Phylogenetic Relations of Rhizoplaca Zopf. from Anatolia Inferred from ITS Sequence Data

Abstract

Like many lichen-forming fungi, species of the genus Rhizoplaca have wide geographical distributions, but studies of their genetic variability are limited. The information about the ITS rDNA sequences of three species of Rhizoplaca from Anatolia was generated and aligned with other species from other countries and also with the data belonging to Lecanora species. The examined species were collected from the volcanic rocks of Mount Erciyes which is located in the middle of Anatolia (Turkey). The sequence data aligned with eight other samples of Rhizoplaca and six different species of Lecanora were obtained from GenBank. The results support the concept maintained by Arup and Grube (2000) that Rhizoplaca may not be a genus separate from Lecanora. According to the phylogenetic tree, Rhizoplaca melanopthalma from Turkey with two different samples of R. melanopthalma from Arizona (AF159929, AF159934) and a sample from Austria formed a group under the same branch. R. peltata and R. chrysoleuca samples from Anatolia located in two other branches of the tree formed sister groups with the samples of the same species from different countries. Although R. peltata remained on the same branch with other samples of the same species from other countries it was placed in a different branch within the group. When the three species from Anatolia were considered alone, it was noticed that Rhizoplaca melanopthalma and Rhizoplaca peltata are phylogenetically closer to each other than Rhizoplaca chrysoleuca; the morphological characteristics also support this result.

Taxonomic recognition of some species-level lineages circumscribed in nominal Rhizoplaca subdiscrepans s. lat. (Lecanoraceae, Ascomycota)

“…These characters, as well as the greyish-green tint of the upper surface of the thallus, are more appropriately applied to R. chrysoleuca s. lat. than to the R. subdiscrepans complex, an assumption that is consistent with the opinion of Cansaran et al. (2006) .…”

“…These characters, as well as the greyish-green tint of the upper surface of the thallus, are more appropriately applied to R. chrysoleuca s. lat. than to the R. subdiscrepans complex, an assumption that is consistent with the opinion of Cansaran et al (2006). However, according to Zheng, Sheng & An (2007), apothecial discs and their pruinosity do not indicate proper phylogenetic relationships among Rhizoplaca species, so this issue requires further research.…”

“…In subsequent molecular studies, Rhizoplaca was found to be a highly polyphyletic genus diffuse within different clades among placodioid Lecanora spp. (Arup & Grube, 2000;Cansaran et al, 2006). Moreover, a cryptic species-level diversity was identified within seemingly morphologically homogeneous groups, such as Rhizoplaca chrysoleuca s. lat.…”

Cryptic diversity and symbiont interactions in rock-posy lichens

“…However, phylogenetic inferences and species delimitation analyses for both R. chrysoleuca and R. macleanii were limited to a single genetic region, the internal transcribed spacer region (ITS). While a limited number of specimens representing other Rhizoplaca species have occasionally been included in phylogenetic studies (Arup and Grube, 2000;Cansaran et al, 2006;Kondratyuk et al, 2014;Zheng et al, 2007), the potential for cryptic species-level lineages within species complexes and evolutionary relationships among species remain largely untested. Furthermore, estimating the timing of diversification of cryptic species-level level lineages can aid in identifying factors that give rise to commonly overlooked biodiversity.…”