The amount of lichen secondary metabolites in Cladonia foliacea (Cladoniaceae, lichenised Ascomycota)

Abstract

The terricolous species Cladonia foliacea (Cladoniaceae, lichenised Ascomycota) widely distributed in open, dry lowland steppe and rocky mountain grassland vegetation in Europe was chosen as a potential test organism for ecological experiments, since their thalli are producing cortical solar radiation-protective and UV screening pigment dibenzofuran usnic acid and medullary secondary substance depsidone fumarprotocetraric acid. Significant seasonal differences were found in the amounts of lichen secondary metabolites analysed by HPTLC and HPLC-PDA between summer and winter collected thalli in sandy grassland area in Hungary. The concentrations of usnic acid varied between 7.34 and 15.52 mg/g in summer collected samples and 13.90 and 21.61 mg/g in winter collected ones. A comparable amount (11.61±0.29 mg/g) was measured in pulverised samples. The concentrations of fumarprotocetraric acid varied between 0.60 and 3.01 mg/g in summer collected samples and 2.26 and 5.81 mg/g in winter collected thalli. A comparable amount (2.45±0.21 mg/g) was found in pulverised samples. The range of concentration values is comparable with data known from lichens. A higher amount of usnic acid is produced in winter probably to ensure sufficient protection also for summer. The fumarprotocetraric acid content of the medulla might contribute to the solar irradiation reflecting role of the pale lower surface lobes turning upwards in dry condition.

Acetone rinsing tolerance of the lichen species Cladonia foliacea is considerable

“…Therefore, we can conclude that it is possible to apply C. foliacea as a test lichen for acetone rinsing experiments; however, the extraction efficiency of its lichen compounds needs to be quantified (cf. Farkas et al 2020). Lichen species with coccoid green-algal (Trebouxia sp.)…”

Insecticidal and Antiprotozoal Properties of Lichen Secondary Metabolites on Insect Vectors and Their Transmitted Protozoal Diseases to Humans

“…The difference is explained by the high natural variation of the concentrations of LSMs in lichen thalli ranging from c. 0.1% to 10%(-30%) of their dry weight [17]. The larger necessary concentration of the crude extract is explained by the amount of the LSM present in the thallus [49].…”

Morphological and Chemical Traits of Cladonia Respond to Multiple Environmental Factors in Acidic Dry Grasslands

“…Research has suggested photoprotection activity for usnic acid [52] and facilitation in exploiting low light intensities for atranorin [63]. This can explain their correlations with vascular plants which produce a thicker canopy than herbs and forbs, i.e., chamephytes and phanerophytes, which occur in mature stages of dry grasslands.…”

“…Some of them show cytotoxic activity and are much studied for their pharmacological potential [ 17 , 18 , 19 ], but their ecological roles have been addressed more rarely. More investigated are allelopathic [ 44 , 45 , 46 ] and anti-herbivorous [ 47 , 48 , 49 ] effects, rarer are ecological studies that investigated their roles in photoprotection [ 50 , 51 , 52 ] and in regulating species’ preferences for substrate pH [ 20 , 21 , 22 , 53 ].…”