Characterization of microsatellite loci in lichen‐forming fungi of Bryoria section Implexae (Parmeliaceae)

Abstract

• Premise of the study: The locally rare, haploid, lichen-forming fungi Bryoria capillaris, B. fuscescens, and B. implexa are associated with boreal forests and belong to Bryoria sect. Implexae. Recent phylogenetic studies consider them to be conspecific. Microsatellite loci were developed to study population structure in Bryoria sect. Implexae and its response to ecosystem disturbances.• Methods and Results: We developed 18 polymorphic microsatellite markers using 454 pyrosequencing data assessed in 82 individuals. The number of alleles per locus ranged from two to 13 with an average of 4.6. Nei’s unbiased gene diversity, averaged over loci, ranged from 0.38 to 0.52. The markers amplified with all three species, except for markers Bi05, Bi15, and Bi18.• Conclusions: The new markers will allow the study of population subdivision, levels of gene introgression, and levels of clonal spread of Bryoria sect. Implexae. They will also facilitate an understanding of the effects of forest disturbance on genetic diversity of these lichen species.

Evaluating methodologies for species delimitation: the mismatch between phenotypes and genotypes in lichenized fungi (Bryoria sect. Implexae, Parmeliaceae)

“…Eighteen fungal-specific microsatellites markers (Bi01, Bi02, Bi03, Bi04, Bi05, Bi06, Bi07, Bi08, Bi09, Bi10, Bi11, Bi12, Bi13, Bi14, Bi15, Bi16, Bi18 and Bi19) were amplified following Nadyeina et al (2014) using fluorescently labelled primers. Fragment lengths were determined on an ABI PRISM® 3130 Genetic Analyser (Life Technologies, Carlsbad, CA, USA).…”

“…Subsequent fieldwork across Europe has revealed further combinations of extrolites, and also specimens sharing characters of additional morphospecies. In order to understand the evolutionary processes involved in B. fuscescens and related species we have adopted an integrative approach including morphological, distributional, and chemical data together with DNA sequences from three standard loci (Schoch et al 2012), two newly tested loci, and eighteen microsatellite (SSRs) markers (Nadyeina et al 2014). We then analysed these datasets in a rigorous statistical framework to effectively integrate an evolutionary perspective into a revised and defensible taxonomic treatment.…”

First genome‐wide analysis of the endangered, endemic lichen Cetradonia linearis reveals isolation by distance and strong population structure

“…To date, most population genetic studies of lichens have been conducted on Lobaria pulmonaria and its algal photobiont Dictyochloropsis reticulata using microsatellite markers (Dal Grande et al., ; Widmer et al., ; Nadyeina et al., ). These studies have shown that L. pulmonaria frequently disperses short distances via lichenized propagules (bundles of algae and fungi) and infrequently disperses long distances via sexually produced fungal spores (Werth et al., ), and there is evidence of adaptation and population isolation at small spatial scales (Nadyeina et al., ). Population genetic patterns in another lichenized fungus, Xanthoria parietina , based on RAPD‐PCR markers, contrast starkly with the findings for L. pulmonaria ; in the former, high genetic diversity and very few clones were found within small areas, even among adjacent individuals (Itten and Honegger, ).…”

“…While highly detailed, these studies of lichen population genetics represent only a fraction of this diverse group of fungi, which have evolved symbiotic relationships with algae or cyanobacteria at least seven times independently throughout the fungal tree of life (Schoch et al., ) and occupy every terrestrial ecosystem from the poles to the tropics (Brodo et al., ). Microsatellites have recently been developed for a broader diversity of lichenized fungi (Magain et al., ; Devkota et al., ; Nadyeina et al., ; Lindgren et al., ; Lutsak et al., ), but these tools have not yet been utilized for population genetic analyses in lichens.…”

High-Throughput Sequencing in Studies of Lichen Population Biology

“…Lately, studies of fungal and algal clones have also been undertaken, in order to study the fundamental processes shaping the genetic variability of lichen populations . Microsatellites have helped to establish a body of population genetic data for Lobaria pulmonaria and Magain et al 2010;Nadyeina et al 2014a;Tõrra et al 2014, Belinchón et al 2014. Microsatellites have played an important role in the emergence of lichen model systems, with the beststudied case being L. pulmonaria.…”