts to know the great diversity of endophytic fungi that live lichen tissues. Finally, the diversity and prevalence of endolichenic fungi continues to be studied, with this the first report of isolation and identification of endolichenicnic fungi in Brazil.