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Fungal Host Affects Photosynthesis in a Lichen Holobiont

Corals and lichens are iconic examples of photosynthetic holobionts, i.e., ecological and evolutionary units resulting from the tightly integrated association of algae and prokaryotic microbiota with animal or fungal hosts, respectively. While the role of the coral host in modulating photosynthesis...

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Autores principales: Schulz, Meike, Schmitt, Imke, Weber, Daniel, Dal Grande, Francesco
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9784818/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36547600
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jof8121267
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author Schulz, Meike
Schmitt, Imke
Weber, Daniel
Dal Grande, Francesco
author_facet Schulz, Meike
Schmitt, Imke
Weber, Daniel
Dal Grande, Francesco
author_sort Schulz, Meike
collection PubMed
description Corals and lichens are iconic examples of photosynthetic holobionts, i.e., ecological and evolutionary units resulting from the tightly integrated association of algae and prokaryotic microbiota with animal or fungal hosts, respectively. While the role of the coral host in modulating photosynthesis has been clarified to a large extent in coral holobionts, the role of the fungal host in this regard is far less understood. Here, we address this question by taking advantage of the recent discovery of highly specific fungal–algal pairings corresponding to climatically adapted ecotypes of the lichen-forming genus Umbilicaria. Specifically, we compared chlorophyll a fluorescence kinetics among lichen thalli consisting of different fungal–algal combinations. We show that photosynthetic performance in these lichens is not only driven by algal genotype, but also by fungal host species identity and intra-host genotype. These findings shed new light on the closely intertwined physiological processes of fungal and algal partners in the lichen symbiosis. Indeed, the specific combinations of fungal and algal genotypes within a lichen individual—and the resulting combined functional phenotype—can be regarded as a response to the environment. Our findings suggest that characterizing the genetic composition of both eukaryotic partners is an important complimentary step to understand and predict the lichen holobiont’s responses to environmental change.
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spelling pubmed-97848182022-12-24 Fungal Host Affects Photosynthesis in a Lichen Holobiont Schulz, Meike Schmitt, Imke Weber, Daniel Dal Grande, Francesco J Fungi (Basel) Article Corals and lichens are iconic examples of photosynthetic holobionts, i.e., ecological and evolutionary units resulting from the tightly integrated association of algae and prokaryotic microbiota with animal or fungal hosts, respectively. While the role of the coral host in modulating photosynthesis has been clarified to a large extent in coral holobionts, the role of the fungal host in this regard is far less understood. Here, we address this question by taking advantage of the recent discovery of highly specific fungal–algal pairings corresponding to climatically adapted ecotypes of the lichen-forming genus Umbilicaria. Specifically, we compared chlorophyll a fluorescence kinetics among lichen thalli consisting of different fungal–algal combinations. We show that photosynthetic performance in these lichens is not only driven by algal genotype, but also by fungal host species identity and intra-host genotype. These findings shed new light on the closely intertwined physiological processes of fungal and algal partners in the lichen symbiosis. Indeed, the specific combinations of fungal and algal genotypes within a lichen individual—and the resulting combined functional phenotype—can be regarded as a response to the environment. Our findings suggest that characterizing the genetic composition of both eukaryotic partners is an important complimentary step to understand and predict the lichen holobiont’s responses to environmental change. MDPI 2022-11-30 /pmc/articles/PMC9784818/ /pubmed/36547600 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jof8121267 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Schulz, Meike
Schmitt, Imke
Weber, Daniel
Dal Grande, Francesco
Fungal Host Affects Photosynthesis in a Lichen Holobiont
title Fungal Host Affects Photosynthesis in a Lichen Holobiont
title_full Fungal Host Affects Photosynthesis in a Lichen Holobiont
title_fullStr Fungal Host Affects Photosynthesis in a Lichen Holobiont
title_full_unstemmed Fungal Host Affects Photosynthesis in a Lichen Holobiont
title_short Fungal Host Affects Photosynthesis in a Lichen Holobiont
title_sort fungal host affects photosynthesis in a lichen holobiont
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9784818/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36547600
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jof8121267
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