Lichens represent a symbiotic phenotype of a group of heterotrophic fungi (mycobionts), which acquire carbon-based nutrients from their photosynthesizing partners (photobionts). Identification of lichens can help us understand evolutionary history, biogeography and dispersal, as well as systematics and taxonomy. Studying relationship among lichens is aided using molecular approaches, but current standards using nrDNA markers have limited resolution at low taxonomic level, and to answer detailed questions in systematics and phylogeography we need to develop metagenomic approaches. In this study metagenomic data from the cetrarioid clade of lichen-forming fungi (Parmeliaceae, Ascomycota), i.e. Cetraria islandica or Iceland moss, will be used to study intra-organismal diversity of lichens as well as evolutionary relations between lichen-forming fungal species. This study involves no lab work, does involve bioinformatics and phylogenetic analyses. Fieldwork is not necessary, but international travel to present results at a conference is envisioned. The outcome should be a manuscript for submission to an international peer-reviewed journal.
Research question:
Can marker mining from genome skimming data be used to infer evolutionary relations of lichen myco- and photobionts as a robust alternative to single or limited locus molecular markers, giving resolution at infraspecific level?
Supervision:
Hugo de Boer, PET group NHM;
Vincent Manzanilla, PET group NHM;
Starri Heidmarsson, Icelandic Institute of Natural History;
Maonian Xu, University of Iceland.