In the Arctic ecosystems, fungi are crucial for interactions between soil and plants, the cycling of nutrients, and the transport of carbon. To date, no studies have been conducted to thoroughly examine the mycobiome and its functional role in various habitats of the High Arctic region. The aim was to unravel the mycobiome in the nine habitats (i.e., soil, lichen, vascular plant, moss, freshwater, seawater, marine sediment, dung, and marine alga) in the Ny-Ålesund Region (Svalbard, High Arctic) … Read more... 

In the continuing discovery and structure elucidation of natural xanthone dimers, which are still rarely reported in absolute confguration, three new xanthone dimers, eumitrins I–K (1–3) were isolated from the lichen Usnea baileyi, a rich source of natural xanthone dimers. Their structures were elucidated unambiguously by spectroscopic analyses, including high-resolution electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (HRESIMS), 1D and 2D nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1D and 2D NMR). … Read more... 

Nitrogen pollution and excessive salinity are commonly regarded as one of the major environmental concerns in recent decades in many urban environments. Although in urban areas lichens are exposed to both salt and nitrogen stress, no studies have been conducted to date on the simultaneous impact and interaction of these factors on lichen physiology. The aim was to determine the efect of various combinations of NaCl and NH4NO3 doses on the physiology of epigeic lichen Cladonia rei. We also aimed … Read more... 

Enzymatic halogenation captures scientific interest considering its feasibility in modifying compounds for chemical diversity. Currently, majority of flavin-dependent halogenases (F-Hals) were reported from bacterial origin, and as far as we know, none from lichenized fungi. Fungi are well-known producers of halogenated compounds, so using available transcriptomic dataset of Dirinaria sp., we mined for putative gene encoding for F-Hal. Phylogenetic-based classification of the F-Hal family suggested … Read more... 

Lichens are one of the most responsive components of the ecosystem to reactive forms of nitrogen. In this work, we selected the lichen genera Cladonia and Usnea, composed of terricolous and epiphytic lichens respectively, and described as sensitive to nitrogen, to test the effects of different doses of nitrogen on lichen physiological parameters (photobiont and mycobiont vitality, chitin quantification, nitrogen content and stable isotopes analysis). The main objectives were to check if the activation … Read more...