IMA Fungus 2(2): 143-153, doi: 10.5598/imafungus.2011.02.02.05
Ascospore discharge, germination and culture of fungal partners of tropical lichens, including the use of a novel culture technique
expand article infoEk Sangvichien‡, David L. Hawksworth§, Anthony J. Whalley|
‡ Ramkhamhaeng University, Faculty of Science, Hua Mark, Bangkok, Thailand§ Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Departamento de Biología Vegetal II, Facultad de Farmacia, Madrid, Spain| Chulalongkorn University, The Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, Pathumwan, Bangkok, Thailand
© Ek Sangvichien, David Hawksworth, Anthony Whalley.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY-NC 4.0), which permits to copy and distribute the article for non-commercial purposes, provided that the article is not altered or modified and the original author and source are credited.
Citation: Sangvichien E, Hawksworth DL, Whalley AJ (2011) Ascospore discharge, germination and culture of fungal partners of tropical lichens, including the use of a novel culture technique. IMA Fungus 2(2): 143-153. https://doi.org/10.5598/imafungus.2011.02.02.05
Open Access
Abstract
A total of 292 lichen samples, representing over 200 species and at least 65 genera and 26 families, were collected, mainly in Thailand; 170 of the specimens discharged ascospores in the laboratory. Generally, crustose lichens exhibited the highest discharge rates and percentage germination. In contrast, foliose lichen samples, although having a high discharge rate, had a lower percentage germination than crustose species tested. A correlation with season was indicated for a number of species. Continued development of germinated ascospores into recognizable colonies in pure culture was followed for a selection of species. The most successful medium tried was 2 % Malt-Yeast extract agar (MYA), and under static conditions using a liquid culture medium, a sponge proved to be the best of several physical carriers tested; this novel method has considerable potential for experimental work with lichen mycobionts.
Keywords
Ascomycota, colony development, mycobiont, seasonality, Thailand